Over the Top to Taboo

We went to bed knowing that today would break the pattern of beach, read, swim, walk, drink, repeat. Today we are going to walk the top of the island from the west down to the east. We didn't get up quite as early as we wanted but after our normal breakfast of bacon and eggs we headed up the hill behind our cottage. We climb quick from sea level to 600'. Now the path drops down and we normally take the right branch and drop down into Great Harbour, but today we take the left. The road is volcanic rock and dirt. If you slip and fall you'll rip whatever hits first. We quickly climb and in 20 minutes we are at the high point, about 950' above the sea. From here we can see all of the VIs, both US and British. From here the road goes up and down but more gently until we get the views of Little Jost, Diamond Cay and Sandy Spit. From here its 700 toe scrunching, knee pounding feet down till we get to see level and the easy walk thru the mangroves to Foxy's Taboo, his luxury beach bar.
At 11 its a bit later than usual for my Red Stripe, but it really hits the spot. We change from hiking shoes to Tevas and head out to the bubbly pool to cool down.
The bubbly pool is on the north side (think very big ocean) and the waves pound thru the narrow opening and pound down creating a natural jacuzzi. My it feels good to just sit and be pounded by the surf.
My expectation is that we will have 50 memorable meals this year. We've been here 6 days and have 6 contenders. Today's lunch will be one of the best. I had one of the best meals ever 3 years ago, grilled grouper. I'm ecstatic to hear that grouper is the catch of the day and I'm not disappointed. This will be one of our best lunches of 2010 or any year. All too soon, Nadine reminds me that I wanted to mooch a ride back to Great Harbour. The couple with the 4 door rental vehicle is finishing their lunch and its time to make my move. Fortunately they are willing to haul us all the way back to White Bay.
The rest of the afternoon quickly falls back into the drink, read, swim, walk, repeat pattern. We end up as we usually do at Seddy's. Cute little Shannon tells us how we're going to be blown away by our meal tonite at Seddy's. We will be and so ends another perfect day,.

Packing

I've decided to make a list now of the things I need to bring on a trip to the islands. Somehow I always end up packing in a hurrand and this trip I even did it with a list, a rarity for me. I'm makling this list now, not because of what I forgot to bring but what I brought that I will not use.
This is all I brought. The * items are what I should bring:
7 t-shirts (used 1 so far)
2 sleeveless shirts
* 3 tank tops
3 pairs zip-off pants
* 2 pairs short pants with matching tops
* 2 pairs running shorts
* 1 pair long pants
* 1 long sleeved t-shirt
* 1 polo shirt
* 1 zippered fleece (I haven't used yet but you never know)
* 2 dresses (for nice dinners) & jewelry
* ¾ sleeve light weight sweater
* 4 swimsuits
* 3 cover ups
3 pj tops (used 1)
3 sports bras (used 1)
* Underwear
* Slip
* Raincoat
* Light jacket

Must haves:
Sunscreen
Hats both billed and full brimmed
Sunglasses
Kindle, loaded with plenty of reading
Camera
Toiletries
Beach towels, not all places provide
Snorkel equipment
Tennis shoes, for walks
Sandals to get to the beach
$ for taxis and miscellaneous
Credit cards
Passports
Bug repellant
Hydrocortisone in case the repellant doesn't work

Packing

I've decided to make a list now of the things I need to bring on a trip to the islands. Somehow I always end up packing in a hurrand and this trip I even did it with a list, a rarity for me. I'm makling this list now, not because of what I forgot to bring but what I brought that I will not use.
This is all I brought. The * items are what I should bring:
7 t-shirts (used 1 so far)
2 sleeveless shirts
* 3 tank tops
3 pairs zip-off pants
* 2 pairs short pants with matching tops
* 2 pairs running shorts
* 1 pair long pants
* 1 long sleeved t-shirt
* 1 polo shirt
* 1 zippered fleece (I haven't used yet but you never know)
* 2 dresses (for nice dinners) & jewelry
* ¾ sleeve light weight sweater
* 4 swimsuits
* 3 cover ups
3 pj tops (used 1)
3 sports bras (used 1)
* Underwear
* Slip
* Raincoat
* Light jacket

