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Caribbean Travel RoundupNewsletter - Paul Graveline, Editor |
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We arrived on Thursday March 8. Beth, my wife, planned our arrival specifically so we could attend the Full Moon Party on the 9th (more about that later). We flew in on a 10-seater from San Juan and went through customs with no problem, mainly because we don't have dreadlocks -- believe it or not, the government of the British Virgin Islands won't allow people with dreadlocks to pass through customs. This is pretty surprising, because Tortola is otherwise quite libertarian, albeit civilized. The airport in Tortola is not really on Tortola, but actually on Beef Island and is connected by the diminutive Queen Elizabeth Bridge, which is guarded at one end by an elderly civil servant in a toll booth. You drop your 50 cents into a coconut shell that is attached to a length of bamboo which the toll keeper silently but authoritatively thrusts at you as you approach. They don't have the Fast Pass here and I'm not sure what happens to toll evaders, but I hear that they still hang criminals in the Caribbean, so I dug out 50 cents and plunked them in Her Majesty's coconut shell. Anyway, Beef Island Airport is, shall we say, Built by the British Army in the mid-sixties out of plywood and corrugated tin (kind of like Heathrow), there are chickens and goats wandering around the lobby and the parking lot. We had arranged to be picked up by Hertz and driven to their office in town, but being the islands where nothing is really certain, they didn't show. No worries, mon said the agent,I think one of me cars is out there, and if you can find it and find the keys, it;s yours.; So after running around the two dustbowls that double as parking lots, still in Northeast stress- mode, sweating my butt off, I found the dusty Suzuki and shoveled through a pile of ashes in the ash tray and pulled out the keys and we headed into town, driving on the British side of the road, but sitting on the American side of the car. Road Town to us Bostonians) is the capital of the BVIs and its main commercial port where many yacht charters also originate. Though it;s not a huge city, it;s quite bustling and has the ubiquitous goats and chickens and cows running around loose on the streets. After we stopped by Hertz to trade up our car for an even newer Suzuki Sidekick with fewer inches of sand and cigarette ashes inside, we gave the agent a ride home and headed to the West End of the island to meet our friend Ginger at the ferry dock. She was coming in by ferry from St. Thomas because her and her husband Kevin;s surfboards wouldn;t fit on the little planes that fly from San Juan into Beef Island. Kevin was flying in from a business trip in Sweden and wouldn;t arrive until Saturday, after the Full Moon Party. So, from the West End we headed to our villa in Brewer;s Bay - about 5 miles as the crow flies, but about 30 minutes drive. Tortola is incredibly mountainous and the roads are unbelievably steep and winding, never allowing you to drive faster than 35 mph. The last mile or so down the mountainside into Brewer;s Bay is not only steep but unpaved. If it was a ski trail, it would be triple black diamond with moguls; if it was a ride at Disneyworld, people under 12 and those with a history of heart disease would be prohibited from riding. Brewer;s Bay is pretty remote and quiet - just a beach, a beach bar, a campground, and a long-abandoned rum distillery. Icis Villas is in a clearing in the jungle about 300 yards from the beach. We were greeted by Alison, a friendly 30-ish Brit who previously had worked on one of the Windjammer ships. She checked us in and served us dinner along with Icis herself, a charming Tortolan who is also director of operations at the local office of Scotia Bank, is on the Board of Immigration, and is wife of the Chief of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force. Anyway, we had a few cocktails and went to bed, although we were a bit distracted by the whistling tree-frogs outside our window along with the screeching cats in heat. At 4AM, we were woken up by a cacophony of roosters which, in turn, incited the bleating of a herd of goats. From then on, we slept with the windows closed and the air conditioner on. The next day, we had breakfast and headed into Roadie to buy groceries and alcohol (Rum is about 1/3 the price that you pay in the US -- (Ginger & Kevin brought their Black & Decker rechargeable blender) pick up our snorkeling gear, and to get our BVI drivers licenses. We also stopped by the BVI agricultural fair -- kind of like the Topsfield County Fair, but without the giant pumpkin contest. Much to our dismay, we missed the presentation of the Farmer of the Year Award. Back at Brewers Bay, Ginger and I went surfing in the swells that the Nor;easter sent down. I;m still quite a novice, but I looked pretty cool standing on the beach with my surfboard tucked under my arm...isn't that what's most important anyway? Ginger got whacked in the head by her board and had a lump near her temple that reminded me of the ones that the Coyote used to get when the anvil fell on his head instead of the Roadrunner;s. The lump eventually went down, but she had a black eye for the remainder of the trip. On to the Full Moon Party! Bomba;s Surfside Shack is owned by