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Like I said, it would be over in the blink of an eye. Here I sit at my desk at work and it doesn't even seem like I was even gone (other than the tan).
Now for my review. Where to begin....... I hope I don't bore anyone with my long review.
First and foremost, to everyone who made me worry about Bluebeard's Castle, shame on you. The room was clean and nice. I called once for new towels and someone was at our door in minutes. We also called once for maintence (clogged toilet) and they were there just as fast. The grounds were kept up and the pool and hot tub were working just fine. The Room With a View restaurant was fabulous!!! I had the Chicken Cordon Blue and I will never be able to eat it again here in the states.
My husband and I spent a day at Magen's Beach. It was slightly crowded but beautiful and they have great pizza!!! Thanks to Marty, we hit Udder Delight on our way back to our resort and the Bananaquit was very tasty. My husband had the Berry Berry Good and that is was.
We listened to the timeshare spill to get the VIP card Marty spoke about. That qualified us for the two-for-one deal on New Horizons all day sail and don't forget about that complimentary bottle of Cruzan rum. That afternoon we went to see these rock formations that are near Megan's. It was a very deserted area and it was the neatest thing to see. The water hits the side of the rocks and makes sprays and there is a pool of water that has formed in the rocks. Unfortunately, I was to chicken to get in it for fear of drowning. It really did a number on our feet too since we were wearing slip ons. OOPS!!!! Marty, do you know the name of this area? The person who did our timeshare spill told us about it.
The New Horizons All Day Sail was terrific. We snorkeled in two different locations off of St. John's. The food they served was very good and the Pain Killers were something else.
We spent an afternoon shopping on Main Street and the Waterfront. I would recommended going to the Waterfront to shop for souvenirs. There are a ton of locals who set up tarp canopies and sell everything you can imagine. You will need to do some bartering but they seem to like that. They sell T-Shirts 4 for $10.00.
If anyone plans to take Taxi's around the islands, they are readily available but can get pricey. We rented a car and were glad we did.
We also spent a day on Captain Nautica's Powerboat BVI and Norman Island tour. We snorkeled around the Indians, which are off of Norman Island and then spent time at the Baths of Virgin Gorda. They were nice but hard to crawl through. I am almost 6-feet tall and that was tricky. The only thing I didn't care for was how they pulled up about 100 yards (one football field) from shore and dropped anchor and made you swim to the beach. Of course the day we went the water was rough and there were alot of waves. According to them that is rare for the area around Virgin Gorda. It was so bad we weren't made to swim back to the boat instead we hiked up a mountain in our bare feet and took a taxi to a nearby Marina where they docked the boats for us to get back on.
We ate at Shipwreck Tavern, a bar/restaurant on top of Paradise Point (by the way, it is not longer free to ride the tram to Paradise Point during happy hour on Wednesday nights. Since we were at Bluebeard's and did the timeshare thing they charged us $5 a person), we had pizza from the pizza place by Shipwreck ( I think it was called Amore Pizza), Room With a View and of course Wendy's. All the food we had was good, no complaints.
Well I hope you all enjoyed reading my review. I hope I wasn't to long but I love to talk about our trip. Can you tell?????!!!!!
Hello Roka,
Wonderful review... not too long at all :-). The area you went to with the rocks is Peterborg Point.
Thanks for sharing!
--Islander
Cool review Roka!! Where's the pictures????
Didja get that recipe for painkiller??? I DID! I've made it now 3 times for everyone that comes over to my house!! I even mad a batch & gave to my step-father for Christmas.
Yup, Udder Delight is a great place...have to be careful not to blink, you'll miss it!
Sooo.....when ya going back!!
So, you drove around to how many other beaches? Do you regret staying in town, or would you have rather stayed somewhere away from the busy downtown area?
We really liked the downtown area....but after spending the day there once...on the day that 7 cruise ships were there...we will for sure go back to Sapphire when we go back!
Loved the review. We are looking at new horizons II. How long was the spiel to get the coupon book? There will be four of us to listen. much pressure to purchase? and was it easy to find at the airport? thanks in advance
If you are stay at the Cstle, they will call you to set appt., but if not, just walk downtown by Vendor's Plaza and someone will approach you with an offer to see a timeshare presentation. Tell them you want a 2-4-1 and they will hook you up. You have to spend at least an hour. They will try to make it longer, and they will use all sorts of sales tactics to try to get you to buy. Just say, "No. My hour is up and I would like me gifts and my taxi ride. Thank you."
