British Virgin Islands Trip Report

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ShakaZulu

Contributor
Messages
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Location
San Diego, CA
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Well, we finally made it back from the British Virgin Islands.

Sat 12/30: Arrived in Tortola, finally got a car and checked in at Sebastians, our hotel on the beach. Had dinner and went to sleep.

Sun 12/31: Woke up late, went for a kiteboarding session at Nanny Cay. Winds are 15-20mph everyday, but there is only one spot to launch and you better stay upwind or your kite/gear is gone. The winds blow east to west and there is no land if you miss the entrance. Rode for about an hour, got some air and the returned to our hotel. Layed out in the sun and had a few cocktails. That evening we went to Jost Van Dyk Island with the ferry and partook of the New Year Festivities at a bar called Foxy’s, too much fun and way too many “PainKillers”. Managed to get on the ferry and made it back to our hotel around 2:00am.

Mon 01/01: During the evening I realized I was getting sick, and woke up sick as a dog with the flu. My dahling girlfriend went to get me breakfast and some medicine, but I was out for the count. She enjoyed a fun day, reading and laying out.

Tues 01/02: No improvement in my condition, but we decided to drive around on the Island and explore some beaches. Lisa started to cough, and by the end of the day, we were both in bed, sick.

Wed 01/03: Me still sick, haven been woken up 50 times by the rooster that wakes the entire Island up at 4:00am, decided that I think I can dive. Got my gear, arrived at Blue Water Divers, and loaded the boat. Went to pickup some divers on their sailboat, and did a dive at Peter Island and Norman Island. I was the only person with a BP/W on the boat, and after some humorous TEK comments, we went diving. I wasn’t very impressed with the color of the underwater surroundings, but it was two good dives. We followed the DM, leading us around. My pictures suck, but here is a link with some pics:

http://www.scubapost.net/forums/shakazulu/BVI/

After the diving, I realized that we needed to see a doctor, as our flu now turned to bronchitis. Dr Cambell from the Eureka medical center finally saw us, and set us off with $140.00 of prescription drugs. That night was the full moon party at a BomBa Shack, about 500ft from our hotel. They serve mushroom tea (the magic kind) at this event, and the crazyness went on till 4:00am, that’s right, about the same time when the rooster started to wake the rest of the Island.

Thur 01/04: So, with no sleep from the 40000000watts of island music, and the rooster noise, we felt great. I cancelled the diving for the rest of the week, and crawled back in bed.

Fri 01/05: We woke up, and even though we were still sick, decided to catch a ferry to Virgin Gorda, and go checkout the baths. Amazing, just a bunch a big boulders, but they make a tourist attraction out of it.

Sat 01/06: Since we felt better, we decided to go layout on our favorite beach, Smuggler’s Cove. Around 12:00 we went back to the hotel to start packing. Caribbean Sun Airlines politely cancelled our flights from Tortola, so we had to cut short our vacation by a day in order to meet our connection flights in San Juan back to the US. We went for dinner at the Metropole in San Juan, and checked into the Best Western for that evening.

Sun 01/07: Traveling from San Juan, to Atlanta to San Diego, damn it’s soooooooo far.

PS: I found the locals to be very unfriendly, rudest people I have ever met, obviously there were exceptions. They have no respect for the visitors, and you pay a lot of money for poor services. All in all, I felt cheated and will never go back to these Islands. The attitude of the people ruined the trip for us…….
 
How sad to hear. I bareboated in 1979 and ’80 and had a marvelous time. Wonderful people and seriously considered buying a boat and moving to the BVI’s. I’ve really treasured the experience and sorry to hear it’s just not the same.
 
checked in at Sebastians,

Is that the bar with 200 panties hanging up top? Sebastian is quite a lecherous specimen, isn't he?

Really, you had a problem with the attitude?

he he...lived there 8 yrs, I got used to the abuse. (I do love it there, you just have to compensate for being white a little---I figured it was an exercise in humilty that I could use.)
 
