Babymoon-ing & Celebrating Birthdays in Canada - 9/2016

Well it had been since December since our last trip down to the Islands, and by the time July was around the corner I could feel myself going slightly crazy because, well, it’s been 7 months and we hadn’t gone anywhere. Both of our birthdays were coming up in early September along with our 2 ½ year anniversary so we decided to start looking at places to go and wrap everything all in 1 trip, along with a babymoon. My love for the beach will always be there – however, with all the Zika scare going on in the Carribean, and florida, it ruled out any chances of going on a beach vacation for us – so to the planning board we went. I had always wanted to go to Banff, after seeing pictures of Lake Louise years ago from a friend who traveled there and was absolutely stunned by the beauty. However, anytime I looked at going, I was making the mistake of trying to fly into Banff, and quickly realized the tickets were outrageous, then I would put that trip on hold for a different time. This was until I began my search again this July and realized that people fly into Calgary, rent a car, and drive to Banff, and low and behold – tickets were super reasonable. We discussed it for a few days and made the decision, Canada it is!

We looked at our travel points and realized that we can cover both of our flights and car rental for 9 days – woohoo! We booked to leave Houston on 9/1 and return on 9/9 – this will give us plenty of time to explore Canada, and get away from the real world since our whole life is about to significantly change in a few months. As usual, I read many tripadvisor posts on what easy hikes to do, what to see, where to eat, etc so we can atleast somewhat have an idea of what to do once we got there. The weather was unpredictable this far in advance so I told myself I won’t look until the week of, that way I know what to pack. I went ahead and bought a few long sleeve maternity shirts and leggings since I know we would be spending a lot of time in the outdoors and I wanted to be comfortable. I was eyeing a few hiking poles as well as many people have recommended them – I had no intention of doing any crazy long hikes, but I did wanted to do some “easy” ones.

Our flight left Houston around 8:30 am, and we would arrive in Calgary at around 11:30 or so. We landed, got our luggage, got our rental car (we got upgraded to an SUV which was a bonus!), and started making the short drive to downtown Calgary to check into our Hotel. We decided to say our first night in Calgary as we both haven’t been before and wanted to check out the town. We stayed at The Fairmont Palliser, which let me tell you, was by far the fanciest hotel we have probably stayed at. The rooms were nice, but the lobby must have had over 10 crystal chandaliers everywhere. You can tell that it was an older hotel and it was just beautiful, perfectly situated in downtown. We rested for a few hours, and decided to head out and explore. We walked down a few streets, grabbed lunch from a food truck that was labeled as “Turkish BBQ” which consisted of a quick wrap that John and I split. We walked around some more, went into a few more shops, then headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner time. A few hours later we headed out and found a cute little restaurant with a patio and we had dinner, and John pulled up the Tennessee game on the phone and we watched along as we enjoyed some cool weather.

The next morning we headed out to Breakfast at a place called OEB, which was rated as the #1 place to eat at in Calgary for Breakfast. There was about a 10 minute wait and we were quickly seated, given menus, got some coffee and ordered. Let me just say this – that breakfast was hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever had. John ordered “soul in a bowl” that consisted of potatoes, cheese curds, bacon, and poached eggs on top, and I ordered Salmon Eggs Benedict that came out with a side of fruit, and not just plain typical fruit that you get as side dish, this had kiwi, dragon fruit, apples, and oranges – perfection!

We headed back to the hotel, checked out and made the drive to Canmore, which is where we will be staying for the remaining length of our trip. It’s approximately 1 ½ hour drive from Calgary – and once you start entering Mountain territory you really forget about the time and just stare at all the beauty. It was chilly outside but sunny and beautiful.

