Tortola and British Virgin Islands: Day 1
Introduction
From November 2nd to November 9th 2003 my wife Juliet and I spent our honeymoon exploring the Island of Tortola and the surrounding area in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) chain. A friend had recommended heading to the BVI as an alternative to the larger and busier resorts in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I looked at a few other places like Aruba but I wanted to avoid the casino crowd and had no desire to stay at a big, manufactured resort. I did a bit of research and quickly determined that the BVI would fit the bill for a fun and relaxing vacation. Tortola is a relatively large island with no big resorts, no casinos,plenty of beaches and a rainforest running through the center of the mountainous island. The bottom line is that we had a great week, met great people, saw amazing sights and had a wonderful time. I would recommend a trip to the BVI whether you want a land based vacation like we did or a sailing vacation where you charter a boat and hop from island to island. Read on if you'd like to get the details of our trip.
Day 1: Arrival
After a three and a half hour flight from Newark we land in St. Thomas. It's pouring rain outside but very warm as we walk across the tarmac to the terminal. After baggage claim we head over to the ground transportation area and get a van to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal. The van driver waits till he has a full load before departing. The cost is $7 per person and the ride takes about ten minutes. Once at the ferry terminal I book us on the Smith's Ferry Service to West End, Tortola. The cost is $40 per person for a round trip ticket. We fill out customs forms and look out at the water as the rain seems to be letting up. A small ferry arrive, our luggage is loaded up and before we know it we're on the ferry making the 55 minute ride to the West End. There are lots of great islands to see as we ride along but I zone out and slept for a good part of the trip.
We pull into the West End ferry terminal around 4:30PM. The building is small and this is where we clear customs for the British Virgin Islands. The weather has improved nicely and it's very warm, humid and partly cloudy. Everything goes smooth and within 15 minutes we're on the other side, getting a taxi van to our accomodations at Fort Recovery Villas. The taxi ride takes 5 minutes and costs $5 per person. Fort Recovery looks really nice and very private as it sits by itself perched on the edge of the Caribbean Sea overlooking St. John. The entry area is very shaded with lots of palm trees and tropical flowers. Pamelah greets us and hands us the keys to our 1 bedroom villa along with our rental car, a 2DR 4WD Suzuki Grand Vitara. We settle in to our beachside villa which has a small kitchen (complete with a blender), a nice tile floor and sliding glass doors that lead out to a patio facing the surf and St. John.
We're excited at the natural beauty that surrounds and we unpack quickly and get used to the fact that we're in this amazing island paradise. We're real hungry so we decide to hop in the Suzuki to go have dinner. Driving is on the left but it doesn't really pose any problem for me. We decide to head straight back toward the ferry terminal to a place called The Jolly Roger which is on the very western point of the south side of the island. It's a 10 minute drive straight down the road, a safe move since I'm not ready to navigate the island in the dark. On the way we stop at Big Ben's Superette and load up on the basics like bottled water, fruit juice, rum and a toothbrush (which I had forgotten.) The Jolly Roger is at the end of the road and serves dinner and drink on it's dock overlooking the channel. The place is very casual and we immediately order a round of the local signature drink, the painkiller. Juliet and I munch on fritters and have a nice seafood dinner while looking out at the water and watching a few dinghys pull up and discharge their passengers for dinner. It's all good. There are some pretty large fish that we can see right near the dock. The bill for dinner was about $35 per person including a few drinks, the appetizer, two entrees and a very good piece of chocolate cake. One thing for sure about the BVI is that food and drinks will set you back if you eat out every night so having a kitchen is useful for saving a few dollars.
We drive back to Fort Recovery, go for a walk along the beach and enjoy the sounds of the ocean before calling it a night.