Sad to hear you had a bad trip.
I had a fab trip there in the mid 90's.
Night dive on the wreck of the Rhone has to be one of my favorite dives of all time. The free descent with the strobe lighting the wreck was just amazing.
I had a few too many rums at some of the bars in Road Town but always managed to recover by the following morning.
We were there for 2 weeks, After the first week the DM's new us and just let us get on and do our own thing. We were always first off and last back on to the boat.

It may have changed but I hope not.

No plans to go back there at present, my thoughts are to go east.
 
We did our trip on a crewed chartered sailboat, and it sounds like that was a good idea. But I thought the diving was really beautiful -- Fabulous colors, and tons of life. I wonder if the sites vary that much?
 
Oh, I'm sure my being sick had something to do with it :(. I think if you charter a boat, you will definately have a different experience, not sure if I can spend two weeks, in such confined quarters with other smelly feet :).

Well, I'm from South Africa, and I know what it's like when people don't like you, but this was at another level. I've tried to understand it, but even the locals I was able to talk to, couldn't help me. I even myspaced some bvi locals, and this was their response....So, in trying to figure out, why the Islanders are so unfriendly, I send the following email to two BVI myspace people, and here are their responses. Make up your own minds........

My Email:

"help me understand why the locals in BVI are soo unfriendly. i just got back from there and will never go back. it was actually my first vacation where i wanted it to end."

Response from http://www.myspace.com/scarpionprincess

"I am sorry to hear about that. Actually i am not a native of the BVI i am a Guyanese national (South American) who is living and working in the BVI. I can relate to what you are saying a little bit, when i first got here some of the people were like that, i think they are selfcentered and some are shallow minded. But all in all most of them are friendly, well for me. But you should'nt let that stop you from returning to the island its a beautiful place.
Well All the best on your next vocation."


Response from http://www.myspace.com/tola_princess

"First of all not all BVIslanders are unfriendly so get your facts straight and not because one lives here means they are from here, i can ask you the same darm question which can be why are you all people are soo FAKE? You see we as locals can tell real people from the fake ones you all come here with your fake smiles and fake well wishes when we can see from the facial expression that it is not done with a good heart, so maybe that is the reason for the locals unfriendly gestures, when we come to the USA SOME of the people there are also not friendly I've been to many states many times MOST OF the people don't smile they don't say good morning, afternoon or evening and when you say it MOST are reluctant to reply and they have absoluty no customer service training. You come here expecting royal treatment well you get what you give, have you stop and ask yourself was i friendly to the locals? I am a proud BVIslander and it is not only in the BVI this happens it is all over the ****ing world and i know you have not meet all the locals so don't make a remake like that unless you have, everyone can never be the same.Sorry u had such a rotten vacation but wheather you choose to come back or not it will not take anything away from TORTOLA, we are and will remain NATURE's LITTLE SECRET. Remember no one ****ing asked you to come here!"
 
I went to tortolla this spring with the navy.... it can be a wild place for sure...hope you got a chance to check out the pussers rhum factory outlet....we all did as that spirit has special historical significance for the british and hense canadian navy....did get some good diving done there though (RMS Rhone and some other choice spots) the colors did look a little blue grey though and that was a bit odd...... I too was the only one using a bp/wing.... and I had to defend the use of my long hose aswell but it all turned out for the better


thanks for the post



P.S. I hated that rooster as well
 
shaka,
thank you for taking the time to post your experience.
sorry to hear y'all got sick on your holiday.
the 3 times we've been there we always charter a crewed yacht.
i have had very little interaction with the local folk.
i wish i had magic words that would make everything good.
regards,
 
Heading down to BVI for a dive vacation in a few weeks. I suppose I will be the only BP/W diver there too. I was the only one (that I saw) in Cabo San Lucas a few weeks ago too!
I plan on using Blue Water Divers. Would you recommend them?
 
We've bareboated sailboats several times in the BVIs over the last few years, and have really enjoyed the diving and sailing there. I've never noticed an attitude problem with the locals, but then again I rarely set foot on land once I'm on the boat. The wait staff at the few restaurants we go to are always very nice.

We did pay a cab driver to show us Tortola once when we had a long wait for our plane, and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences we had. He had a story for just about every site.

We only dealt with the dive shops to get tanks and weights. I believe it was Blue Water, and we were fine with them. Sorry to hear about your lousy experience.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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