Tortola- British Virgin Islands

I must preface this by saying that I had never been the the British Virgin Islands (BVI) or anywhere in the Caribbean before this trip, so my experiences there may have been unique and not "the way it always is". There will be a few instances where it will seem like mixed reviews, but for the most part I would go all over again. I'll begin with the no-brainer, the climate. It's wonderful. Warm, there is water everywhere.

There is nothing poisonous, that I know of or have yet discovered. Randy's friend Michael told me he couldn't think of anything either and he's lived there awhile, and in the islands around his entire life.  The trees have amazing fruits on them, breadfruit, mangos, tamerind, coconuts, everywhere there is fruit. Everything is pretty much edible (although, the breadfruit did not taste so good). It is a garden of Eden. The beaches are beautiful and I have never seen such clear water. There are small lizards everywhere you go, but they are not dangerous and they usually just run off.


We went to a fantastic bar named Quito's, where we ate Conch Fritters. They were delicious. I had never had it before and conch has the texture of clams.  There was live music at Quito's and there was a lot of people coming in off boats. It was a fun place with a lot of good food. One important thing to point out is the service. Most of the service in the BVI isn't exactly what Americans might be used to, by that I mean you get back what you put in, I don't mean in tips. While dealing with the servers, waitresses, and bartenders, treat them nicely. They really don't have much personality unless you strike up a conversation with them. They don't work on tips like Americans do, the tips are usually included in your bill, people in that area are very friendly when you talk to them, otherwise it is their job and not everyone likes their job. At Quito's they were much friendlier than other places and once you've been to the BVI for a couple of days you just get used to it, but at first it's disorienting.

There are boats everywhere for sailing, you can rent them easily, or you can hire someone to sail out on one with you. There were ads everywhere and for a price you can sail. The most fascinating part of being down there was the people that live here frequently commute on ferries and some people live on their boats. They can't imagine how interesting that is to someone who lives near lakes that are far to large to do that and they also can't imagine that water being fresh. The salt water is so nice to swim in though, it helps with the floating. Personally, I'm not super found of the saltwater because it's kind of gross when it gets in your mouth and when it gets in your eyes, it stings. I'm not used to this because my whole life I have only swam in fresh water, but it's amazing to go under the water and see the coral. It's just like little mermaid, it's a whole kingdom underwater. We practiced snorkeling in the pool, I had never been before, so we thought it was a good idea to practice. We also used out Go-Pro in there. The camera is able to take pictures at 193 ft underwater, which is further than I will ever take it. The snorkeling was fantastic, the best place we went was named Brewer's Bay. There were other little bays as well, like Smuggler's Cove, but the reefs got very shallow and it was hard to snorkel. Brewer's bay was ideal, until we went to Peter Island and Snorkeled at a place called, "Indians", which was out in the ocean and you had to take a boat to get to hit.
Warning: Everything is expensive except the alcohol. Which includes some very tasty rum. They have these drinks called "painkillers" and they do exactly what they say. This is the main drink on the island and it contains nutmeg.  There is also nutmeg in a lot of drinks, I haven't seen so much at christmas time and I would never picture it being used in such a high frequency for drinks.

The cabs here are really expensive, so we decided to rent a car, which is probably more dangerous than anything because they are American cars that drive on the left, once again it's disorienting until you are used to it. . There are a great deal of large hills as the island is mountainous. If you stay in Tortola more than a couple of days it is a good idea to rent a car, especially if you want to explore, as I said before cabs are expensive and the cab drivers ofter times pick up hitchhikers. That is really the main form of  transportation on the island, hitchhiking. There are lots of people that just stand on the side of the road and point to where they want to go.

We saw many charming places like the shell museum. The shell museum was amazing. It was completely full of shells and things people found on the beach. There were more shells than I could imagine. There were also signs painted on driftwood. They also make "Smoodys" there, yes, that is how they spelled it. The restaurant made them out of all sorts of fruit and at lunch they serve Conch. We did not eat there because there were too many things to see on the island.

There are a myriad of things I did not even touch on, there are chicken everywhere on the island. Even as the plane touched down, they were all over the airport and you can hear them crow all times day and night. Several of the hotels are either set in the jungle or on the beach. There are a hundred beautiful things to see and experience, it's worth a trip.


Some of the places we went:

 http://www.sugarmillhotel.com/
 http://www.peterisland.com/index.php
 http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/quitos_gazebo_tortola.html
http://www.tortola-beaches.com/Tortola-Bananakeet.html