Sunday, September 6

Soggy Dollar Bar, Jost Van Dyke, BVI!

A wholly delicious day. Two delicious coffees and a breakfast burrito from the Deli Grotto for second breakfast. First breakfast was a few hours earlier, which consisted of yogurt and granola. Between first and second breakfast, we headed down the trail to Salomon Beach and swam around, doing a little bit of snorkeling. The water, as usual, was quite clear and lovely. We toweled off in time to walk down the trail into Cruz Bay.

After our second breakfast was complete, we walked down to the ferry dock. There, we met Ilya, one of our crew for the day. We happily hopped on the dinghy and shortly thereafter, boarded the Dream Weaver and met our captain, Jini. Once everyone was on board, we set sail for Jost Van Dyke. Sailing and sunbathing through the morning is really one of the best ways to pass one's morning. Mom got to man the wheel for a good distance. When the sails are tightly held and full of wind, you can hear a whistling sound. The scream of wind howling past lets you know you've got the wind fully harnessed. Mom produced much whistling with her steering. During the sail, we met our fellow passengers, which consisted of some Cruzans (St. Croix folks) from Ohio, who were very interesting people. One of the girls on the boat happens to have worked for David Letterman as his personal assistant. Of course, she has some very excellent people in her social circles and it was very entertaining to hear her talk about having a drink with folks like Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz. Of course, these people are famous, but they are people too, and they are fully capable of sitting around having a nice “regular” chat over some cocktails. It was refreshing to hear that even with extreme fame and/or fortune, they're still very accessible and human. It is awesome that you can get thrown on a boat with random strangers for 7+ hours and end up getting along with them quite happily. It may have just been the painkillers, or the cool island breeze, but man, I love new meeting people down here.

Sometime around noon, we arrived at Grand Harbor, Jost Van Dyke, to clear Her Majesty's Customs, and swim into White Bay. The beach is phenomenal. Soggy Dollar Bar was alive and well. Mic fixed us two painkillers straightaway and then we hit the lovely gift shop for our Soggy paraphernalia. Mom found a bright yellow hooded-zip sweatshirt, we both got some slap-koozies, stickers (I do love stickers), and a surprise for Dad.

For lunch: two orders of chicken roti and garden salad. Wonderful and splendid to share things like roti with Mom now that she's in the Caribbean, too. I am also excited to show her some pate and a mahi sandwich from Woody's. If you've never had roti, I should do some explaining. The roti here in the Caribbean is like a curry. With raisins, spices, curries, and other ingredients I don't know about, mixed with chicken (bone-in or bone-out), the dish is a must-try if you're around the area. I suggest bone-in if you like sucking on a tasty bone until it's nothing more than a toothpick. There are so many tasty places to eat, I don't think we'll have time to visit them all before it's time to go home. I'll make sure no meal is wasted on silly places, though, that's for sure. Somewhere in the mix, and after two painkillers, we settled up the tab. I suppose life was feeling very wonderful, because after I paid the bill (long afterward), I realized that I paid about $28 too many for our drinks and lunch. I guess our tab was mixed-in with the rest of the boat and someone probably thought they got a free lunch or free drink during the trip. At any rate, I'm not terribly worried about it- it was a fabulous time that was had by all on the boat, and especially at Soggy Dollar! Mom really loved the day, although as it wore on, we started noticing our pale skin was turning a bit more red. The sunblock must have either been expired or nowhere near strong enough. We both got “boint” (read: burnt with accent). By the time we got home, the redness was more fully set-in. A few layers of aloe gel will do the trick! I'm hoping mine turns brown by tomorrow. Last time I had a burn of this quality pink/red, I found that the very next day, all pink was gone and I appeared more in the tan spectrum. Mom hasn't had as much sun this summer, so I hope she does well to not turn red and peel, although as a tourist, it wouldn't be the first or the last time it's happened. We even have a tree on the island named the tourist tree- because it turns red (the bark) and peels. Hehe.

Tomorrow, we get to pick up the rental car and begin driving around the island. I think giving le grand tour of the island is one part of Mom's visit I've been most excited about, both for the joy of sharing “keep left” and all the beautiful sights within the park, including the beaches and ruins. Heck, I'm excited to have her here, period- she gets to see Jost Van Dyke, most of the island, a handful of beaches, a few great restaurants, lots of smiling faces, several good friends, and the place I've fallen in love with and called home the past three months.