Tuesday, April 26th

Hard to talk about any part of the day prior to our arrival at Secret Harbour – but, must try. Had our last “ok” continental breakfast at BW. Took our last walk on the beach and sadly said goodbye to our gorgeous view and this lovely beach.

Thought we would do some shopping in town, but gave up after driving around for 45 minutes looking for a parking spot. Don’t know if it is always this hard – or just due to carnival week. If we had really wanted to shop, we probably could have parked in Havensight and walked or taken a taxi back to town. But, decided that we would alter our plans for the morning and just move on.

We took the Tram Ride up to Paradise Point. (Again, had a little 2-for-1 coupon from our discount book.) It was neat seeing the 3 cruise ships in port from this vantage point.

Had our famous Baileys Bushwackers at Paradise Point. They were really good! It was nice to see the view from up there. Really a great view of the harbor and city.

Watched a cute little Parrot show at 1:30. We also saw some really cute hummingbirds in the flowers. The parrot show truthfully was a little hokey – but the birds were truly gorgeous. The trainer even had two little parrots playing against each other in a one on one basketball match up. That was really pretty neat watching these little birds pick up the little balls with their beaks and dunk the balls in their little basketball hoops. (I know it sounds kind of juvenile – but, it was kind of cute!)

Now to the good stuff – we arrived at Secret Harbour at 2:30. (Just a little preamble: I had originally requested a non-smoking, king room on an upper floor. A few weeks after that, I called reservations to see if I could be more specific in my request. I specifically wanted Building #2 – the reservationist asked me why I wanted that building. I said that based on a lot of reports and reviews that I had read from previous guests – they seemed to really recommend building #2 based on it being the closest to the water – yet not too close to the bar area, such as building #1. She kind of light-heartedly quipped back “they might think building #2 is the best – but, they haven’t seen the other rooms”. It was hard to tell if she was just being cute and giving me a hard time – or what the outcome would really be. So, needless to say – I was anxious to see where we ended up.)

All good things come to those who wait: We arrived and we were given our room card. Room 232 (aka Building #2, 3rd & Top Floor, Room #2). I was thrilled!! We got to our room, opened the door and we both stopped breathing. We were looking right beyond our living room, out the 18-foot glass window (with sliding doors) towards our huge balcony overlooking gorgeous palm trees, lovely beach and beautiful bay. Truly couldn’t believe that we actually got the building that we wanted. We had arrived in paradise!

Just a quick synopsis of the one bedroom suite: Huge living room with sectional seating, huge bedroom, big kitchen, dishwasher, full refrigerator, full size dining table and also counter with bar stools. Huge double sinked bathroom vanity with full toiletries and hair dryer. In short, it was basically a well-equipped condo. Incredibly comfortable. Huge closets and tons of bureau space. A true home away from home.

Had lunch at the Blue Moon Café. We each had a delicious Turkey BLT Wrap. They were so huge, we definitely could have split just one. Very friendly service – and “yes” the fries are really great. Oh yeah, the view is pretty good, too! (Ha, ha)

Unpacked – then headed off to Red Hook to the much recommended Marina Market for supplies. What a fantastic store! Everything you could possibly need: milk, deli meats, breads, pastries, liquor, soda – you name it, it is here. Great one-stop shopping!

Back to “our” place to get ready for the “much anticipated” high point of our trip! All joking aside, we were really looking forward to attending the Manager’s Party to not only enjoy the free appetizers, free rum punch and hear great music – but, to finally meet some of our travel forum friends – particularly Ginger and Steve. Of course, we arrived at the party and were immediately given “name tags” to wear. At first, I wasn’t going to put mine on – but then realized that it would be a good idea particularly since we were trying to locate some people. Lo and behold, those name tags came in handy cause I spotted Ginger (and her name tag confirmed that it was her). So nice to finally put a face to a name and have the pleasure of meeting them and their relatives and other friends. As expected they were as friendly and genuine in person as they were on-line. We truly feel that we have not only made new acquaintances – but, have truly found new friends.

The party was great and “Yes” Steve’s duet with Ernest, the manager, was truly spectacular. It was a great end to another wonderful day. Said our goodbyes to our new friends and headed back to our little “humble” abode. Before hitting the sack, wrote my daily thoughts in my little journal. The day ended with the following thought – “Love this place!”