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Oh okay, the pictures you want, click here for the GALLERY, or you can read the text below to get an idea of what what happened on the island.
Matt and
Christine’s Excursions
The Pre-Wedding Festivities
We arrived in Saint
Thomas on Sunday, November 6th full of
excitement and anticipation. Lisa picks
us up and we proceeded straight to the bar – as we needed it since I realized
that I do not have a current passport (which prevents me from going on the
honeymoon). After we order a drink, we
desperately call Missy to search the house for my birth certificate and much to
everyone’s surprise, Missy is able to locate it and bring it with her – we have
a bride who can accompany her groom on the honeymoon – how wonderful. After drinks and snacks, Lisa drops us off at
the hotel to get settled. We walk around
the grounds and decide to go to Red Hook, the next town over. We hit Sopchoppy’s for drinks – they are
right on the Marina
overlooking all of these gorgeous yachts – just what we need to get in the mood
J
Matt and I acquired a suite (two rooms) and deemed them the
“party place”. We often had guests over
partaking in lots of activities, including island drinks and debauchery. Check out the pictures for proof – some are
worthy of blackmail. Our Welcome
Reception on Wednesday, November 9th was fabulous. The hotel provided the food, which was
remarkably spectacular, red tables, glow sticks, fully stocked bar, and lots of
silliness to be had by all. We retired
to our room with about 15 guests and continued to see what bottle caps did when
they hit the ceiling fan, what the walls looked like with glow on them and what
“banana hammocks” really were and why they were out and about!!!
Wedding Day – Everyone met in the lobby at 4p and was then
shuttled to the wedding site – Megan’s Bay (the prettiest beach on the
island). At the beach, there was an isle
with beautiful flowers, palm fronds and conch shells that led up to an arch
decorated with fresh local flowers and palm fronds that was equally
impressive. Everyone lined up in two
lines along the isle leading up to the arch, facing the ocean. Matt, Shawn and the minister stood waiting at
the arch as the girls walked down the beach (not down the isle as it made for a
prettier picture) to the beat of a steel pan player, who played
wonderfully. The minister kept telling
Matt not to look in my direction as he filled his head with wild stories of my
dress (just to add to his nervousness).
Our minister did a wonderful job, he was funny, had good timing, read
the vows just as they were written and spoke very clearly and sweetly. The water was coming dangerously close to
Matt and I, giving Michelle, Tracy and Kimberly mild heart attacks with
its threatening touches on my dress. But
our minister saw the distress in our eyes and moved between the water and us as
he has divine intervention. But alas, we
worried for not, the water stayed away, the ceremony went on magically and we
were wed as man and wife. We walked down
the isle as our guests blew bubbles our way.
After what seemed like a million pictures, we headed to our reception
site, Villa Botanica (a botanical garden on the other side of the island). Our guests made it before we did and were
treated to butler passed champaign and many scrumptious hor d’euvers. Everything was decorated just as I had
envisioned it, the cake was spectacular with the flowers all around it and each
table was a masterpiece. I was so
incredibly impressed with the setting, the sounds, the house and the gardens –
it was more than I could have ever imagined!
We were all served a 5-course meal from Randy’s Bistro, which was
amazingly delicious. With a full open
bar, red and white wine and champaign flowing – we all felt no pain. It was a night to remember by everyone.
