We left home at 4:30 A.M. for Philadelphia Airport (17 degrees outside) dressed in our summer clothes with a couple of sweaters/hoodies...mighty, mighty cold! Leaving at 7:45 and flying USAire to San Juan took 3 1/2 hours. We were met by a pilot from Air America Charters who took our luggage and herded us to another gate for our flight to Tortolla. Here we met Bill, Donna, Jeanneanne, Brian and baby, Davis. The rest of the family came in later. The flight to Tortolla (BVI) took about 30 minutes in a little prop plane which held just 8 people. In Tortolla (Beef Island Airport), we went through Customs (didn't even have to take off our shoes) then took a water taxi to Virgin Gorda (translated Fat Lady), our destination. At the harbor, we were met with an truck with open rows of seats in the back and to our villa on Mango Bay, Aquamarne. It's about 12 miles from Spanish Town and is back in the hills - very beautiful. I was freaked out because the cars drive on the left side of the road but soon got used to it. There was a sign posted on a tree "Left is Right and Right is Suicide!
There were 3 villas inter-connected by flagstone paths. Each villa had 3 master suites, 1 double and a studio. Barb and I had the double which was on the 2nd floor. We had an indoor shower (more on that later) and 2 balconies, one with a hammock. Bill & Donna, Jeannette and Tom and our cousins, Mike and Sandy had the master suites...all had "outdoor" showers but were covered with lattice and foliage. I would stand on the balcony and talk to them when they were showering and I really couldn't see anything but a shadow. Soon stopped though...was only good for a short period. Haha!
Downstairs, the villa had "open" walls along with a patio, pool and faced the Caribbean that was only 1 flight down. There were kayaks for our use as well as beach chairs and lots of towels. The kitchen was well stocked with food and drink so each day, Mike or Donna made breakfast or we scrambled on our own. A Chef prepared our dinner. This was true for all the villas. Housekeeping took care of our rooms and laundry was picked up twice a week. Talk about being pampered.
The rest of the group from N.C. didn't get in until 7 P.M. It seems they had to drive to Charlotte because of a snowstorm.
I'll continue this tomorrow.
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4 comments:
Sounds wonderful--much better than all the snow and ice. :)
Wow! Definitely sounds lovely! I didn't realize the whole NC gang would be there, too.
Yeah, all of the kids except Carmina who didn't want to go without Fred (he's in school). There were 31 altogether. Donna invited a couple of girlfriends with husbands and her daughter, husband and grandsons.
Glad you were able to go and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful scenery, not to mention the fun people!
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