Friday, March 15, 2024

Prickly Pear Beach, BVI

Prickly Pear is a small island just off the coast of Antigua and just east of Virgin Gorda.  The island is uninhabited and a British National Park, and, most importantly to us, contains Vixen Point, another wonderful white sand beach with clear turquoise water.

 Approaching Prickly Pear

The beach is set up for a barbeque, with chairs and beach toys for all of us.


Beach adventures

 Steel band

 Barbeque

Other boats pull in, one collection of rental catamarans all tie themselves together, and come ashore for lunch and/or a drink.

Catamaran convention

The captain tells us that one of the larger yachts stopping here rents for $450,000 per week, not including fuel and port charges.  Perhaps we'll stick with our shared cruise for now!


 Sun sets as we head out

On to the next island!

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Jost Van Dyke , British Virgin Islands

Jost Van Dyke is a small, quiet island and the ship's tender drops us off in Great Harbor, a sleepy town with a few bars and fishing boats.  On the other side of the island, about two miles (3.2 km) away over a steep hill, is White Bay, a fabulous and popular beach.  It's a nice day and we walk.

 Walking to White Bay beach, joined by a dog going that way

 View of the beach from the crest, view back at the ship

As we head up the hill toward the beach, a dog comes out of a house, looks around, and joins us for the walk.  He escorts us the entire way, but as soon as we reach the beach, our new dog friend noses around the edge of the road and scares a young goat tied to the tree.  Both are startled and jump up fast.  After recovering, our new friend completes his escort duties, runs into the water, and starts playing with the kids.  What a great dog life!  We were his company to the beach, but not interesting enough to hang out with.

Scaring the goat (and dog)

At White Bay, we settle in at the Soggy Dollar, which gained its name because people would swim ashore from boats in the bay and pay for their drinks with water-soaked dollars.

Settling in at the Soggy Dollar


A Painkiller and lunch

 View out from the Soggy Dollar - a popular place!

We order lunch (conch poppers, grilled cheese sandwich, pasta salad, and fish & chips), a few beers, and their specialty, a Painkiller (dark rum, cream of coconut, pineapple, orange juice, nutmeg). We've settled in at a table and go for an occasional swim, although the swimming area is limited by all the boats, many of which have come over for the day from nearby islands, and start to head back as the day progresses further into the afternoon.  Even if limited to the water close to shore, the swimming in the clear water is amazing.  Many who don't swim are spending their time waving to their friends back home on the Soggy Dollar webcam.

But, eventually, it is time to hike back over the hill and away we go, no local island escort dog this time.

 Hiking up the hill, away from White Bay

 And, down the other side into Great Harbor

We wander through Great Harbor,  just to see what is there.  Great Harbor has 200 residents, most of the permanent residents on the island, five restaurants, and our new friend, dog.



 Great Harbor

After our stroll through town, we head over to the pier and catch our tender home.  Another great relaxing day!

Departing Great Harbor

Friday, March 8, 2024

Another Day in Bequia

We head the beach for swimming and kayaking.  Our ship's tender drops us off on the pier, next to the wharf where the ferries travel frequently back and forth to Kingstown, St. Vincent, about 16km (10 miles) away.  We again follow the Belmont Walkway around the harbor to Princess Margaret Beach.

 Ferries loading up

 Back on Princess Margaret Beach

Today, after a hour-long swim up and down the beach, we decide to kayak.

 Out on kayaks

But, we're really waiting for lunch so that we can try the famous lobster pizza at Mac's, around the corner to the middle of the Belmont Walkway.

 Turn right at the sign and head up to Mac's Pizzaria

There are only a few tables on the patio where the pizza is served, but the view is fabulous.

 View from our table at Mac's

Yes, they have other pizzas, but the specialty is lobster pizza and we have to have it!

Lobster pizza

We waddle back to the pier, hop on the last tender to the ship, and return to Barbados to end another great journey.  We do, however, bring back two slices for the Captain, who had told us the day before that he had never tried lobster pizza.

 Rough winter seas

 After a brief squall, a double rainbow

We're off to the next island!