We arrived at Falcon Crest Lodge around noon, tried to check in but they didn’t have a room available just yet, and since we upgraded to a king room, they said it will be around 2 pm before it will be ready which we were ok with. We headed into town which was only about a 2 minute drive from the lodge and found parking and walked around. It’s a very cute mountain town – reminded me of a much smaller Breckinridge, Colorado with a perimeter of mountains all around, 2 way streets and lots of cute little shops on both sides. We passed the time until 2 pm and headed back to check into our room. The rooms were set up studio style, with a king bed in the corner, and fully equipment kitchen, large bathroom with a very large, deep tub (score!) and a living room area with 2 couches, a flat screen tv, and a fireplace (another score!). Each room had a decent size balcony with 2 chairs, a table, and a grill. We decided that we were going to head to the local grocery store to pick up some items that way we don’t overspend while on vacation. We picked up mostly breakfast items, stuff for sandwiches, snacks, etc, and we decided that we would cook 2 dinner meals while we were there. We headed back to the room and unloaded everything, unpacked, and got settled in. I believe we went to a place called Marrietta’s for dinner our first night – it was nothing crazy fancy but had an amazing view of the mountains. I ordered a small pizza and I don’t remember what John ordered. We both ordered a drink (wine for me please!), ate, and we went back and called it a night.

Saturday (and I only remember what day because it was my birthday!) - Hike to Grassy Lakes – this was recommended by Mrs. Regene Henderson – one of my friends’ moms who was just in Canmore a few days ago. The hike was probably 2-3 miles I would say, but holy smokes with the cold weather, and the elevation, I realized that hiking was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. I was quickly panting and had to take multiple stops just to catch my breath… oh and the fun part, having to pee while you’re hiking – super fun let me tell you, but you do what you gotta do…. We made it to the top where this beautiful lake was and it really looked like something out of a magazine. So many different colors and shades of green it was breathtaking. I of course took about 834 pictures, and we continued hiking to the very top, took more pictures, and headed back down and took a different route this time – because we could hear and see a waterfall on our way up and I wanted to find it – which we did, and it was absolutely amazing! I had never been this close to a waterfall before and we stayed up there for almost an hour before making the hike back down. By the time we were done, I was beyond exhausted to even think about dinner, we decided to stay in that night, and I made our first meal at the lodge, steak with a baked potato and veggies – I quickly fell asleep afterwards on the couch – this preggo was exhausted!

On Sunday we woke up and decided to venture out today into Banff National Park. We drove and found Johnston Canyon which was apparently a short hike to a beautiful waterfall – you could continue hiking further up and see the Inkpots but we didn’t – mainly due to how crowded it was. It seemed like everyone on this planet decided to go to Banff at the same time we did. We also stopped at Bow River on our way back and took some pictures of this absolute beauty – all in all it was a great day!

Monday – Headed back to Banff because today was the day I get to visit the Lake I’ve been dreaming about for years – Lake Louise. We arrived there around 10 am or so which was a little later than we wanted to but hey, we took our time this morning to get up – after all we were on vacation. Two things that I feel like I have to mention – first, Lake Louise is absolutely beautiful – like out of this world beautiful. The water was a milky blue color, scattered clouds but enough to see the blue sky and the reflections on the water – simply stunning. The second thing – HOLY SMOKES was this place crowded with tourists – to the point where you were bumping people left and right and EVERYONE was trying to take pictures – it was unreal. I saw the place where you can rent a canoe at which is something I’ve always wanted to do. We paid and they gave us life jackets and we decided to do an hour canoe trip – as we were getting into our Canoe – one of the employees tells us to keep our eyes fixed on the left side of the lake because apparently there is a grizzly. John very quickly gets excited and we start paddling. It took us some time to figure out which way to paddle, but we finally got the hang of it and kept looking up the mountain – how awesome if we saw this grizzly – I mean we wanted to see some wildlife, after all, we were in Canada! We were almost at the end of the lake where we saw 2 other canoes just “parked” and taking pictures, they told us where to look and low and behold there was a grizzly up there – far, but was up there. I tried my best to snap a million pictures of hopes that I can enlarge them on a computer and get a clear picture. We must have spent about an hour there alone, then decided we really should head back before we get charged an arm and a leg. What a neat experience it was – and the people at the rental place where so nice that they didn’t charge us extra – I think they could see our excitement. Mission see wildlife – CHECK!


