Day 5 - Smuggler's Cove

Sadly, today was our last full day on Tortola.  While eating breakfast, we saw a double rainbow.  We had a full day planned which included buying souvenirs for our family, filling up the rental car with gas and attempting to find Smuggler's Cove on the West End.  On our way to Roadtown, we stopped by L&L consignment store in Fish Bay.  The nice man at Sherwin Williams paint store told us exactly how to get there.  The store was a lot of fun if you enjoy thrift stores, although the prices were a bit higher than in the U.S.  We did find a beautiful hand-painted pictures of four West End beaches (it turned out that we saw all of those beaches today!).  From there, we drove all the way out to Smuggler's Cove.  It was difficult to get there as part of the road was a very steep bumpy dirt road. The snorkeling was well worth the drive!  The beach was a little crowded, but we were able to have our own space for reading and snorkeling.  After spending a few hours there, we headed back and stopped at Bananakeet Cafe for a early dinner.

Day 4 - Marina Cay

Today, we took the free ferry from Trellis Bay out to Marina Cay for a relaxing day.  This island is extremely small and doesn't have any road traffic.  There were only a handful of people on the beach so it felt like we really had the whole beach to ourselves.  The water was calm and shallow which made for some easy snorkeling.  We had a late lunch on the beach.  The food and service were great.  After lunch, we walked around a bit visited the gift shop.  Good thing we were paying attention to all of the people heading to the return ferry as we were the last people to board at 3:30.  The ferry then took off for Trellis Bay even though the schedule said it was going to leave at 3:45!  After a wonderful day at Marina Cay, we came back and relaxed a while on Lambert Beach before calling it a day.

Day 3 - Norman Island and The Indians

Today, we got an early start and left Prettyview around 7:30 to head to Soper's Hole to board the "Aristocat" charter boat for a snorkeling adventure.  The cruise itinerary consisted of Norman Island, Pirate's Bight, Willy T's, Angelfish Reef and the Indians.  Peter and Jodie were awesome and took great care of all fourteen of us on board.  We were even greeted by their sweet dog, Betsy who went along with us on our day trip.  The snorkeling was amazing but the snorkeling at the Indians was by far the best that we have ever done.  It's a must to completely circle around the rocks.  At first, Kristie was scared and just wanted to snorkel close to the boat.  She eventually decided to snorkel around the rocks.  Amazing coral and fish!!  We had lunch on the boat and plenty of snacks throughout the day.  After an all day trip at see, we were exhausted and didn't feel like going out for dinner.  So we ordered a pizza to go from Emile's and took it back to Prettyview.  It was delicious!

Day 2 - Lambert Beach

Today, we decided we were going to be adventurous and find some great snorkeling spots.  But first we stopped by the Riteway store to get some groceries.  Riteway is very small with mostly imported food ($10 for milk gallon, $4 for bread, etc.).  After stopping back at Prettyview to unload our groceries and make our lunch, we set off to the West End of the island.  We went along Ridge Road and got turned around a few times.  We made it as far as Cane Garden Bay, but didn't stop for any snorkeling because the waves were rough.  We really didn't have a good map, and it didn't help that none of the roads were labeled.  We got turned around several times and ended up coming back to Lambert Beach and relaxing.  Dinner that night was at an open-air restaurant, the Tamarind Club.  We pretty much had the restaurant to ourselves that night, with the exception of a friendly kitty-cat that kept us company.  The atmosphere was pretty laid back and the food was good.

Day 1 - Travelling Adventures

These posts are Kristie's journal entries in the guest book at Prettyview Villa:

"We arrived at Prettyview in the evening after a long day of travel.  The ferry in St. Thomas and going through Customs in BVI was quite the experience.  We were thankful to have all of our luggage (even though the ferry people broke a small piece off our suitcase by throwing it onto the ferry) in hand.  A nice local man helped us find our rental vehicle.   We had rented our car from DeDe's  We did get a bit turned around trying to find Prettyview at first, but after a few turnarounds we found it.  We enjoyed hearing the crashing waves upon our our animal and were excited to see the amazing views in the morning."

Leaving Road Town, Tortola, heading towards our villa

View of St. John from the ferry boat named "Provincetown III"



View from the ferry dock in Charlotte Amalie Ferry Terminal, St. Thomas

View landing in St. Thomas

Leaving ATL

Heavy rain in ATL - waiting to board