Honeymoon
Day #1
From Tortola to Norman Island: The Bite and Privateer Bay
We eagerly
arrive at Nanny Cay on Tortola several hours
early with the hopes of getting a jump start on our honeymoon. Unfortunately, they would not let us get on
the boat until noon, so we stopped to eat, shop a bit and walk up and down the
marina admiring all of the beautiful yachts. We finally get a chance to fill
out our paper work, sign our lives away and pick up the essentials (maps,
binoculars, cell phone and charts). We
walk the boat with the first mate, check everything out and meet our
captain. Our Captain, Mark, is ready to
take us out to test our “seamanship”. We
get our provisions and head out for our “sailing skills
test” which we passed easily. Captain
Mark is very cool – he has been around the block a lot and gave us a plan of
where to go, which bays/harbors to stay at, where to eat, snorkel and swim. We head toward Norman Island
where we plan on hooking up to a mooring at the Bite (where the two famous
bars, Pirates and Willy T’s reside). We
pick up a mooring (which is similar to anchoring, but easier and faster to do)
and drop our dear captain off at Willy T’s where he catches a boat back to Tortola. Right
after Matt returns in the dingy, it starts to storm cats and dogs!! We decide to stay “in” for the evening and
manage to worry most the night because we encounter 35knots of wind (you are
not allowed to stay on a mooring past 40 knots so we were a bit
concerned). We made it through the night
with no problems and woke to a gorgeous morning sky.
Day #2
Norman Island: The Bite & Privateer Bay to the Indians and Cooper Island: Machioneel Bay
There is no better way to wake up
than on a 44’ yacht with the sunshine streaming in through the hatches/windows,
the soft sound of the water lapping against the shore and the cat rocking in
the waves – that was our first morning on Gato del Sol
(the name of our yacht). We sailed our
way to another bay off of Norman Island called Privateer Bay
where there are some beautiful caves – just ripe for snorkeling. We stopped and saw really pretty fish, a
fabulous turtle and a GIANT puffer fish – the joy of seeing this puffer was
overwhelming especially if you consider he was so wide that he could not
possibly fit in our 100 gallon tank! He
was fantastic to watch – what a special treat!
We then cruised by the Indians,
three large rock formations that are known for great snorkeling. But unfortunately we did not get there early
enough and could not find a mooring (so we decided to come back).
Then we headed off to Cooper
Island, which is
about 3 small islands up the Sir Francis Drake from Norman Island. We are experiencing about 24 knots of wind
giving us a speed of 10 knots, which is abnormally high (for all sailors, let
alone new sailors on a new yacht in a new environment). To give you an idea, good wind speeds would
be 8-12 knots giving us a speed of 6-8 knots.
But, Matt and I put our sailing classes and knowledge to the test and
managed to sail our yacht successfully without any problems – it was a high
that neither one of us has ever experienced before! Cooper
Island’s Machioneel Bay
has about a million palm trees on a small beach with 2 docks. We hit the island and enjoyed some
shopping. We were hoping to get our lips
around a blended drink, but to our amazement the entire island has no
electricity until 6:30pm – yep, you read that right, no power until
6:30pm. But right on the dot, the
blender started churning, the lights came on and the music was flowing. Love the islands! We decided to eat at Cooper Island
beach Club, but they did not start serving until 7:30p so we had to drink at
the bar until they served dinner, drat I hate when that happens. Dinner was pretty darn good, as were the
drinks. Later that night we had the joy
of trying to sleep through another storm that managed to push our mooring ball
against the hull over and over again – a sound that is not only disturbing but
also annoying. We made it through the
night and woke again to gorgeous skies.
Day #3
Cooper Island: Machioneel Bay to Virgin Gorda: The Baths and Spanish Town
Off and away we go to Virgin Gorda – a very large island
with a lot of possibility. We have a lot
to see on Tortola
and will spend a few days in and around the island. We start our day with a short rainstorm, but
we sail her with no problem (the one and only time it rains during the day and
it was only for 15 minutes). We are
blessed with a gorgeous day and amazing rainbow moments after the storm. We decide we want to go to the Baths
first…unfortunately we cannot get there directly with the dingy as we just
witnessed another group destroy their dingy engine by going ashore, so we decide
we are going to take the dingy part way and snorkel the rest of the way to the
beach. It was a bit windy and the waves
were not behaving. The dingy ride was
precarious, but not nearly so as the snorkel to the beach. We had to swim around rocks, against the
current and through the waves – I was thinking that these darn caves better be
worth all of this trouble. Once we made
it to the beach, we took a deep breath and marched over to the baths, which
were without a doubt worth every bit of struggle it took to get there. We walked through pools of crystal clear
water, climbed up and down rocks, through holes and caves and even across some
man made bridges. It was very beautiful
and very calming. There were lots of
other tourists, but it was worth it. We
headed back to our cat so we could sail to Spanish Town
(the next harbor up on Virgin Gorda). We
decided that we were not in too much of a hurry to get there, so we just sailed
around the Drake and enjoyed the time with the wind in our hair. We eventually made it to Spanish Town,
snorkeled a bit around the outer edge of the island and BBQ’d dinner – what a
perfect day.
