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Virgin Gorda 101: Blue Water, Lobsters & Sloth . . .

Posted by 2 Dollar Productions Sunday, March 18, 2007

I've never had more than a passing interest in boats and virtually all things nautical, but after staying in Virgin Gorda for the past week, I suddenly feel the need to own a vessel.

A big one. Why not?

I'll work out the details later. For now, I am merely wondering why I voluntarily left the British Virgin Islands because our vacation could not have been any better.

To reach Virgin Gorda, you fly from the Dallas-Forth Worth airport to San Juan, then take a puddle-jumper to Tortola and finally a 30 minute ferry ride brings you to the island.

Our villa representative met us at the dock with our rental car, a Mitsubishi Montero, and soon I was driving us along on the wrong side of the road, across steep hills and heading towards our living quarters.

The house was perfect. It was set-up nicely for multiple couples as the bedrooms all boasted ocean views and were set high atop the property at opposite ends to ensure privacy.

There was a pool, a large deck with chairs for lounging, a kitchen/main room area, a grill, washer/dryer and outdoor showers for each room, a nice touch that I thoroughly enjoyed all week long.



The villa looked like this:





Virgin Gorda is less than 12 miles wide and has roughly 3,500 full-time island residents. It felt small and relaxed, which was exactly what we expected as the only times I felt like seeing people was when I needed to order a Red Stripe and dinner at a local restaraunt (and it was also pretty damn nice not to see ANY food chain on the island).

Who needs people when you have crystal blue water, white sand and beaches like these:







People could only screw up scenery like this (with the notable exception of our band of travlers). Luckily, the only beach we shared with more than a handful of other humans was The Baths, a beach formed amongst huge boulders that is a popular docking bay for cruise ships and overweight Europeans who still feel the need to wear tiny red Speedos.

The Baths is the most famous beach attraction in Virgin Gorda, and it was fun to hike through the caves and underwater rock formations that jut into the water.




But hiking around places was low on the priority list as this was easily the laziest vacation I've ever taken and I enjoyed the hell out of it. Sloth may be a sin, but I indulged in it all week long as a typical day looked like this:

8 am - Wake up - No alarm clock was ever set and it was phenomenal to wake up to a large window looking out to the ocean every day
8 - 9 am - Eat breakfast and then sit in the deck chairs and drink a pot of coffee while watching the waves break.
9 - 11 am - Read a book and swim in the pool.
11 - 2 pm - Go to the beach and snorkel


2 - 3 pm - Lunch
3 - 4:30 - Nap
4:30 - 6:30 pm - Drink Red Stripes and watch the sunsets like these:





6:30 - 9 pm - Pick a local place to eat dinner or grill something at the Villa
9 - 11 pm - Watch a movie and go to sleep

Rinse and repeat for 7 days straight.

Even the weather cooperated beautifully as it was sunny everyday (1 morning of light rain) and the weather hovered around 87 degrees during the day and dipped into the low 70s at night.

The only negative was the price of food, which was high because nearly everything has to be shipped over to the island, and consequently, food at the grocery store and at the restaurants was costly.

Examples:

24 pack bottled water - $17
1 Honeydew Melon - $5
1 Box Cereal - $6

There was no such thing as a cheap meal, although the quality varied widely across the island. By far the best place we found was Georgios, an outdoor restaraunt on the water that boasted fresh lobsters from Anegada and I have never had a better crustacean in all my life as I feasted on a mutant 3 1/2 lb. creature.

It was amazing and I even had enough leftover to make a lobster omlette for breakfast the next morning.

For everything that Virgin Gorda featured, it was also what I didn't do on the island that made it so great. It's increasingly difficult to drop out of the technology universe, however, during my trip I never:

1) Checked my work Blackberry for emails (nor did it work on the island)
2) Make a cell phone call nor took one
3) Got on the Internet
4) Read a newspaper

It was an excellent shift to undergoe as these old habits were replaced with a daily concern about which beach to visit and where we were going to eat that night.

I was reflecting on all of this as our chartered boat skimmed thorugh the darkness at 6 am yesterday morning en route to the Tortola airport, the start of our long journey back to Austin.

Why were we leaving at all?

Why did I leave 2 beers in the Villa refridgerator?

