ay 4 – the Big Excursion

Today is the big day…6 of us (me, Geoff and all the kids (including the BIG kids) are going on Born to Rhumb with Landlockedbeachlover, her hubby and their two kids. Mom and dad were off to Tortola for the next 2 weeks. We said goodbye to them the night before.

Got up early and everyone had breakfast. Everyone was excited and read yon time, without any prodding. LLBL and I had spoken the day before and all we knew was that we were to meet the boat at the “old national park dock in red hook”. We decided that we’d park in red Hook, walk to the docks and ask which dock was the old national park dock. Seemed easy, right? We parked at the $10 parking lot above Marina Market and walked down with plenty of time to spare. We approached the Nauti Nymph desk and asked where the old national park dock was. “oh! That’s waaay over there, across the bay!” …he pointed across the water to a dock that had to be reached by driving over to the other side. Ok, so everyone quickly walked back up the hill to our parking spot and we wondered if we’d get our money back. They guy at the lot saw us coming and said “uh oh!! What’s wrong??” and we told him about our problem. He said “no problem…and handed us back out $10 before we even asked…..nice guys up there, always have good experiences with them….very professional. You don’t even have to walk to the ferry dock, they’ll take in you a van and be there to pick you up when you step off of the ferry and take you back up the little hill.

Ok, so we quickly drove to the “Old National Park Dock”, parked and saw that our boat was the only one sitting there…..with Captain Kevin and First Mate Stephanie eagerly greeting us. LLBL and family were not yet there, and we suspected they’d met the same fate with the dock confusion. After tossing out flip-flops into a bin and stowing our gear, we all lathered on the sunblock and got acquainted with our hosts for the day. LLBL soon called Kevin’s cell and said they were on their way…same confusion as us. Soon, they boarded, we met for the first time (gotta love this forum) and were off. LLBL wore a bright yellow cowgirl hat, 2 braids in her hair and looked ready for a day of BVI fun. Her hubby has quite a history with the VI and a really friendly and laid-back attitude. Perfect couple with whom to travel!

Stephanie whipped out a waterproof map and showed us where we were going. LLBL and I had discussed and charted our own course beforehand. STT to Virgin Gorda for the baths, then Jost for lunch at Soggy Dollar and swim in White Bay, then Sandy Cay for the sheer thrill of saying we’d been….and back to STT. We’d originally wanted to visit the Bubbly Pool on the other side of Jost, but heard that the calm summer waters were not making it very bubbly these days. So, we skipped it in favor of experiencing it during a winter visit.

Kevin stopped the boat at points of interest and told us tales of celeb homes and such. The boat (Kevin) was really doing a fantastic job cutting through the chop so that the boat was steady and even-keeled. But, we were really moving fast. Perfect for th 1.5 hr trip. It would have been longer without the power of this craft.

On board, we had soda, beer, water and painkillers later in the day. There was a HUGE chest in the middle of the deck and we were welcomed to as much has we liked. There was more than enough for even the heaviest of drinkers.

It was a beautiful morning on the water and good friendships were in the making kid were 9,9,9,11 (+18,20 son and his GF).

We all handed in our IDs and passports when people had them (they were NOT necessary…state ID was fine -- Geoff had US Citizen papers after coming in from Jamaica…no passport. I just knew we’d be leaving him on Virgin Gorda where he’d meet an island-bunny and live out his life scuba diving and bone-fishing.). Everyone was fine.

We pulled into Spanish Town, VG and Stephanie was sen to clear customs while the rest of us grabbed muffins at a little bakery that LLBL’s husband knew about from his former boat charter days. Yummy, yummy!! Darn, I don’t know the name of it.

After about 40 mins, we were back on the boat and heading to the Baths. I wish we could have been dropped at the Baths to swim in while Customs was cleared….but this is how we did it this time. Maybe that is not allowed anymore. I didn’t ask.

At the Baths, Kevin pulled in pretty far and the swim was nothing. Everyone, including the kids, swam in with no problem. Kevin had boogie boards for the kids, which they used, but probably didn’t need for the brief swim. It was fun.

Geoff had a new underwater housing for his camera. This was his fist underwater housing experience with this camera and the underwater pics didn’t come out too clear…but I’ll show you a sample. If you see a spot on the picture when we are not underwater, that’s salt. Yes, who knew that you had to clean the camera housing after coming up. Lesson learned.