Day #4
Virgin Gorda: Spanish Town to Bitter End and Saba Rock
We sailed up and around Virgin Gorda (very large island)
today. It was of course, a beautiful
day, full of blue skies, white fluffy clouds, good winds and lots of
sailing. We decided to go to Gorda
Sound, which is a harbor that is surrounded, by 3 islands. You pass by Prickly Pear Island (right by
Sandy Spit a local eatery) and moor at either Saba Rock (a very small island)
or Virgin Gorda where the Bitter End Yacht club can be found. We received free water with our mooring at
Saba Rock – which was cool, as we needed it.
We decided to go to Saba Rock as we heard there was Internet access
there – and what to our surprise, there was access and a web cam, which we
played around with our friend John back in Austin.
He managed to capture a few shots of us on the island from the web cam –
technology is great! We enjoyed some
island beverages and some shopping and decided to have lunch at Bitter End on
Virgin Gorda so off we went. Luckily there was also a provision store
where we were able to replenish our food and supplies as well – not a bad lunch
for a Yacht club J. We saw our
friend Captain Mark and his crew, but just waved and kept our evening to
ourselves.
Day #5
Saba Rock to Anegada (the forbidden island)
Not sure what got into us today, but we decided to
do two very difficult things in our yacht on day 5. The first goal was to dock our cat and put
almost 300 gallons of water for her.
Matt was so amazing, he navigated our 25’ wide and 45’ long cat in 19
knots of wind right up to the dock – without hitting a thing, just like a
pro! We filled up with water and went on
our way. The 2nd crazy thing
we did was to go to Anegada, the forbidden island. They call it the forbidden island because it
wasn’t until just recently that they allowed bare boat sailors, such as
ourselves to go to this island (they would allow locals and charters, but not
folks like us because the entire island is surrounded by reefs – very tall
reefs, very hard to navigate around and very dangerous). We had strong winds, we managed to hit 10
knots sailing and that was with our main double reefed – can you believe
that? We were given great charts and
Matt’s GPS proved its worth yet again.
We were able to navigate our 5’ draft cat through 7’ waters – yes, we
were cutting it close and it was a bit scary, but we did it and proved our
seamanship yet again. The water and the
reefs were amazing and it was an eye opener to be able to lean over the boat
and see them clear as day right underneath you.
We had a light lunch as we were told that Anegada is known for their
lobster dinner– so wait we did. We took
a taxi over to Loblolly to spend the afternoon snorkeling on the other side of
the island. We found some really cool
reefs and corals (not too many fishies) and collected some fun seashells. After a few drinks at the Big Bamboo, we took
a taxi back and headed for the cat to hang out until dinner. We decided to head in to the Anegada Reef
Hotel early (we had to make our reservation and place our order by 3p, dinner
was at 730p, however we arrived at 6p) to participate in some island beverages
and get a little more shopping in just for fun.
We ran into Capt. Mark and met his crew – they were fabulously fun. Matt and I were awarded with the best table
in the house – right on beach, right by the water under a tiki torch – it was
amazing. Matt ordered BBQ lobster and I
had BBQ shrimp and all we can say is “WOW!
Worth the wait and worth going back to again and
again. What an amazing meal.