We got back in the car and on our way out we noticed that the road to go to Moraine Lake was closed – we heard that you have to go very early as parking spots are limited and they will close down the roads. So we decided that we will do this tomorrow Tuesday – We woke up around 5:45 am, ate breakfast and headed out to Moraine Lake around 7 am or so. It was still foggy outside and drizzling. We parked the car, put our rain panchos on and started making our way to the Lake. There were a few cars parked but we couldn’t see a soul. There was a small hike that we did and once we arrived to the top, we looked down and there was the lake – in all of it’s beautiful out of this world unreal blue color that it looked fake. It was also unreal cold that morning, the mountains had snow caps, and I couldn’t stop shivering – I think it was 6 degrees C that morning, maybe less. We stayed there for about 1.5 hours, which the fog cleared a bit, we took more pictures, then the tourists started pouring in and that’s when we made our escape. It wasn’t as crowded as Lake Louise by any means, but it was also not as large. We headed back as we had dinner plans that night, john made reservations at #3 place rated on trip advisor, TAPAS. Let me tell you the food didn’t disappoint one bit! Also – I did have a glass of sangria which was the best I’ve ever had!

Wednesday – today was John’s birthday! We woke up and had a quick breakfast and decided that we would drive up the Icefield Parkway – which is supposed to be one of the prettiest most scenic drives in the world. We stopped and did a small hike (maybe 10 minutes or so) to Peyto Lake, then headed on up to the Ice glacier. We were probably about ½ way to Jasper at this point and decided that this is where we would turn around and head back to Canmore. We parked the car and started making the treck to the glacier – I wouldn’t consider this a real “hike” by any means, but it was uphill, unpaved, and when I tell you that it was probably the coldest I’ve ever felt in my whole life – the wind was blowing and I had to use my scarf to cover my nose because I just couldn’t breath, and thank goodness for that trecking pole because it came in handy. We quickly got to the top, took a few pictures and headed back down. It was really beautiful, breathtaking (literally) but as always worth the experience.

We headed back to Banff to find the Banff Gondola – John has never been on one. What was funny is this was probably the most expensive thing we did while we were there but it was worth it for the experience. The ride took approximately 10 minutes (maybe less?) until you reached the top. We spent about an hour exploring, walking around, taking pictures, before heading back down. It’s been a long day and we had dinner plans tonight to celebrate the birthday boy at The Trough – another place rated as the #2 place to eat in Canmore according to trip advisor. Again, the food did not disappoint. I may have eaten the best steak I’ve ever tasted, it was Alberta beef, and like I told john, I don’t know what they do with their cows up there, but it’s the tastiest meat I’ve ever eaten! They must have been happy cows 

Thursday was a very low key day mainly because I woke up not feeling that well. My stomach was hurting (it was extremely tight and I felt like I weight about 300 pounds…) We tried venturing out into town that morning, grabbed a cup of chai tea latte from a local coffee shop but had to head back to the hotel. We said that today would be a relaxing, do nothing day for us. I took a long bath, we rented movies, lounged on the couch with the fireplace on, took many naps, and finally ordered pizza from Rocky Mountain Flat bread company and ate at the lodge. It was perfection and we needed this day to just relax and do nothing.

Friday – today was the day we head back, but our flight wasn’t until 5 pm. We ate breakfast at one of my favorite places we found, Rocky Mountain Bagel Company (the same place that had the best chai tea latte I’ve ever had). Their bagel sandwiches are seriously amazing, especially the Lox, which was cream cheese, salmon, eggs, and a squeeze of lemon – heavenly! A few hours later we headed to the Grizzly Paw Brewing Company for lunch – plus John had been eyeing this place out since we got here. We ordered lunch and he got the beer sampler. It was the most perfect weather and we sat outside on the patio. It was 55 degrees, sunny to the point that you didn’t need a jacket. Of course it would be this perfect the day we are leaving. Around 1 pm we decided to head into Calgary, turn in our rental car and head to the airport. We did see some Elk on the side of the road, woohoo more wildlife! We tried to turn around and take a picture but they were gone too quickly.

All in all it was an awesome vacation. It was very different from what I am used to but this is what travel is all about, to get out of your comfort zone, and explore and see this beautiful world that we live in. This was way more of an “active” vacation but it was absolutely worth it. It was a nice escape from the Houston heat, and it was refreshing. The scenery was breathtaking, and the lakes were out of this world. We absolutely loved Canada, we loved how clean it was, how great the food tasted (especially the eggs and beef!), how friendly everyone was, and how animal friendly everyone/everywhere was. The pride they took in their country is very evident and we felt very much at home. So long Canada – this will be a trip to remember!