We crawled, climbed, crouched……all through the baths. By now, the kids were well acquainted and running ahead, together….parents were trying to keep up, while savoring the Baths experience. I found one new passage…..a belly crawl space. I popped up on the other side and the kids were amazed…”Hey! How’d you get here?”. We all felt the years of experience and reservation melting away. We were kids….all of us. Son and his GF ventured off to the more “swimmy” way around…out in the water that surrounds the Baths…in the exterior grottos. Every now and then, they’d peek into a room that we were in…but they were on the water side and we’d entered from the Land side.

Eventually, we made it through. Everyone swam in the waters at the beach on the other side.

Oh, while inside, LLBL and I heard and saw larger boat charters coming through. I won’t name them….but they were yelling “all XXXXX boat charter people, we’re now moving on!”…and large groups would come trudging past is in formation. LLBL and I looked t each other, made wide eyes, and shook our heads…..no WAY, would we like that.

See the woman at the bottom of this photo to get a size of the boulders.....

Ok, so eventually, we all headed back to the starting point…going backwards through the Baths. When we reached the other side, we were supposed to snorkel. But, somehow, everyone wound up on the boat and my son and his GF were still somewhere at the baths. I knew they thought we’d be snorkeling, since that’s what we’d told them we were heading off to do, so I had to go and get them. Geoff and I swam back in and trudged and called all along the Baths trail….no kids…..Kevin and the boat were motoring along the outside of the boulders…no kids. Finally, Geoff and I went back to the starting point and found the big kids on the boat, painkillers in hand! Geoff and I had really been speeding through the Baths on two separate paths, so we were tired and thirsty. Kevin came close and we swam onto the boat as first make Stephanie handed us freshly made painkillers. Everyone was smiling, so, too, did we.

We were off for Jost! Coasting again…..emerald islands on all sides, sapphire blue water beneath….and the vibe becoming more like a party. The kids discovered the salon, while grown-ups lounged on deck cushions. Painkillers continued…and continued…and we were on our way to the Soggy Dollar, where the painkiller was invented. Oh boy!

We pulled into White Bay and got close, again. When we jumped off, we could just about stand up. Went ashore and ordered the beach bbq meal from Soggy Dollar….very good and grilled fresh. And, of course, painkillers.

After eating, our group went into the water at White Bay and just hung out. Geoff and I walked down the beach and found ourselves walking over the little hill to see Ivan’s. I’ve heard about it, but never visited. We’d left the little kid with the older kids and we’d not said anything about where we were going, but we went anyway.

We got to peek inside the cottages at Ivans… a sleepy little cottage campground on White Bay. Famed for the lazy nature of the place, and the quaint little cottages on the prettiest beach in the Caribbean. We found a man asleep in a chair under a tree,and we think it was Ivan. A lady was sitting on a reclined lounger on the beach, reading. She raised her head and smiled as we passed. The only other soul we encountere was a housekeeper, who was coming out of a cottage with mop and pail. She greeted us and let us look inside. “Yes”, we agreed, we could spend a week there.

Back across the hill, in our bare feet, Geoff and I joked out each other being “tenderfoot”…after he’d spent a childhood in Jamaica and I’d spent part of a childhood on St Thomas. This hill, I’ve been told, used to have a clothes hamper on both sides, filled with old flip flops that could have been used and replaced in the other hamper once you’d crossed. But, we were told that they were trying to “clean up” the beach area and had discarded the flip-flop hampers. We think they should bring them back. Some things just make sense.

Got back, swam and then Kevin signaled us that we needed to get to Sandy Cay if we wanted to spend any time there. So, we boarded again…and were off.

ByeBye White Bay...

By the time we reached Sandy Cay, we were feeling good and having fun. I jumped off the bow of the boat….lol…..and there’s a photo that I’m not sharing.

Most of us tried to climb a palm tree. We swam, Geoff snorkeled, kids really loved the coarse sand here. Sun was going down and we knew our day was coming to a close. We felt full of the BVI….and happy to have selected the right boat and the right people with whom to spend this day.

We all boarded and Kevin told us that we really needed to try to beat the ferry from Tortola to STJ customs. Otherwise, the wait would be much too long. Sure enough, we saw the ferry coming along the side of STJ. We were crossing and coming in on it’s right side. It was a race…..us vs. the ferry….and we were winning!! Yahoo!!

Chatting with First-mate Stephanie...

Then, we saw them……US Customs Border Patrol…..coming at us with lights flashing, Customs vests on, serious looking.

Kevin asked everyone to come on deck (kids were in the salon again) and he asked Stephanie to get the paperwork. Through my painkiller haze, I watched the Tortola ferry round the bend toward Cruz Bay….and the border patrol was coming right up next to us…and someone said “they’re going to board”……

More tomorrow........... 😉