Day #6
Anegada to Marina Cay (off of Scrub Island) and Trellis Bay (off of Beef Island)
What a change in winds – when
heading from Anegada (the furthest island) back toward Tortola,
we found ourselves in search of wind – it was barely there! We were on a “run”, but were not running much
J in fact we barely had 2-3 knots out of the boat and we
have 18 miles to travel to our next destination. But, we have twin 80 horse power engines, that will get us back up to our average of 10 knots
– love this strong and powerful yacht.
We got to our first destination, Marina Cay (just off of Scrub Island). We picked up a mooring, snorkeled around some
gorgeous reefs and saw two barracudas and a giant box face puffer! The puffer was amazing – we loved finding
him! We also met a really cool Captain
named Martin of Seahorse Seeker. He gave
us some really good advice; more sailing plans and even shared some
stories. He and his wife charter their
boat and seem to be very busy. We then
jumped on a free ferry that took us across the harbor to Trellis
Bay (which is just off of Beef Island). They have Full Moon Fire Balls – the eve of
the first full moon each month and they light these giant metal balls on fire
(they metal balls are located in the water) and it looks like the fire balls
are floating on the water – we missed the lighting, but the metal balls were
impressive as they were. We shopped
around, stopped and had a few drinks, picked up a few provisions and took some
pictures before we headed back to our yacht.
We went back to Marina Cay and caught happy hour at a local pub where we
ate, drank and played dominoes. Capt.
Mark soon joined us in our game – it was very nice hanging out with him
again! He mentioned he was well
impressed with our sailing skills and made sure we knew it – it was really nice
hearing it from him as he such a seasoned sailor. He told us to change our sailing plan to join
him at Foxy’s for dinner on Saturday night – we did.
Day #7
Marina Cay to Monkey Point (off of Guana Island) to Jost Van Dyke: Great Harbor and White Bay
We
had a great night last night with no rain, no noise, few people and perfect
peace. We slept so well and solidly – it
was fabulous. We got up early to head to
Monkey Point, which is just off of Guana
Island. We had to navigate through a very small
opening between Little Camano and Great Camanoe islands. There were lots of
reefs and large, large rocks. We
successfully made our way through the passage and were able to lift the sails
for a cruise at about 5-7 knots. Not bad, very nice and easy sailing. We were the first to Monkey Point – a pretty
famous spot for snorkeling. We attempted
to sun bathe in our birthday suits, but we had lots of visitors, which
prohibited any such thoughts. We did
have the place all to ourselves, we were able to eat breakfast and snorkel all
around the reefs without being bothered by any other people – it was really
nice. The reefs were really pretty. We saw a turtle and lots of fish including a
school of 4’ by 6’ fish – not sure what they were, but they were enormous! By
the time we left we were surrounded by 8 other boats, good time to head to our
next location.
We had to sail across low
water – about 12’ deep to get 1 of 3 moorings at Great Harbor
– we were so very lucky to get one! We
snacked a little before heading to the bay and found ourselves at a small bar
called Ali Baba where we were able to partake in some island drinks. We then strolled over to Foxy’s (still day
time) where we sat and had another drink and did some shopping in their very
large gift shop. I picked up some banana
nut bread at a local bakery called “Christine’s”. We also picked up some more provisions and
then headed back to the boat for a short spell.
We needed to cool off before dinner, as it is super duper hot!!
We then headed to Foxy’s to grab our
table. They have a large buffet line in
which they serve BBQ. As we were
waiting, I spotted a man that looked like the man they described as Foxy (yes,
there is a real man named “Foxy). I was
so excited; I jumped up, grabbed my camera and ran over to him – just in time
as he was heading home for the evening.
I was able to get a couple of snap shots with him as he hugged me and
told me to enjoy the dinner. I also went
behind the restaurant where Foxy is hand building a 32’ wood boat from scratch
with some of the local kids. They are making it just like the old schooners –
pretty darn cool. Matt and I started
talking to the couple next to us, Owen and Amy and they decided to join us at
our table – they were so incredibly cool.