Bomba, an aging, crusty Tortolan who drives a beat up Cadillac with "DON;T SIT ON MY CAR!" spray painted on the hood. He is also the purveyor of the infamous Bomba;s Punch - essentially four ounces of rum with a hint of fruit juice and an ice cube or two. The Shack is literally a scrap heap, but that;s all part of its charm. Its floor is sand, its foundation is plywood and is fortified by flotsam and jetsam and other junk including auto parts, license plates, pitchforks, hubcaps, busted computer monitors, telephones, mattresses, toilet seats, and whatever else happened to wash up on shore during the last hurricane. Across the street in a dirt lot is an ocean cargo container from which elderly local women cook ribs and chicken on an open pit. The place is frequented by local rastas with names like One Love and Natty Dreadlocks who love to dance with the female tourists, including my wife. Down the street is an evangelical church whose pastor preaches about the evils of Bomba;s. The inside of Bomba;s is even more intriguing. The ceiling is decorated with a wide assortment of women;s undergarments - which brings us to some of Bomba;s “policies”. Bomba holds court each night at the corner of the bar. A woman can get a free drink if she gives Bomba her panties. She drinks free all night if she takes them off in front of him. If she gets completely naked in front of him, she gets a T-Shirt. Stapled to the wall are dozens of polaroid photos that capture this policy being implemented. And, sure enough, while we were sitting at the bar, a few feet away a young woman pulled off her dress and at Bomba;s direction spun around a few times and bent over in front of him -- completely naked. She then re-dressed and collected her T-shirt… Beth and Ginger decided that they had enough T-shirts. Once a month, Bomba hosts the Full Moon Party. It's a combination of Woodstock, Animal House, and Jonestown. Thousands of people show up - locals and visitors - clogging the narrow road that runs along the beach. It starts around 9:00 and runs until sunrise and the bands are rocking the whole time. One event unique to the FM party is the midnight serving of tea made from hallucinogenic mushrooms (apparently legal in the BVI as long as they're free of charge). Like junkies at a methadone clinic, people crowded around a wooden stand in the dirt lot across the street from the Shack, first for cups, and then for tea. We stayed 3:00...the next day, our heads throbbed...pretty good for day two on Tortola.
I always like to say that the vacation starts the second you leave your house, so I'll start there! We decided to stay at a hotel near the airport the night before our departure since we didn't want to get up at the crack of dawn on the first day of our vacation. We live about 40 minutes away from the airport, and considering check- in was 3 hours prior to departure.... and our flight left at 8 am.... well, you see where I am going with this. In hindsight, though, I'm wondering if it really even mattered since I barely slept a wink that night. I was so excited for our trip, I could barely contain myself! :-) On to the flight: We flew first class (first time ever!) on Air Jamaica, and let me just start by saying, if you have the money to do it, upgrade to first class! What a nice treat! On any other airline, we wouldn't have been able to afford it, but Air Jamaica's first class is very reasonably priced. We flew Air Jamaica before (2 years ago), and I am highly impressed with them in general. There food is, in my opinion, among the best in the skies. The first class lounge at BWI was a nice treat as well. OK, jump ahead 3 hours and 40 minutes... we land in Montego Bay! Customs was a breeze, and about 30 seconds later we were greeted by a Sandals rep and put in a bus. We dropped everyone off at SMB except one other couple, and then it was off to SRC. I was really impressed when we drove up to the resort; it was so beautiful with all the flowers. We had booked a Honeymoon Beachfront Conceirge Room, so we were met by Pernell as we got off the bus. Pernell and I had been communicating via email for a few weeks, and I was so glad to finally meet him! If you are booked with concierge service, you will truly enjoy meeting Pernel. He is an amazing person; he was so helpful and friendly. We were taken into the Concierge office and checked in. Our room .... well, it was spectacular! We were in 69E, in the Windsor Block. I had been a little worried that we wouldn't like the room because I had heard so much about the Kennsington Block being quieter, nicer, etc..., but after a week of watching the sunsets from our porch and waking up every morning with the sand at our back door, I wouldn't have changed our room for the world! We were told the Windsor Block had recently been redone, and you really could tell. The only thing I could find wrong with the room was that it was loud in the evenings up until 11pm (due to the entertainment). The first day this bothered us a bit, but with the TV on and the AC running, we got used to it. Kind of like the whole plane situation. And, yes, you do sometimes hear the planes at SRC, though not nearly as much as at SMB. The maid service was wonderful and friendly (if anyone stays in the Windsor, say hello to Theresa for us! She was the highlight of our stay! ), the concierge service always refilled our bar (I drank enough Champagne