Happy Holidays All,

Visiting VI has left a lasting impression; I feel as if a part of me has stayed there and I long to return.

Ginger asked about Bolongo, I sent you a PM.

We arrived 18 Nov and stayed until Thanksgiving Day, 24 Nov. My initial reaction to BBBC was not a positive one. I thought I had booked a queen bed on the ground floor. When we checked in we were informed that only the ground floor request could be filled. The desk clerk continued to inform me that beds are *optional*. LMAO! Excuse me!

The room had two double beds, one of which needed to be replaced. The other furniture was old and uncomfortable. The ac was a new unit which was controlled by remote control which was missing. Roaches in the bathroom. The shudders on the roadside door would not close completely; the roadside noise overwhelmed the gently lapping of the waves. I was not a happy camper. The following morning I pursued changing rooms, or we would have changed resorts. At the end of the day we did get into a much nicer room however our first 24 hours on the STT was pretty much wasted, imho. This may be standard resort reservation practices but I was not informed of this when I made our reservations. Had I known this I probably would have made reservations elsewhere. My husband loved the place and would like to stay there on our next visit.

BBBC was a fun place to stay after sorting out our room. I was concerned that it was a party place; I suspect that my beloved husband, me and two new friends were the biggest party people there! The beach toys were fun, the staff (other than the desk clerk that checked us in) was wonderful. I loved the manager’s cocktail hour, the fresh coconut rum drink on the beach and the carnival night.

We did the day trip to Virgin Gorda with Limnos , which I highly recommend. One note about snorkeling at Norman Caves, watch out for the inexperienced kayakers, I got hit in the head by one. The knot went down with an ice pack which our tour guide, Joanna provided, bless her! A day tour of STJ with Tropical Tours which I would not recommend was overcrowded started off with a visit to the toilet followed by a stop at the bakery. The next three stops were to discuss the extremely expensive east side. Boring! For me the tour really started when we visited the old cinnamon factory ruins in the park. We snorkeled at Trunk Bay. I was surprised by the crowds. There was a lot of wave action and visibility wasn't very good, but the beach was beautiful.

We can’t wait for our next visit!

Marie