Vacation - last installment!

I believe this will be the last in my vacation picture series! We really should be getting back to the whole flower theme of this here blog. Funny how a week away from one's normal life can be so distracting even upon returning to said "normal" life! The tan starts to fade after a while, but the vividness of the sights and sounds are still just right there!

Here are some pictures of the roiling surf in Tortola's Long Bay:



This is my husband body-surfing at Smuggler's Cove. The last two days we were there, the waves were really big!


You will not find any photos of me body-surfing. I had a terrible, terrifying incident the last time we visited Tortola. We visited the same place in Long Bay for our belated honeymoon in 2003. The waves were pretty big that year, as it was this year, but I had always been a very strong swimmer. During my childhood summers, you'd find me either in our pool, at the beach in Traverse City or in the trout stream that outlined our yard. I was a fish and have always deemed myself a very strong summer.

Well, let me just tell you about rip tides, my dears. They are scary. Scary scary. I swam out a ways, and couldn't get back in. The harder you try to get in, the more the undertow carries you out. Panic sets in and then you REALLY can't get anywhere! It is common knowledge that you are to swim parallel with the beach until you find a spot where the undertow is not as bad, but, seriously? When you cannot get back into the beach, the farthest thing from your mind is logic!

Luckily my husband, who is even more of a fish, saw the look of terror on my face and swam out to rescue me. He dragged me back in toward some shallows where we could get some footing. Unfortunately the sea urchins were plentiful in this spot and I stepped on one, and also managed to scrape up my legs pretty badly. It was a very upsetting event, not just because of the injuries, but also my ego! Crud! I no longer feel completely free in the water - especially if there are waves.

Anywho, that's my sad story...No body-surfing for me!

Ok. Back to prettinesss! This is a view on our way up to a high, high hilltop restaurant called the Bananakeet on the way to Cane Garden Bay. I believe this is Carrot Bay, below:


And this was the view from our table at a pretty, little restaurant on Carrot Bay. It's right across the street from a fancy-schmancy hotel and restaurant called The Sugar Mill. I had delicious fish tacos here!


Lastly, here are the shells we collected on this particular trip. Everywhere we go, we come home with a collection of neato shells...Maybe that can be another future post! Shells I have known and loved!

Smuggler's Cove

I think there will be just one more day after this one of our vacation pictures. We have a ton more, so I'll just pick some random ones to put up here tomorrow. Only wish I could include the sound of the surf and the nice, warm breeze as part of the picture-viewing process...I guess that's the thing about tropical islands - it's not just the pretty ocean and plants, it's the smell, the sounds, and the feel of the air. It's just different.

This post is dedicated to Smuggler's Cove. It's a tucked-away beach, probably a half mile or more of white sand and then coral on each end. There are small reefs to the right and to the left of the beach, and it's far more calm than the beach you find at our hotel on Long Bay. The surf in front of our room was pounding, roiling, BIG! No one was swimming at Long Bay this time around.

Here are some of the critters we saw while snorkeling at Smuggler's Cove. The coral is not in great shape, but there were a number of good fish to see:




Isn't that octopus adorable? Such a good photo - taken by my husband!

Here's the beach itself:

(Please pardon my goofy expression!)

Here is the view from my beach chair on our last day. I love palm trees with all my heart!

The adorable little beach bar. The blender was run by a long cord attached to a big battery that sat in the guy's truck! Most ingenious!
We ate lunch there twice. He made the best barbequed chicken! Served with rice and beans.

Last photo is a great shot that my husband took while he was out snorkeling. Check out the colors in the water in the background. SO gorgeous.

Snorkeling at Norman Island

Most of the time when we go on vacation, we intend to do more than just lay there like big blobs on the beach. We have grand plans of going on a day trip here or there, to go snorkeling or fishing or visit another island. However, once we arrive at our vacational home base -wherever that may be - we have always just ended up blobbing on the beach. We swim, we will snorkel, but mostly it's the blobbing we do.

THIS time, we actually DID something!!! I'm so proud of us!

We totally blobbed on our first full day there - at a most glorious beach called Smuggler's Cove. There is white sand, a couple of reefs for snorkeling, and, most importantly, there are two VERY small beach bars that also serve food! What more could anyone need? Will post pictures of Smuggler's Cove tomorrow.

Today's post will be about the very nice snorkeling trip we took out to Norman Island. There were 4 other vacationers on the boat, along with the captain and a dive master. Two of the other people on the boat were also going to dive aside from snorkeling.

There were three stops in this day trip - one at a place called the Indians (big rocks that look like a headdress), one at these neat caves, and then the last stop in an area called Angelfish Reef. Here are some of the critters from the first location:





Here I am looking rather pleased! I do love the water!

The second stop had a series of three caves. Each had its own distinct set of animals. Really quite interesting. Here are the photos from the caves:





The last stop didn't really have anything notable other than this big barracuda!They are so menacing-looking with those big teeth!

After snorkeling on and off for a few hours, we then ventured over to a very famous restaurant/bar called Willy T's to have a nice lunch! It's built on a barge that looks like an old pirate ship. Very cool!

Ahhh, the good life!

We're BAAAAAACCCCCKKKK!!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Our vacation was nothing short of sublime. The weather, the food, the sea, the critters, the views, the people...Everything was just fantastic!

We mostly plopped on the beach, ate yummy local food (you all must eat roti at some point in your life), swam, snorkeled, got tan, got sunburned, slept, read books and drank delicious things like rum punch and painkillers (not the pills, the drink!).

It was just perfection from start to end. We flew to St. Thomas from Boston - only a 3.5 hour flight. Easy-peasy. Then took a taxi to the ferry and rode over on a gross, old scow to the West End of Tortola. Got a ride to the car rental place and then immediately drove into the main town, Road Town, to eat at the Roti Palace.

The Roti Palace is definitely far from a palace. It's the upper level in the building shown here:


It's an open-air, tiny little restaurant. The woman who is the owner and cook and waitress is a very cute, older lady who speaks in some unknown accent, impossible to understand! Her banter is NOT the reason we go...It's the roti, mon!! Like a Caribbean burrito, roti feature curried meat and potatoes inside, wrapped in a chick-pea flower tortilla-thingy. They are served with hot sauce and chutney. We like the chicken roti. They are unbelieveably delicious.

After eating our roti, we were off to our gorgeous hotel. Here was our view for 8 days (click on the photo to enlarge):

How about the color of the water? It's seriously gorgeous. Over every hill and turn there is a view that just knocks your socks off! The vibrancy of the water and the green trees and the beautiful flowers is just a feast for the eyes.

I will be posting more pictures in the coming days...We took lots of pictures this time, which was unusual for us! Most cool was the camera we borrowed from my husband's Dad. It's a Canon Power Shot D10 and this amazing little camera takes gorgeous pictures not only in the air, but under water, as well! SO cool!

Here's my merman of a husband:

Here I am on our snorkeling trip to Norman Island:


And here are just a few of the critters we saw whilst snorkeling! First, a gorgeous parrot fish:


A hawksbill turtle. My husband saw three of these - I saw this one and one who was on the surface.


And, this...The coolest find, I think! An octopus! How great is this?


I have to run out to a meeting now, but I wanted to get a few of these incredible photos up for my husband's sister who reads this! Hi H!!! : )