Aboard the Whisper...Sailing in the British Virgin Islands

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all, the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later – Randy Komisar”

Well, it’s the night before the big trip. I’ve been waiting for this day for almost 7 months. All the planning, the prepping, and the last minute shopping are coming to an end. In about 6 hours we will be boarding a flight heading to Miami, then to St. Thomas for a trip of a lifetime. With our best friends along for the journey, we will be spending a week sailing on a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands, hopping from island to island, soaking in the sun, and all the rum.

12/30: Our flight was at 5:05 am. I went to bed at 12:30 am, had everything ready to go as everyone was making bets that I will be late. I wasn’t, and I earned my reward, a Starbucks coffee once we got to the airport.

We boarded our plane and were quickly brought back to reality when our plane had some issues and took about 2 hours before we took off, making us miss our connecting flight to Miami. We made the 12:30 pm flight out of Miami, which didn’t put us in St. Thomas until around 4:30 pm. We arrived in the airport, had a few celebratory drinks for finally being off the plane and finally arriving in paradise. We waited for our luggage, and waited, and waited…. Sadly, we were informed that it never made the flight, and that it won’t arrive until almost midnight..

We called our Captain and informed him and we were told to just catch a cab, come to the boat, have a drink and relax. We will spend the night in the Marina, go get the luggage very early in the morning, and head out.

We arrived to meet Captain Denny and Mrs. Pam who had prepared chili for dinner and had some cold Presidente's waiting for us.  The boat was immaculate, clean, and so much more spacious than I would have ever imagined. We were on board a 42’ Fountaine Pajot Venezia Catamaran, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, spacious galley, and an amazing trampoline that will make you forget any worry and stress and take you away from reality. We stayed up on the trampoline for a bit looking at all the stars, and the boats all around us that must have costs millions... and we called it a night. 

12/31: Very early that morning, John and Captain Denny left to get our luggage, they came back around 7 am, thankfully with our entire luggage in tow. We can finally start this vacation.

 John and I sat on the trampoline for around an hour watching the sun come up while Mrs. Pam prepared breakfast. On the menu today was biscuits and gravy. We headed back to the trampoline, hung out, drank a few cold ones, listened to our “Island Mix” and we started our sail to Sopper’s Hole, Tortolla. We arrived at Noon, and the boys loaded up on the dinghy and headed to clear customs.

We then sailed to Norman Island, while Mrs. Pam was whipping up her magic in the kitchen and produced some amazing chicken wraps for lunch. We ate lunch, and got ready to do some snorkeling at the Caves.  We saw so many amazing fish, and being inside the caves was an amazing experience, and what made it even better, it started raining while we were inside, it was such a neat experience. We took a few pictures, and snorkeled back to the boat, showered, and relaxed for a bit while Mrs. Pam prepared dinner – which was fish tacos.

We proceeded to get dressed and ready, after all it was New Year’s Eve, and we were celebrating aboard Willy T’s, the famous floating pirate ship, which is known for having girls, and guys jump off the top – clothing optional.  We spend a few hours there, had a few drinks, got a good buzz and headed back to the boat. It was around 10:30 pm ( I know, we were crazy party people, lol), and hung out on the back deck, listened to some good music, and waited for the clock to hit midnight. Yours truly was exhausted and I fell asleep, only to be woken up by my husband for a Midnight Kiss – then we all went to bed.

1/1: Happy New Years! We woke up early and Mrs. Pam was whipping up some French toast and eggs in the galley. We ate and started our sail to The Indians, a very well-known snorkeling spot in the Islands.  We put our snorkels on and jumped in, the water was cool but refreshing. We snorkeled for about 2 hours, and Captain Denny showed us an small underground cave, probably 10-15 ft below, where you can swim through. The boys attempted it several times, both John & Eric exhausted, and running out of breath, and resurfacing… and after a few more tries, both decided that it just wasn’t meant to be.

 We headed back to the boat to have lunch, and today’s menu had turkey wraps. We ate, lounged, and sailed to Trellis Bay on Beef Island. It was around a 3 hour sail. We lounged on the trampoline, and I attempted to read only to fall asleep after a few pages. Between the rocking of the boat, the sound of the water hitting the hulls, the perfect sun beaming down, and the good music, you couldn’t help but falling in and out of sleep, it was just relaxing.

