We saw porcupine fish, puffers, nudibranch, an orange spotted file fish (aka unicorn fish), gobies, basslets, sergeant majors, tangs, black spiny and white spiny sea urchins. Corals: elkhorn, stag horn, finger, star (rough and smooth), golfball, rose, leaf, smooth and grooved brain. Sponges, fans, and feather worms (which Frank learned how to poke politely to watch them disappear).
Swam back to the hotel and played Monopoly on Frank's iPad on the beach, followed by dinner at the beach bar. Frank had the burger and I had the Beachcomber salad (beans, corn, mango and veggies).
It took two hours to order and be served dinner. It took one hour to order and split a slice of cheese cake ~ welcome to Island Time. Dad and Linda arrived late, as their plane at the Miami connection was delayed. While waiting, Frank and I looked at the stars and fed a black and white cat, "named Charlie because of her mustache", some of the leftover chicken from the truck while I kept circling to the front office to see if they'd arrived. I hadn't seen either of them all school year, the longest stretch since I moved back East that I haven't been to Maine.
The only thing that met me at the office during my hour of circling was the sound of a loud Coqui tree frog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZUOiZG84c0. Every time I looked in the direction of the white cedar tree, with it's beautiful flowers, it would turn silent. If I swiveled my head, it'd start up again sounding out for a female. The courtyard at the hotel is full of flowering bushes and trees, along with mango (below pic) and palm (coconut & date) trees. The trees and bushes were rich with doves, lizards and lonely frogs.
A week earlier it had snowed at home, followed by days with the peepers magical arrival in the bogs and the northern tree frogs calling, much to Mother Nature's chagrin. Now I was a close to 2,000 miles south of home and was still being serenaded by my lovely little sticky-footed friends. A week ago it was snow, however, and today I was snorkeling! The good life.
The bar tender was named Rosie. Her son was six years old and as curious and spirited as "Charlie". At 10:30pm, when I asked where the boy had gone, she said, " he's sleeping in the car until I can drive us home." Her white tank top simply said, in bold black letters: STAY DRY. Now that is such a loaded phrase for a seemingly single mom working at a beach bar on an island with cats, lizards and birds all leaping about looking for fresh water to stay alive, while serving vacationers endless alcohol laden tropical drinks, and casually observing small fish leaping out of the water, many feet into the air, looking for a safe place to escape the big fish that come in at night to hunt.
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The boat is rocking. We ate all of our meals out today. Dad and Linda went to Rightway and bought provisions for the next week on board the boat. We'd taken the ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola ~ a high speed ferry that only took an hour from Charlotte Amelia to Road Town!
Charlotte Amelia Harbor:
On the ferry between the islands, Dad and Linda were pointing out the old haunts we'd be revisiting under sail. For them it's been 5 years since there were last here; for me it's been 18 yrs and it's the first time for Frank.
He is loving it here: snorkeling, swimming, island ways. That make me SO happy.
Conch Charters, Road Town Harbor:
The name of the boat is Le Bonne Vie and we certainly are experiencing the good life.
Le Bonne Vie Saloon
A Room Of My Own
Dockside with family crew
Frank and I shopped for a birthday present for Dad in Road Town, while they were at the grocery store. Road Town has grown in size. They are going the way of the Japanese and other island nations, and filling in the harbors with landfill to create a larger commerce center. Whole views I remember from my last trip have disappeared. However, for the locals that mean more trade with the tourists, and having lived in this kind of economy in St. Croix, I can appreciate the opportunity it creates.
Also walking to Road Town proper from Conch Charters (our home on the dock over night Friday), we passed a new park being built. The Queen Elizabeth II Park. I'm guessing it's a Jubilee project. http://www.bvinationalparkstrust.org/index.php/parks-programs/parks/tortola/queen-elizabeth-ii-park I saw a running track being built, the foundations and framing of buildings for snack bars, shaded eating areas, a pool, a naturalist office and more going up. Only the kids playground at the south end is completed, and the four times I walked by it, there were families and kids using it! The Facebook page has local kids using it for prom pix, birthday parties and as their "happy place." Sure looked that way to the casual observer. I'm so glad that a large swatch of harbor and the lands leading to it are now permanently assigned to the people of Tortola,BVI.
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