We got our dinner and all agreed it was the best BBQ that either of us
has ever had! They had jerked chicken,
BBQ chicken, mahi mahi, all types of salads and sides – wow – it was
fantastic! I made the mistake of
entering a “dance off” with a large wedding party and what to my surprise did I
find out that the bride and her bridesmaid were all picked over me – even
though they could NOT dance worth a darn.
But, it was funny and gave us something to giggle at for the rest of the
night.
Day #8
Jost Van Dyke: Great Harbor and White Bay to Tortola: Cane Garden Bay
Started our day with some of the
yummy Banana Nut Bread that we bought yesterday from Christine’s bakery, which
was super good! Then we hopped in our
dingy and met our new friends, Owen and Amy in their dingy and went to the next
harbor over called White
Bay. Fun little dingy ride,
further than we probably should have taken the dingy, but it was not too bad. We decided to tie up to a mooring ball and
swim to the beach to hit the Soggy Dollar Bar and there is a reason they call
it that because all your money is wet by the time you get there, as they do not
have any docks. We had a nice morning
drink, chatted with the owner, did a little shopping and walked up and down the
short, but very pretty white beach. We
said “good-bye” to our new friends as they were heading to a different
island. We were going to snorkel, but
decided against it even though Matt saw a stingray floating around the sand
below our dingy. As we were hitching up
the dingy we came across a little shark – not a man eating one, but a bottom
feeder type shark. He is super cool, his
gills are on the top of his head and his lower lip extends out forward past his
upper lip so it looks like he is eating from the top of his head, really weird.
We took lots of pictures of him so be sure to check him out – he liked the
banana nut bread too.
We left Jost VanDyke and went for a nice
long sail, as it was a gorgeous day. We
were only going about 5 miles so we had to tack a lot to get to our final
destination, but since we were not in a rush, it was no big deal. Several hours later we made it to our next
destination, Tortola: Cane
Garden Bay. We went ashore to check out Rhymer’s Beach
bar and Myett’s Garden and Grill. Enjoyed a short walk and some drinks. We then decided we needed to back to the boat
for a nap and some relaxation. We
watched a gorgeous sunset (check out the pics). It was then that we realized we
didn’t own Gato Del Sol and that we would have to return her to “those other
people” soon and head back to reality.
What a sad realization. We hope
to make it our reality soon – one has to have a goal.
Day #9
Tortola: Cane Garden Bay to the Indians and to Norman Island: The Bite
We woke up slowly today,
almost 8am (late for us on this trip) had some good breakfast tacos before
heading out to the Indians. We wanted to
try to snorkel this location as we heard there were some really pretty fish and
reefs (and we were unable to get a mooring ball the first time we went by the
spot). We had some good winds 8-12 knots
and hit an average of about 6-9 knots in speed. We were trying to avoid a storm
that was coming at us, so we changed directions a little bit and made it to the
Indians before it hit us (which it never did).
We made it to the Indians for a great snorkel – the rumors were right,
well worth coming back to, as it was wonderful and magical.
We continued our sail now
that the storm had passed and headed to Norman Island:
The Bite. We had stopped at this harbor
on the first night but were unable to go to any of the two famous bars due to the
heavy storm, so we decided to come back and see what we missed. We went ashore and hung out at Pirates for
the early part of the afternoon. We met
a dad and his two sons here. They
decided they needed this “special island shot”, but
when one person orders it – all the men at the bar have to drink it too. It is so strong that you can light it on fire
and it actually burns! It had sugar cane
and cherries and all sorts of stuff fermenting inside it – a whiff made me sick
to my tummy. The shot made Matt sweat
and he got dizzy – it was strong. We
chatted with the bartender and did a little shopping as they had a really cool
store. We soon decided we needed to rest
and get rejuvenated for the night so we headed back to the boat for bit. We
then headed over to Willie T’s a floating bar where we ran into the dad and his
two kids and Capt. Mark and his crew.
