Rosewood's Little Dix Bay (affectionately called Big Richard's Bay by our crew) has been on my dream destination list for years, but it's hard to get to. As it sits on Virgin Gorda, a small island off the coast of Tortola (a BVI main island), there is no airport on the Virgin Gorda, and you must take a boat from the small airport on Tortola (Beef Island EIS) to Little Dix Bay.
American flies to EIS from Miami a few days a week (so two legs, both big commercial airliners); Delta flies to EIS by way of Atlanta and San Juan (so three legs, including a 10-seater plane from San Juan to EIS). So we were set to leave on a 5:20 a.m. American flight on Sunday, January 5th, and I happened to wake up and check my phone around 12:30. The first flight had been delayed long enough that we'd miss our connection in Miami. I wake up John, and he's immediately on the phone. American can't get us there until Tuesday, so Delta it is. The anxiety of the tiny plane started immediately at 1 a.m. It turned out to be 10 seats, two engines, one pilot, and no air conditioning. As close to Apollo 13 as you could legally put people in. They assigned our seats to spread out weight, so we were separated and Tom was in the co-pilot seat. He didn't move a single muscle the whole 50-min flight for fear of hitting the steering wheel or pedals. Our flight was delayed an hour or two, so the sun was going down, it was spitting rain, and we were flying over the ocean. Soon after we took off, we saw a double rainbow, and that greatly helped me calm down. It wasn't as bad as I expected dropping up and down, but it felt like it skidded left and right a lot. We made it safely and all kissed the ground when we landed, but only John's suitcase made it to EIS from San Juan. Ahhh!
We took a short (20 mins) boat ride to the resort in their swanky boat around 7:30 p.m., and they came back for our bags the next morning. The resort gave us all some black tshirts and gym shorts to wear in the meantime, which I had to sport on the beach until my suitcase arrived. That set the mood for a fun and playful vacation!
We loved being back in the BVIs. You are just a short ride from tons of islands and beach bars and snorkeling with turtles. Speaking of, we found all kinds of sea life on our beach- sting rays, turtles, a baby shark, a pelican! The service was great, the spa was unbelievable, the food was delicious. And best of all- a week with John and the Ducks!!!
Good morning in Atlanta
Thanks, Delta/ Cape Air
Trying to act calm
Ok, not really so calm
But the rainbow(s) showed up!
That's where we have to land?!
Let's get to LDB already!
Look at those stars!
Oceanview Cottage #3
Rum Room for a quick and late dinner- best apps we had the whole time!
Ahhhh, finally on the beach! In my black tshirt and shorts...
Finally, our bags arrived!
Exploring
The pool is adjacent to the pointy roofed buildings. I believe John was the only one of us who got in it. Our rooms were on the complete opposite end from here, so we'd walk down to eat or look for shells but didn't get in the pool.
The eastern most side of the beach is where the reef stops, so it's full of tons of shells.
Coco Maya was our FAVORITE dinner off property spot. Annie found a friend just her size!
Right on the water, and they had fun entertainment beach- adult Jinga and corn hole. Food was sushi and delicious. They had a great deejay and a swing at the bar!
All of us but Tom hopped on a golfcart to get from the taxi at the "Big Tree" to our rooms after dinner, but Tom decided to hop on a bike and beat us back!!!
The view from the massage table- THE BEST
Walking back from the massage room/ cottage to the spa pool
I could have stayed here forever
Lunch at the Reef House
Sting ray! I almost stepped on him
And a conch!
Still following the sting ray
And another one closer to the beach
Bad Annie!
View from our room out to the beach. These are sea grape trees which actually do have some grapes during certain seasons. We found some random grapes around on the beach and were confused until we learned what type of trees they were!
Let's get on a boat!
Snorkeling at Cooper Island
And at Peter Island- turtles!!
The Indians
Willy T's
Saba Rock
Saba Rock from the water- it's its own island!
Dinner at Sugarmill (on property)
A baby shark!
And these lizards are everywhere
We asked this nice guy to help us get a fruity drink in a real coconut, so he grabbed these off a tree and made it happen.
See the turtle head?!
And this little guy got close
Sugarcane Restaurant (offsite and up and down a LOT of hills)
Back to LDB
Meanwhile, home got 7 inches of SNOW (and a stomach bug so not many playing-in-snow pics)
They had a cute little farm on property
This is the easternmost end of the resort where the road ends. These are the oceanview cottages, and ours are down that sidewalk on the right.
Ours was #3 on the left, Ducks was #1 on right (both downstairs).
This guy hung around a lot and was fun to watch
Sunny was intrigued by the snow
Our neighbors were so nice to keep sending us pics of the house!
Look up at the top of these trees outside Sugarmill, the bunches of little pods. All kinds of interesting plants and trees here.
One last lunch before we started the long trek home
The entire boarding area (inside security) at EIS- it had two women's bathroom stalls but it was air conditioned!
Thank you, American, for that normal/ large sized plane!
Caribbean runways are a little different!
Our Miami-Memphis flight got delayed three hours, waiting for pilots, on and then off the (very hot) plane, so Tom saved the day with a midnight snack despite all the restaurants being closed.
Waiting for us back at home