Islander--surprised you didn't mention that the currents around Picara Point (tip of Pbrg peninsula) are extremely treacherous. in fact, some of the STT maps specifically warn visitors to not swim there. Roka was very wise, not chicken, to not get in. but it is truly a wild, powerfully scenic place to visit, especially when the surf is up. and the road to get there is pretty exciting too!
Sitter,
We only managed to drive to Magen's and Coki. Coki was the first snokeling adventure we had. I have to tell you....this is funny.....when we arrived on the beach, we were approached by a local who asked us if we needed equipment. We did but were told by the person who did our timeshare presentation that we should go to Coral World first and rent a locker to keep out personal belongings in. Once we told him we did need equipment but we needed to get a locker first he told us that he had those too. We followed him to a covered area where a another local (lady) was renting equipment for $10 a person and she proceeded to pull a Rubbermaid storage tote out from under a table. She told us that these were the lockers he spoke of. As you can imagine, my husband and I must have had a concerned look on our faces and she tapped my husband on the back and reassured him that our stuff would be fine that she stayed there the whole time and and watched everything. Well, we agreed and our stuff was just the way we left it when we returned. What a relief!!
We didn't mind being so close to town. There were only three cruise ships at a time on the harbor. I guess it wasn't that busy.
I have asked my husband to set up something with our pictures so they can be viewed. I will let everyone know once it is completed.
I didn't get any recipes for the mixed drinks. My husband and I aren't really drinkers so it didn't interest me that much.
I would love to go back but I have to wait until my husband racks up somemore frequent flyer miles. We flew for free and stayed for free. My mother-in-law has bought several timeshares and she can trade a week for us just about anywhere in the country. We lucked out with this trip since we started looking for a place two months before we were ready to leave. Usually for a place like STT you need at least a year to get in anywhere.
Something else that was neat....we got to see the Queen Mary 2, which is the fairly new cruise ship they built out of Southampton. It is the biggest in the world. Pretty cool! I have a picture but it doesn't do her justice.
Donna,
Out timeshare spill lasted about 2 hours. The girl who conducted it was extremely nice and she was from our area so we talked alot about Pittsburgh. Also she had pictures of things around the island to see and do, if we had time. She was the one who told us about the rocks and a place called The Mountaintop and Drake's Seat. We got some really nice pictures from Drake's Seat. With my few experiences with timeshare presentation (3 in all) I have only felt pressured once. Sad to say but it is usually nicer when you have a female presenter. They tend to be less pushy (no offense guys)!
As far as the airport goes, it was easy to find. The island is only 14 miles long from what I understand. I felt that it would be very hard to get lost. We had never been there before and we didn't have any trouble. The hardest part was remembering to drive on the left side of the road and trying to memorize where the huge pot holes were (everywhere). Oh, and the roads tend to be narrow, windy and very hilly (if that is a word). Sometimes the taxis can be alittle agressive.
AZ,
Thanks for not thinking I was a chicken. I had my feet in it but was not able to see the bottom so I didn't get in. While I was sitting there contemplating, I was covered with a spray from the water hitting the rocks. We were there when the tide was up. I think it was around 5:00 when we left there.
You are right, the road there could be dangerous if there was another car coming in the other direction.
Marty or Islander,
When we were leaving Peterborg Point, we saw two locals over the one hill side collecting something from off of rocks. They weren't on the rocks we have been speaking of. Any idea what they were collecting?
Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the coupons are for New Horizons day sail, not New Horizons II which is a power yacht. I believe that Budget Car Rentals has that coupon too.
Dale,
You are correct. The coupon is for the New Horizon's day sail on a sail boat.
And we rented a car through Budget and they also have the same deal. You just get more at the timeshare speech. We were also able to save 20% on the Captain Nautica trip. We waited until we arrived to try and book a charter out to the BVI but were unsuccessful. Everyone was booked solid. Erin, our conciege, was about to get us onto Captain Nautica. I would have been so disappointed to have missed the BVI.
Roka..we are not much drinkers either...but I did like those painkillers!!