to last me a lifetime) and room service (yes, we were lazy), though it did take anywhere from 30-60 minutes to deliver, was a great plus at 1 am when we had the munchies. Oh, and the bed was unbelievably comfortable. I slept like a baby the entire week! OK, on to the Food: We ate at every restaurant except the Pavilion, and I have to say I was highly impressed with everything except the Beach Grill. I would give it a B-. The reason I say that is 1.everything there was fried with the exception of the grilled chicken sandwich, which I lived on for a week. 2. there weren't nearly enough people working to accommodate everyone (especially at the bar! We had to wait a minimum of 20 minutes for a drink. Thank goodness we had a bar in our room!)3. the place was pretty dirty. The worst part was that the entire week we were there, there was no soap available for the cook to wash his hands. The soap dispenser just sat empty....kind of frightening...OK, VERY frightening... The buffet lunch and the buffet breakfast I'd both give an A-, and yes, they did serve lunch on the island, but we never were there for that lunch buffet. The salads and fruit were my favorite at every meal; very fresh! The only thing I could complain about is that silverware was not available at the buffet unless you asked for it or sat down in the Regency to get waited on. I started taking extra silverware sets and keeping them in the room the first day just so we wouldn't have to worry about it. Also, the omlette line was always long; they really need to get an extra omlette station. We ordered room service a few times for breakfast just to avoid the omlette wait. We ate at the Courtyard once (A, especially for atmosphere), and it really was delicious. My appetizer was better than my meal, though. Phil ate steaks the whole week: it didn't matter which restaurant we were in. (he loved them, but I don't think he thought they were as good as ones we can get at home, not to mention after a week of steaks, he was pretty steaked-out). We ate at the Regency (A+) twice, and I would highly recommend the.... well, I don't remember the name, but it was grilled chicken, topped with seafood. Very tasty! The Snapper was a must, too! We never did make it to the Pavilion, but from what I heard it got very mixed reviews. The Thai restaurant on the island was very good as well. I would probably give it an A-. My food was delicious, but Phil didn't like his that much, and we heard mixed reviews from everyone at the resort. The atmosphere was amazing on the island! One night we ate lobster in our room, and that was by FAR our best dinner. A++ ! But, then again, how can anything compete with lobster and champagne? Right? And finally, dessert. My favorite meal ;-) It didn't matter what time of day or where we ate, the dessert was FABULOUS! The banana bread in the morning was wonderful, there is a chocolate bread pudding thingy at the buffet and at the Courtyard, I believe, which was amazing, and ... well, I could go on and on... The Bars... well, like I said, prepare to wait a while for your drinks, but other than that, the bartenders were very friendly and fun! Not to mention, you're on island time, mon! I'd rather wait for a drink in Jamaica than in DC ;-) The drinks were fantastic! The dirty banana (I think that is what it is called) is a must Oh, but FYI there is a huge glass/cup shortage. The soda machine was facing the outside of the beach bar so that you could get your own sodas, but usually you had to wait a while for the bartenders to get you a clean glass. And just be sure to rinse our your glass a few times because it's usually still soapy. OK, how about I move onto the Beach and Pool. The biggest problem, by far, is that people save chairs and then don't end up using them,. I was up at 7:45am every morning grabbing beach chairs! Luckily I'm an early riser, but I can just imagine for those who are not, the lack of beach chairs was a nightmare. We didn't even bother trying to get chairs at the pool because we are "beach people", but from what we heard, the chair problem at the main pool was far worse than on the beach. I know a lot of people complain about the beach not being big enough, but we actually enjoyed the set up. The beach is split up into sections, divided by piers, and it really makes for a neat, intimate setting. We never made it down to the beach in front of the Kennsington Block. Yes, we were ultra lazy in that respect ;-) The section of beach where we were was next to the watersports area (which is where we spent most of our time anyway). There was some seaweed that would wash up during the day, but every afternoon one of the watersports staff would rake it up. The beach was very clean! There were staff walking around constantly picking up glasses and trash....... OK, onto the Watersports. The watersports staff was wonderful! If you needed lessons or tips for any of the equipment, they were always there. Phil loves sailing, so he took me out on the Catamaran/ Hobicat (spelling?) almost everyday. Yes, I was a chicken about it when the winds were high, but we never flipped over, though we did see some people that did. Yikes.... The canoes were a lot of fun, too, but my arms were so tired from paddling against the current, that we didn't end up using them that much. The current is pretty strong, and when it's windy, it seems even worse. We tried the