On Island Time

VIVA ITALIA!

2006-07-10T19:59:00.000-04:00

Well, just in case you live under a rock, the World Cup Finals are over. With a nail-biter of a finish, Italy won on penalty kicks in overtime. My friend Shant and I went to an Irish pub to watch the game. It was awesome. The place was split about half and half -- Pro-Italy and Pro-France. One old guy was wandering around wearing a French jersey, talking excitedly in his native tongue. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

Pictures 4

2006-06-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

Like I mentioned earlier, Raynel taught me the basics of sailing. We had access to both little motor boats and to little sailboats. And here is where I tried to kill us. After our first successful sailing outing, I felt like a pro. I knew what the bow was, the stern, port, starboard, and I was getting the hang of triming the sail. So the next day we went out again and when Raynel turned the boat over to me I was determined to get the most speed I could. It was fairly windy and we were really moving along when the next thing I knew we were in the water. I succeeded in tiping a Hobie catamaran, one of the most stable types of sailing ships. Raynel was mortified. The resort people had to come out and help us get it back up. Rather embarrasing.

Motoring around the bay:

This impressive vessel was moored in the bay for about a day. We took the motor boat out to get a picture of it. It was beautiful.

I did get to scuba dive a little bit and I taught Raynel some of the basics. But there was a large wave of jelly fish that came in towards the end of the week and after seeing probably 10-12 in just a few minutes, I decided to get out of the water. Raynel had me pose with Mike the iguana (he's on the far left sunning on the rock). I guess he lives at the Resort.

One evening, the waterfront staff at the resort did a sunset sail. We signed up and got to go out on one of their larger ships with about 20 other guests for a sail around the nearby islands for about an hour. It was beautiful.

Pictures 3

2006-06-28T09:26:00.001-04:00

The view from our little cabana was breathtaking. That little island is called Saba Rock and is a resturante. To the left is the bay where Raynel taught me to sail and I tried to get us killed. (More on that later.) To the right is open sea and the edge of an island owned by the man who owns Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic. I want to be his friend.

Just another shot of the beach.

How do I explain The Baths -- Imagine hundreds of the largest boulders you've ever seen and they are all piled against each other. There is space between them to walk and crawl, almost like an above ground cave. You can climb them, jump off them, get a tan on the top or just chill down below. And all in about 3-4 feet of the clearest, nicest water you've ever seen. That is The Baths on the Island of Virgin Gorda. We took a day trip there and it was probably the highlight of the trip. Especially when I stepped on the sea urchin.

Pictures 2

2006-06-28T09:26:00.000-04:00

Food. Fresh seafood, fruit, ice cold drinks -- We ate very well and way too much. Just about every night they had some type of theme dinner -- BBQ one night, seafood buffet another. We dined to the tunes of a local steel drum band one night and a very good reggae band the next. We got our waiter to take a picture of us one evening.

But speaking of waiters, I have never been waited on so much in my life. Everywhere we went, someone would show up asking if we needed a drink, towel, or something like that. It was fun for a while but we decided we're not cut out to be aristocrats.

Pictures 1

2006-06-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

After leaving Washington, D.C. at 8 am, we arrived on Tortola, BVI in the early afternoon. Our ferry to the resort didn't come until 4 pm so we just sat at the dock, enjoying the sunshine, the breeze, and our books. We arrived on the Island of Virgin Gorda in the early evening to commence our week at the Bitter End Yatch Club. (What a name for a honeymoon location!)

Call us nerds, geeks, or some other educated appellation but we love Scrabble. Since it
rained at least once a day (usually in the late afternoon/evening), we had plenty of time to play.

Beautiful. No other comments.

A view from our deck. This picture does not do justice to the true clarity of the water. It was pristine.

2006-06-28T08:50:00.000-04:00

Well folks, it's the end of the world as we know it because I am writing a blog. And I'm only here because I've decided this is the best forum for me to share the pictures and stories of my and Raynel's visit to Virgin Gorda. As such, this blog will not be updated often so don't get your hopes up. This site will never be a repository (or is it suppository?) for emotional blabberings or other such nonsense. Rather it will be dedicated to publishing the fun, exciting, random things that Raynel and I do together. So, if I can only figure out how to post pictures, we'll be in business.