We arrived at Trellis Bay and took the dinghy to shore and headed to the Loose Mongoose, known for their BBC’s. We had a few rounds, enjoyed the scenary and headed back to the boat dinner. It was New Years Day, and of course we had to have black eyed peas, and chicken tikka and a bottle of vino.  We finished dinner, and we all layed down on the trampoline. It was a night of crystal clear skies and what it seemed like every single star was out and shinning bright. Life honestly can’t get better than this. To be in the Islands, with good people, it’s just good for the soul.

1/2: I woke up around 6:20 am, and Captain Denny started our sailing day very early. We are headed to Virgin Gorda today to see the Baths and get there before the crowds do. It’s approximately 5.2 miles away from Trellis Bay.

As always, Mrs. Pam had fresh coffee waiting for us every morning (again, is this real life?!?). We arrived at The Baths around 8 am, had breakfast sandwiches and by 9 am we started our swim into The Baths.  It was completely empty, barely anyone was on the beach, let alone inside the caves. 

Captain Denny took us all around The Baths, showed us a beach that had no name, then onto the 2^nd Beach, Devils Bay – or as we called it, DooDoo Cove, for reasons that we will keep to ourselves J. The views were unreal, every single picture looked like it could be out of a magazine, and I couldn’t help but think of how many amazing screen savers I was going to have – oh now I’m thinking about work, stop, stop, stop!

We walked over to the Top of the Baths restaurant, had a drink, walked back down and headed back to the boat. It was lunch time and we were all hungry and tired, and today’s menu included brats and coleslaw that was made with Honey Cashews, it was out of this world delicious! 

We then sailed onto Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda, and found a mooring ball and hooked. We decided to take a plunge in the beautiful blue water, sip on a few drinks, then showered and headed to Shore for some fun. We walked around the shops then headed to Jumbies for a few cocktails. Marissa and I were trying to capture those “perfect shots”, while the guys sat around and drank. Later on, John turns around and notices a guy that looked familiar and goes “Man, that guy sure looks a lot like Ron White”, I turned out and said “that IS him!”.  We said hello, he looked like he was with his wife, son, and either son’s gf or wife. He of course had a shot in his hand, this time it was Patron, came over, took a picture with us and they were back on their way to their dinghy, which I might say, was the size of our boat…

We headed back to our boat where Mrs Pam  had prepared a delicious dinner. Tonight’s menu included a very thick porkchop with a portabella mushroom gravy, sweet potatoes, and a spinach salad w/ a balsamic curry dressing.

We stayed up that night playing games, cards and listened to some good ol’ country music. We started out playing Catch phrase where it seemed to always land on John’s turn, then we switched to UNO – the LONGEST game ever! John kept loosing which gave us all a good laugh (his competitive nature hates to lose…) NO GREEN CARD JOHN!!! Oh we laughed until our sides hurt, then laughed even harder when DooDoo cove was mentioned. We called it a night around 10. It was a hot night with no breeze, but we made it.

1/3: John and I woke up around 7:30 am and we sat on the trampoline drinking our morning coffee. Soon after I went inside and was talking to Captain Denny and Mrs. Pam about diving and my awful experience with it in St. John.  Mrs. Pam started preparing breakfast for us, an egg frittata with avocados, papaya, a peach muffin, along with coffee, milk, and OJ. 

Today is going to be the longest sail yet of the trip – we are headed to Anegada! The farthest of the Islands in the BVI’s.

We arrived to Anegada around 10 am, found a mooring ball, and got hooked on. The water is absolutely beautiful here, just the perfect shade of turquoise. The water was a little rough here, and we elected to stay on the boat for a few hours. I laid on the trampoline, took my kindle out, and relaxed until around 3:20 pm.  We then all got ready to head to shore to check out this new resort that was built, the “Anegada Beach Club”.  It also didn’t hurt that Happy Hour was started at 4 pm. 

We arrived to Shore, waiting around ½ hour for our ride. Meanwhile, we took around 231 pictures of the beautiful picturesque palm tree that was swaying in the wind… I mean, how could we not!