sunfish as well, which we ran aground once ;-) Be very careful because there are some very shallow spots between SRC and the island. We didn't try the waterskiing, and much to Phil's dismay, we found out on the last day that they do in fact have a wakeboard. We went on the glass bottom boat ride, which got us so excited to jump into the water that we signed up to go snorkeling the next day. The snorkeling boat takes you out just past the island, and we saw some beautiful small fish, an eel (ick) and some interesting large fish. We didn't get to see any turtles or sting rays; we were told they saw them the day before, though. We didn't make it to the scuba classes... you guessed it, laziness factor ;-) We really wish we had, but I'm not sure our ears would've handled it too well. So, it might actually be a good thing that we didn't go! From talking to other couples that did it, the Sandals scuba certification is a must! They had such a great time, and most of them got to see some very interesting sea life. Next stop; the Entertainment. Let me just say that the Playmakers were wonderful, absolutely the nicest people we met during our stay. We didn't get involved in any of the day activities until our second to last day... again, the laziness factor. But, we decided to give the Olympics a try, and it really was a lot of fun! We wish now that we had gotten more involved because we met so many nice couples that way. Not to mention we won a ton of "sandals"! We had such a blast! And, I do have to say that the Playmakers didn't really hound us to get involved; they tried to get everyone involved, but they were never pushy. The Mixology game was fun, and the "Fuzzy Ducky" game is a must! Beach volleyball and pool volleyball were big hits, as well. The Staff: Wonderful! All I can say is kudos to Sandals for hiring the most amazing bunch of staff members. They were all so friendly and helpful! The bartenders, the waiters, the maids, the cooks, the watersports team, the Playmakers, etc... always had smiles on their faces. It was so nice to be on vacation and always be greeted with a smile and a "Irie". :-) The thing I really wish is that they got paid more; in my opinion they all deserve a huge raise. I really felt bad NOT being able to tip them. Like I said, before, the concierge staff was absolutely superb! What am I missing.... oh, yes, the Shopping.... We didn't do any :-) Well, I should say, we never left the resort to do any. Laaaaaaziness..... There was, however, a craft fair at SRC the day we left, and we bought a few beautiful paintings. Just as an FYI, there were a few guys floating by on surfboards that would try and sell you things. But, quite honestly, they were really nice. If you don't want anything, the best thing to tell them was that you already bought/had everything. Believe me it worked! SMB: The following contains materials that may not be suited for everyone... OK, bottom line, don't kill the messenger for the first few sentences. The last few sentences are very SMB positive! We met a lot of really nice couples at SRC; a bunch which were staying at SMB. They told us that they were spending the days at SRC because "people were much nicer at SRC", "entertainment is much better at SRC" or "SMB is run down". Now, I have never stayed at SMB, so I can't vouch for anything that we were told, but we met 4 couples in the first day that were from SMB that said they wished they had stayed at SRC. One couple said that the planes were deafening and that they could see the planes take off from their room...? Another said that they had been upgraded to the Presidential Suite (or something of that nature), but it was completely run down, with leaking water and mildew stains about the bed, so they switched to a beachfront room, which they said, was very nice. HOWEVER, The one thing that we thought was that the beach at SMB couldn't be beat and the food was wonderful. OK Coral was great, and the Italian restaurant, which we never made it to, was supposedly superb as well. And I met one couple that had come over to SRC for dinner that said SMB's atmosphere was much more their style (they had just been married there), and they wouldn't stay at SRC for the world. So, I say, to each their own. I loved SRC, and who knows, I might love SMB when we stay there.... I'm already planning the next Sandals trip ;- ) Check out: since we were flying Air Jamaica, they had check out for us at the resort. What a way to travel! It made for the best airport experience I've ever had. We checked in at the Disco with Air Jamaica after checking out with the Concierge Office at 11am. Air Jamaica checked our luggage for us, gave us our boarding passes, and we got to spend our entire last day on the beach! Perfect. The resort locked up our carry ons for us so we didn't' have to lug them around all day, too. All in all, I'd have to say that SRC was a wonderful experience! I really had a great time, despite the few problems (few bartenders, few glasses, few beach chairs, etc...) The atmosphere and staff at SRC were so wonderful, that I don't think I could've had a bad time if I tried! And as lazy as we were, believe me we didn't try that hard ;-) I would definitely recommend SRC to anyone, except maybe those who don't like good food, great drinks, wonderful service and clear blue waters ;-) Irie....
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