Sit back and relax, here we go, another long one.  I swear this is the last ridiculously long post for awhile, but I’m a detail person and I can’t help it.  Next stop on the trip-o-rama was the British Virgin Islands. We had planned this trip with Steve and Lori. You may remember we all went to Jost Van Dyke, BVI a few years back (because Kenny Chesney sings about it). Then S&L chartered a boat a couple years back and went all over the BVI’s and it looked amazing. We wanted to do it too!

Unfortunately, CW couldn’t go last minute =( but made me promise to still go. It was already paid for and I was ready for some happy days in the island sun. We had planned to stay at a resort on Tortola for the first 2 nights and then meet up with them for the last 3 (they were on the boat 10 days total). Both S&L are super skilled on boats (must be their Florida roots) and I definitely felt safe with Steve as my captain and Lori as first mate. She kind of got the short end of the stick having to run all over, tie up those ropes (whatever they’re called), put the bumpers out, do the moorings (that takes major skill fyi), put the dinghy (known as Yellow Bird) in and out, geez, that’s some hard work for sure. I wasn’t much help. Big surprise.

Anyways, I was warned that there would be no over-packing on this trip and no jewelry. Wa-wah??  I could only carry on my mountain of stuff–no checking bags. Well, it took me about two weeks to get it to work, but I did it (and still managed to end up packing about 5 dresses too many it ended up). I headed to Tortola (via San Juan) and was hoping that all the rain that I’d seen in the forecast was a joke. My flight into San Juan arrived early, so I went straight to the Cape Air desk and they were able to get me on the flight leaving right then. I walked out on the tarmac, saw that tiny little plane and freaked a bit.

I went through customs, grabbed a cab and hoped the driver wasn’t going to kidnap me and put me into sexual slavery (d*mn Dateline, why do I watch those shows before going out of the country)? I saw that he had a “World’s Best Dad” sign hanging from his rearview mirror and asked him if he had kids. He did and talked about them for about half the ride (whew, he was cool and not a murderer of ladies traveling by themselves). 45 minutes later we pulled into Long Bay and the rain actually stopped for me.

I walked down on the beach, had lunch at the pool, chatted with a lady who was also by herself and finally headed up to my room to change for dinner. It’s a good thing I’m cool with doing things on my own (thanks to the crazy hours CW works at the hospital), I just grabbed my book and walked down the beach to the restaurant.

I woke up and went to breakfast back on the beach (and realized exactly 20 minutes in that my legs were being eaten alive by a mass of bugs).

It was my own private island.

The sweet waitress gave me Skin so Soft (for $10) and said it would help. It did. Where was she the day before? I hung out with a rooster (or, was he a chicken—more of that to come later) and talked to him like he/she was a person.  I was definitely glad that I was off to meet S&L at Sopers Hole shortly. I’m pretty sure I was going a bit loony in my solitude.

We woke up bright and early and were excited to go to The Baths in Virgin Gorda.  Well, that was not in our cards my friends.  We lost an engine and had to make our way back to the marina in Tortola to get our Dixie a check-up.  Yes, you heard me–lost an engine!  

We were all more than ready to get off the boat and find a happy hour place. 

I was woken up around 4am by a crazy storm and was more than excited to recognize that we were in fact docked at the marina and not moored out in the ocean.  I took the opportunity to finally shower at the marina bathrooms (I did not get to enjoy the treachery of trying to maneuver a shower in one of the boat bathrooms).  Somehow even IN the shower I was still being eated by mosquitos.  We were off to enjoy our last full day. 

Lori found a swing,

I found a hammock and she did a photo shoot for me.  I had written in the sand back at Long Bay, but decided I really needed to be IN the photos and would make a little collage for CW.  I’m so sweet I know… 

 Last stop was the infamous Willy T.  I was ready.  Bring it on. 

It was time to head home and the rain was back.  Go figure.

CW and I were originally booked on a later flight than S&L that would meet up in San Juan.  After saying goodbye to them at the airport, I was growing a bit weary of my little Cessna, set to “maybe” take off 2 hours later.  The storm got a little too strong for my liking and I high-tailed it over to the American Airlines counter.  I decided to just bight the bullet and bought a ticket on that bigger plane because I had a feeling I wouldn’t be getting out of her if not.  No way was I up for another solo night and with a tropical storm looming!  The extra money was more than worth my sanity and I even ended up right behind S&L on the flight.  After a long day of traveling and approximately 30 bug bites, I opened my door to my pretty pups. 

 I don’t think it’s stopped raining since I got home 8 days ago….I’m over this rain, but rain in the BVI’s is still better than Tampa.