And how much would a boat like this one cost me because I think I could also make airport runs in the early morning hours?

I had no answers and wanted to speak up and tell the captain to turn the boat back towards Virgin Gorda, a return trip trip to a place I had just left yet already missed.

But I didn't. I'm still not sure why.

-BDS

20 comments

  1. BostonPobble Says:
  2. *whimper*

    Sounds lovely. I'm going to leave the pictures up until the 9 inches of snow we have on the ground melts.

    *sigh*

     
  3. JLee Says:
  4. wow! Spectacular...simply breathtaking! Who WOULD want to leave?? I need to go there one of these days, although I just got back from some luxurious accomodations myself ;)
    I think you needed your Viking hat for the one hot tub pic. Remember, it's all about the headgear on vacation.

     
  5. SymplyAmused Says:
  6. Wahhhhh! I wanna be on the beach too!!!

     
  7. Bostonpobble - It was nice, and I was just reading about all the snow and flight disruptions in the NE as I had no clue what was going on in the world. My recommendation to beat the cold, get to a beach ASAP.

    Jlee - It was pretty damn nice & those pics were all taken by me, an amateur, so it probably looks better than that. And the viking hat would have been too hot, but then again . . .

    Symplyamused - Start planning immediately. That's half the fun.

     
  8. I've always thought the same. Why not take up residents in Crete (my favorite place in the world). I have family there, I have enough money so I wouldn't have to work for a few years. "Why not MoFo?!?" I often think to myself.

    I still haven't come up with a decent answer yet.

     
  9. nobich Says:
  10. Glad to see you're back- even though I would've stayed put if I were you.

     
  11. Idig - I've heard good things about Crete even though I have never been there. And if you can't find a good answer this year, I would consider it - at least for 6 months or so. Why the hell not?

    Nobich - I'm with you 100% & thanks.

     
  12. What a fabulous break from the world. I love the beach and the water.

     
  13. Melissa Says:
  14. Mental note: this is why people vacation to warm places in the winter and not cold places. Stunning scenery. And nice ink, I never noticed the Gonzo symbol before.

     
  15. Linda Says:
  16. Welcome back! Looks like you guys took a real vacation... sun, sand and rest. I took a tropical vaca last winter, and the photos of the villa brought back great memories... looked so much like the place I stayed! Don't blame you for wanting to stay. Boating is a blast, but $!$!$ *whew* The photos are beautiful!

     
  17. Sarcastic - IF you love those things, then I would recommend planning something similar because it was outstanding.

    Melissa - You pick the NE in the early spring & strange cold spells can happen. As for the tatt, I got it in Taos, NM about 7 - 8 years ago and am still glad to have it.

    Linda - I would go the Villa route over a hotel nearly every time for this type of trip. I'm curious what island you stayed on as I am already thinking about my next one. Ha.

     
  18. I'm so jealous! That is just the kind of place I would never ever want to leave. I have been having a nervous breakdown over this crappy ass weather we have been having.

    I'm glad you had a good time ;-)

     
  19. Linda Says:
  20. I was in Cabo San Lucas .... cervazas pour favor!! Our villa had a spa, pool and game room with a pool table!

     
  21. Trina - Sorry to rub it in as I know the NE has been slammed with bad weather, but yes, I had a very good time.

    Linda - I've heard good things about Cabo, but have never been. And I want a pool table! Damn house with no game room . . .

     
  22. julia Says:
  23. Looks like you all had an awesome and much needed vacation. But I'm not jealous, because I'm sure you can find bottled water for $17 in Miami, too.

     
  24. Miss Ash Says:
  25. Wow it does look absolutely gorgeous out there, those sunset and beach photos are amazing.

    Is that Mrs. BDS with you? I don't think i've ever seen her. If it is, she's a hottie too.

     
  26. Julia - I knew Miami was expensive, but that is just pure and utter greed. But your airport is close to the islands, so head on out for those kind of prices, why not?

    Miss Ash - It was great time and very good sunsets, although they didn't quite hold up to the ones in St. John. Details. And thanks as that is Mrs. $2 because if it wasn't I would have some explaining to do.

     
  27. Unknown Says:
  28. that sounds and looks great!

     
  29. It looked even better in person, but it was a really good time.

     
  30. Blogger Says:
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