Yep..we had an 'experience' at Coki beach too...I really had the urge to tell the gentleman that doted over us all day....that slavery was over man...sit down & let us alone!!! But I know he was just doing his job & tyring to make a living. Very expensive day at the beach for us tho.... I think we dropped nearly $100 that day alone at the beach!! And we just ate, had a couple drinks....oh yea...there was Thomas the hatman that was real persistant that we buy his love birds. But, now that I'm home & everyone is admireing them, I'm glad I did.
Our favorite beach was on St John...Cinnamon Beach, then Megan's Beach on St. Thomas. We will check out different beaches when we return. We had to **save** some things as an excuse to get back!!
We have miles built up too, so we get to go back!! Just have to find a free place to stay now!! Maybe I'll do some daycare for the owner of a resort down there for room & board!! I have time to plan, so I'll keep hopeing!!
Sitter,
I think I saw Thomas the Hatman. Was he making woven, green banana leaf hats? I think he is the guy I saw roll a joint for one of the guys on the beach and sell it to him. INTERSTING!!!!
My excuse to go back is to see St. John. We were going to spend a day there but just got tired of running. Funny, you go on a vacation to relax and rest and that isn't what you do at all. One night is was asleep by 8:00. PITIFUL!!!!!
I think there was some confusion yesterday when I said I was considering getting into the water at Peterborg Point. The thought never entered my mind to get into the ocean surrounding the rocks. I was considering getting into a bath that had formed in the rocks themselves. Unfortunately, when the waves hit the rocks, water entered that bath and that is what made me nervous. So does that mean I am a chicken?!?!?!?!?
Nope, no chicken. there are occasional "rogue" waves that hit the point. these are large enough to not only crush anyone/anything against the rocks, but also to wash out to sea whatever might be in the "holes" of relatively quiet waters b/w the rocks.
as i type this, i have sitting next to me a detailed map of p'brg pt provided by mclaughlin/anderson, a company that rents villas on the pt. on the map there is a large arrow pointing to the pt, and the arrow connects to the following warning (emphasis included in original): "EXTREME CAUTION, DO NOT SWIM AT POINT AND STAY OFF ROCKS! People have been swept away by unexpected rogue waves on this point."
Well now, if I would have read that before hand I never would have gone out there.
Hey Marty...maybe you should contact your friend Erin at Bluebeard's and tell her to tell the timeshare people not to tell visitors to go out there.
Come to think of it there were about 8-10 other people climbing around when we were there. Two guys tried to tell me that they had been in the bath. Of course, they weren't wet so I figured they were pulling my leg to see if I would go in. They hung around on the rocks for alittle while watching I guess to see if I would do it. My husband loved this place. He said he could have sat out there all day. We even thought about going back for sunset. Needless to say we never made it back out there. That, I think, might have been a good thing.
It is an absolutely gorgeous area, but I don't recommend getting in any of the water there...even the "pool", as there are usrchins in it that may get you. ust go there and look/take pics, etc.
Erin is "supposed" to tell people not to enter the water ther, but she musta goofed. The last shark bite was when someone was snorkeling out there, where you are NOT suposed to. This was back in '72.
Erin didn't tell us anything about the place. It was the girl who conducted the timeshare presentation. She had pictures of the place with her fiancee in them sitting on the rocks. We asked her if she had ever gotten into the "pool" but she said no because you never know what the waves are going to do. That was it. She recommended going to see it. Never mentioned anything about getting in the surrounding waters. I can truly say it IMHO it would take a totally insane person to get into the surrounding ocean. Just the fact that there is no one nearby in case of an emergency. You could die out there and never be found.
Marty,
I asked in a previous posting on this topic about the locals we saw over a hill up there picking something up from the rocks. Any idea what they were doing?
Great review-
I too LOVE Room w/ a View. It's always my favorite meal when I am there!
"I asked in a previous posting on this topic about the locals we saw over a hill up there picking something up from the rocks. Any idea what they were doing?"
Were they "near" the water? If so, probaly little crabs.
If not near water, they may have been harvesting anything from mushrooms (the magic kind), to lemon grass, to glass bottle that they dropped and it broke into a bunch of pieces. I'd have to se them to nail it down for sure.
I'm not Marty, but I suspect they were picking whelks, a mollusk that attaches to the rocks.