Must haves:
Sunscreen
Hats both billed and full brimmed
Sunglasses
Kindle, loaded with plenty of reading
Camera
Toiletries
Beach towels, not all places provide
Snorkel equipment
Tennis shoes, for walks
Sandals to get to the beach
$ for taxis and miscellaneous
Credit cards
Passports
Bug repellant
Hydrocortisone in case the repellant doesn't work

Let's Exercise so we can Eat and Drink Some More

I wrote earlier that we don't have any urgency to get up in the morning except here on JVD. Here, we like to get up and take a beautiful walker up over the hill behind White Bay and then dropping into Great Harbour. It isn't an easy walk, but the walker is richly rewarded with views to both the Atlantic and Carribean sides of the island. We do this walk every day we are here and one day will continue on over the top of the island to Taboo, Foxy's other place, for lunch and include a trip to the Bubbly Pool.
Besides the spectacular views, the other plus of taking this walk is I can feel less guilty eating and drinking all that I do her on JVD. There are so manty excellent choices for food and who can resist a Soggy Dollar painkiller or a bushwacker blended for you by Raquel at Seddy's One Love? Yesterday I probably should have done the walk about 5 times!

Sleep

Sleep is a precious commodity at home – rarely do I get moire than 6 hours per nite. In the islands, rarely do I get less than 8 hours at night plus a nap during the day. The fact that we really aren't doing anything to become “exhaustedd” makes this interesting to me. I think the reason I get so much sleep here is that I don't have anything I must get up for. At home I need to take care of the puggies, exercise, keep the house reasonably clean and go to work. I'm sure my co-workers wondera about that last part!
Here I gain some understanding of what the elderly deal with – I have nothing to do that anyone is depending on me for so I can just sleep until I want to get up, something I can only dream about at home.

Is it cheap?

I'll have a few conversations over the next few months that will follow this pattern. I'll be asked about our trip, I'll wax enthusiastically about the beaches, the meals, the weather and eventually the follow up question will be a variant of “is it cheap?” Now I realize that what they want to know is it affordable, but I have to bite my tongue to keep from giving them the full answer. To answer the question you first have to know what the cost of your activity truly is and by this I mean how do your choices impact the lives of the locals. This was brought home today talking to a family that had been ferried over to Jost from their cruise boat docked in Road Town. As with every cruise ship passenger who manages to make it to JVD they were lamenting the short time they were able to spend here, the best stop of their trip. They went on to tell us about their stop yesterday in the Dominican Republic. The town was a ghetto, widespread poverty, garbage, beggars, little kids offering to carry their bags for a quarter or sell something woven from palm fronds. Now the Dominican Republic does have some very nice resorts and some offer package deals that might be considered reasonable if not exactly cheap but when we tourists focus solely on what our outlay is we overlook the fact that a cheap trip doesn't leave enough in the overall budget for the locals to even live modestly not to mention aspire to send their kids to college.
The BVIs are never going to be considered budget travel. A good meal here in a restaurant will run you about the same as a meal on the Upper West Side. The cabbie that takes you from Great Harbor to White Bay will want $8 per head for the 5 minute trip. He's not ripping you off, he's only asking you to pay what it takes for him to live modestly, raise his kids and give them the opportunity of getting a college education in the states. Not too much to ask and he knows there are only so many fares on any given day on this small island. The deal he and the rest of the locals make with you is this. Pay us fairly and you won't have to go thru a poverty stricken village on your way to the beach. You won't be pestered by his kids for a handout. Seems like a good bargain to me. I like paying my own way and it makes me feel good that what I'm paying is closer to the true cost.

A brief momemt of panic

There was a sad event on White Bay yesterday. A sailboat coming in for a late afternoon stop must have misjudged the opening in the reef. The ground seas were running yesterday so perhaps he got thrown for just a moment. In any event the boat got hung up on the reef, bobbing up and down doing more and more damage to the hull. Finally another boat was able to pull him off the reef and the pounding surf pushed the boat into the shore near Ivan's. It floundered there for another hour before finally sinking. Search and Rescue was able to drag the boat off the rocks it was on and drag it a ways back into the sea. This morning we saw on our walk that the boat had come to rest on the sand in front of Ivan's. It was still being pounded by the seas.
We found out that those on board were on the second day of their holiday. What a bummer. Boat ruined, all your clothing wet, did you get the passports, where do you stay. Very sad.