Regatta

Driving down into Road Town around 4:30 yesterday, I could see the entire fleet of sailboats participating in the Bitter End Yacht Club Pro Am Regatta, as they rounded the head at Baugher's Bay to come into Road Harbour.

Unfortunately, traffic on Joe's Hill Road didn't allow me to stop and photograph the racers from that perspective, but I was able to get a few snaps from the waterfront near the cruise ship dock

Happy Early Halloween

The BVI has a ... different ... way of celebrating Halloween, as reported in this story on BVInews.com.

The headline, "Peebles Hospital Denies Rumors of Missing Body" pretty much says it all, but I especially liked the official quote from the hospital:

“Peebles Hospital confirms than an investigation is ongoing. However, the BVIHSA officials deny that a body has been stolen or is missing from the facility.”

If no body is stolen or missing, what exactly is there to investigate?

With thanks to HB, who reads the news far more frequently than I.

Point of View

Here are a few of the simpler reasons I enjoy coming to work everyday.

I get to enjoy all the tropical flowers on the grounds. There's lots of hibiscus, but I was surprised by this wild orchid the other day.

I get to play "guess the fruit" with the groundskeeping staff, who delight in my ignorance. (This papaya is one of the easier examples)

I'm constantly reminded that I'm living in paradise.

And on special days, I get to enjoy the wonderful views from some of our rooms.

Mermaid's

HB goes to Virgin Gorda about once a week for work, and so at the end of our anniversary day on Virgin Gorda last weekend, he took me to one of the many restaurants he frequents.

Mermaid's Dockside Bar is one of the more popular local watering holes on Virgin Gorda, and there was a lively game of dominoes taking place when we arrived.

The draw for me was the location. The restaurant is situated on a pier, completely surrounded by water. No other restaurant I've encountered in the BVI can quite match this literal, "on the water" feel.

We had a few beers and watched the impending sunset until our food arrived. We had to wait for the pizza oven to heat up to the appropriate 900 degrees, but with views like these, we weren't in any rush.

Of all the pizza I've had in the BVIs, the pizza HB had at Mermaid's was probably the closest thing I've had to Stateside pizza. Even as good as it was, it did not compare to the tastiness of my entree: whole, steamed red snapper with fried plantains and mac 'n' cheese. Too intent on devouring it to take a picture, let me reassure you that its eye was all the clue I needed that it hadn't been out of the water for very long.

For a combination of ambience and fresh, local fish, I have yet to find Mermaid's equal in the BVI.

Color Palette

Blue, green and white, the classic color palette of the tropics.

It looks especially good surrounding this enormous villa on Buck Island

 I like to change it up from time to time with a little red, like the faded red roofs of Road Town

Somehow, the tropical color palette makes limin' come easier.

(with thanks to Michael in the Florida Keys)

Steep Grade

At the bottom of Joe's Hill Road:

Consider yourself duly warned.

And no, that steep grade sign does not exaggerate.

North Sound

I cannot go to Virgin Gorda, it seems, without taking the beautiful drive over Gorda Peak to North Sound. I am entranced by North Sound.

 
I don't know what makes it so different from the low-lying Spanish Town. Perhaps the sense that this community is just barely clinging to the steep hillside?

 More likely the fact that it's surrounded by the most beautiful waters in the BVI. I can never seem to capture its magical qualities in photographs -- probably because the chief draw of North Sound is the water, and I've only ever visited it on land.

At any rate, as the rain came in over Dog Bay on Saturday afternoon, it lent an even more ineffable feeling to the North Sound community.