There were not that many people there, but we managed to get a little
tarnished – something about a ski board and 4 shots!!! The bartender was a putz
and kept talking about what a raging party this bar was and then showed this
photo album with a lot of naked women – but the pictures were old and to be
honest the bar was not ˝ as fun as Pirates, maybe because the bartender was
such a fuddy duddy. We headed back to
our yacht for the last night and enjoyed a good nights
sleep on our cat.
Day #10
Norman Island: The Bite to The Caves and to Tortola: Nanny Cae & Apple Bay
We woke up early, but lazed around,
soaking in the cabin and sights and sounds of the yacht. We headed around to the caves – the next
harbor over. We made a really good
breakfast – breakfast tacos with Italian sausage, veggies and eggs – wow!! Then we snorkeled around the caves and even
snorkeled inside one of them (it was shallow, but it was cool). We saw some more pretty coral and fish – it
was a perfect place to stop for our last harbor. I packed as we headed back to Tortola, very sad.
We called the yacht company as we pulled into the harbor and they sent
someone out to dock the boat as there was NO way we were going to attempt it
(in fact they ask that you don’t try to do it yourself). I was so incredibly
impressed with this yacht, our sailing skills and our trip – what an amazing
experience! We were cleared to leave the
boat and then we headed to the other side of the island where we were staying,
Sebastians on the beach.
At Sebastians,
we do have AC – which is very nice. We
enjoyed a really nice lunch and then went for a short walk around our hotel to
see what we could find – we came across the Bamba Shack, which is nothing short
of a disaster! It is an open air bar
with lots of nude pictures all around – I’ve been told that they sell all sorts
of things here (not just food and alcohol), but we did not stick around to find
out. We went back and watched some
surfers play in the water until sunset.
We had a pretty good dinner and hit the hay early tonight.
Day #11
Tortola: Apple Bay to Salt Island: Wreck of the Rhone
We decided to go diving today and
signed up with a group diving excursion. To give you all some background, Matt
is a very experienced diver (he has been cave diving, night diving and wall
diving). However, I am a very new,
nervous diver. I was certified almost 2 years ago in Lake Travis
where I could barely see my hand when it was extended in front of my face. I had mask issues and was pretty much
petrified to go on this dive trip, but I was determined to not let this fear
take over me. We had a really cool crew,
picked up some people from a giant, but ugly boat called Windjammer Cruises and
then some more people at Salt
Island off their
yacht. There were 12 people diving all
together with 2 instructors, 1 trainee and 1 videographer. I was the least experienced in the group,
surprise, surprise. Matt went over some
minor details on how to breather, sink to the bottom, rise to the top and clear
your mask – thank goodness.
They divided us into two
groups (those more skilled and those less skilled) and then we got loaded up. I
noticed that the trainee was not too experienced in putting on the BC’s and
stuff, so I got in another line, but Matt was not as fortunate. She seemed to put everything on ok, but did
not manage to open up his air all the way (this will come into play later in
the story). We were going to do an 80’
dive and we were going to swim through the actual wrecked ship. Hmmm you think, that
sounds like fun, or does that scare that holy crap out of you – well it scared
me. I had only been on a 60’ dive and had never swum through anything – I was nothing
short of terrified….but off we went. I was trying to start my decent, but for
some reason I did not feel like I was sinking fast enough so I kept pushing my
button and looking at Matt with a panic look on my face (keep in mind that this
is within 3 minutes of being in the water) he finally came over and knocked it
out of my hand to alert me to leave it alone, I was doing fine, just not being
patient. I soon learned that my bubbles
from my reg were not flowing right, because I was not breathing right, so the
bubbles kept lifting my mask, very slightly, but lifting it enough that I felt
the need to hold my mask with my left hand the entire time we were under
water. I know this is ridiculous and I later found out why this was happening,
but under water, I didn’t care. All I cared about was not getting water in my
mask.
Another strange thing
occurred under water – I found that I could not move without holding Matt’s
hand and let me tell you, Matt wishes that he could have let go a few times as
I slightly mutilated his hand every time I got frightened. But, with one hand on my mask and the other
wrapped around Matt’s hand I was ok and made it down to 80’ with the
group. We swam around the wreck a little
before we entered the vessel. Now, keep
in mind that you cannot go up to get out, you have to follow the instructor
because it is not clear which way is out – surprisingly I was not too terribly
freaked out and I made it through the wreck.
We went passed an old cannon and boiler room too. Half way through this first dive, my left
side of the mask started to fog, but there was no way I was going to flood my
mask to clear it so I decided I didn’t need to see out of that side. When we got to the surface, the instructor
asked why I didn’t clear my mask and I said in a very strange voice that didn’t
sound like my own, that this was my first dive since my certification and he
quickly responded with “You did a very good job”. We got back on the boat, ate and drank some water
and listened to the story of how the boat crashed over 100 years ago (the boat
got hit by a storm and crashed into Salt
Island). On the 2nd dive we were going to
go 70’ and see more parts of the bow that were thrown all over the place. We saw a gorgeous lobster a large puffer,
part of the tile dance floor, a working porthole, a spoon and a porthole that
you rubbed for good luck. The 2nd dive was a little easier as it was
brighter and not inside the vessel. I did however manage to hold on to my mask
and Matt’s hand the entire dive – safety first All in all it was a good day, I
made it through and somewhat enjoyed the dive – the video should be
interesting. We thought we would see more fish, but the wreck was cool and sad
at the same time (as over 100 people died).
We headed back and decided to get off in Road Town
– the center of Tortola
as opposed to Nanny Cae. We hit a local bar called La Candon where there was a woman bartender named “Shorty” and
boy did she have a “tude”. She was funny
that is for sure. We met some local
reporters; they were young and very funny. We hit it off with them and ended up
meeting them at another place for dinner.
This other place, “The Dove” owned by Scott and Paloma, was just down
the street and was amazing! We had the
best service and the best dinner – it was great. Our two new friends, Paul and Blackwell
managed to entertain us for a few more hours. By the time we left them, they
were two sheets to the wind and were hysterical as we tried to leave them! P.S. Road
Town has crappy shopping!
Day #12
Tortola: Apple Bay to St. Thomas: Red Hook
We got up early and hit the ferry to
head back to St. Thomas.
We had to go through customs, but luckily the one bag they didn’t check (with
the alcohol for Lisa) was overlooked. We
stopped in St. John for customs and made it to St. Thomas just as Lisa
and her new boyfriend Phil arrived. We went straight to Ed and June’s house for
Thanksgiving. Their house was
spectacular – what in incredible view!
They are doing construction on the house and I cannot wait to see what
it looks like when they are done. They are adding a 2nd story and a
negative edge pool. As if the house
wasn’t already impressive. Ed and June
are great people and the other guests were amazing as well – we could not have
been more blessed. Wonderful people,
yummy food in a gorgeous house, surrounded us – we have a lot to be thankful
for today! We hung out with Lisa and
Phil and watched as the lovebirds goofed around and behaved silly – I remember
those days J We were tempted to go out and hit the town, but we were so
very tired and had turkey coma setting in so we hit the sack fairly early.
Day #13
St. Thomas to Home
We got up early to take Lisa and
Phil to the airport as they were heading to St. Maarten for the weekend. We
decided to grab some breakfast at Deck Dellie over where the cruise ships dock
to kill some time. We had a great
breakfast and one last island drink before heading to the airport. Luckily we were flying first class, so we
were able to kill the pain and sadness of leaving our boat and the islands with
a little beverage or two. Our good friend John picked us up and took us home.
Our other good friend, John’s wife, Missy, managed to decorate our house with
all sorts of fun things…we had a sign out front that said “Just Married”, we
had little Bride & Groom sticks all over the place, we had fresh fruit and
muffins, fresh flowers and rose pedals on our bed – what a nice surprise to
come home too! Matt and I celebrated with some champagne as he welcomed me to
this house as Mrs. Mitchell and wrapped up our glorious honeymoon.
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