Our car arrived, we hoped in the back of a pickup and took about 1 minute, very bumpy ride to the resort – it was nothing to rave about. We ordered a few drinks, and walked down to the beach. There was MAYBE 5 people there, it was very quiet, very picturesque, and the blue water went out as far as you can see. Since there was no store there, I collected some sand for my Anegada ornament that I will make once I get home and we headed back to the dock. 

It looked like a bad storm was headed our way and we were trying to get back to the boat before getting soaked. As we were heading to the dinghy, we noticed a guy chopping up some fresh Lobster. It was such a cool experience to see in person, and even held a live one – for picture of course, then we got in the dinghy right as it started raining – and of course we got soaked!. We showered, and got ready for dinner.

Dinner tonight included a ceasar salad appetizer, followed by mahi mahi risotto rice mix with green beans. Dessert was key lime pie – my favorite! We stayed up and played a few rounds of UNO before calling in a night. That night we were woken up by a few sprinkle showers and we rushed to close all the hatches. It definitely makes for some interesting nights! But hey, it’s all about the experience!

1/4: We woke up and Captain Denny had already started the sailing to Monkey Point, Guana Island for some snorkeling. Mrs Pam had our coffee’s ready along with some egg and charizo tacos. This was the first morning that was stomach was feeling a little queezy, but nothing that a few Dramamines couldn’t fix.

We arrived at Monkey Point and we are ready to get into this beautiful water.  There was not a soul, not a boat in site, it was just us and we were absolutely ok with that! Captain Denny was telling us the best way to start our snorkeling, and I see a little beach in between the 2 cliffs that I wanted to go to. We saw an array of beautiful fish, a spotted ray, and for the highlight of all of my snorkeling experiences – I spotted an octopus! It was hands down the coolest thing I have ever seen while snorkeling. I was about 5 feel away from it and signaled to the others to come see. It was changing colors as it was moving and we were lucky enough to snap a few pictures and even got a video!

John and I swam to the rocky beach, it was very small, but unique, took a few pictures, then headed back. It was lunch time and we were hungry! Mrs. Pam had tacos ready for us and as we lounged on the deck, we started our trek to Cane Garden Bay, Tortolla, which is known for it’s phenomenal out of this world sunsets – and I can’t wait. We arrived there and it looked like such a beautiful, very colorful town with some shops and bars along the beach. We headed to shore and captain Denny dropped us off and gave us a walkie talkie and told us to radio him when we are ready.

As we were walking on the deck, we spotted a gigantic stingray, and as we were all in shock on how large it was, an even bigger more gigantic turtle swims by! I have never seen a sea turtle, let alone one that was the size of a kitchen table! It was impressive to say the least! 

We headed to the beach and went into a few of the shops as I was looking for an ornament to collect – which I found. We then headed to Quito’s for some bar food and a few cold ones. We sat at the bar overlooking the water while Marissa and I were trying to figure out how to take time lapse videos of the sunset.  Let me tell you this, the sunset did not disappoint, and we were lucky enough to capture it on video. I could move here, and live here, and work at a small bar and be perfectly and absolutely content and happy with my life….

We were ready to head back and Marissa radio’ d Captain Denny with “4 little piggies on shore to 
Whisper, over” haha! We got picked up, we showered, and got ready for dinner. (by getting ready I mean we put on pajamas..). Tonight’s menu included BBQ ribs with a blackbean salad and corn. Let me tell you this, how Mrs. Pam was able to whip up all this food in a tiny galley was beyond amazing! Those ribs were gone in about 45 seconds. Our tummies were very happy tonight.

That night, we had a crazy rainstorm hit us and we got up in the middle of the night scrambling to close all the hatches. I looked up at him somewhat hysterically laughing and he was soaking wet… what can you do besides laugh at this point? It was a pretty funny scene in my head.

1/5: the next morning, we got up and had our coffee on the trampoline as usual while Mrs Pam prepared egg and bacon for breakfast. Today is the day I have been waiting for, we are heading to Sandy Cay – a cute, secluded, looks like it belongs in CondeNast Magazine island with nothing on it but a beautiful stretch of white sand and lots of palm trees in the middle with a trail. We Jumped in the water and swam up to shore. We placed our snorkles and our waterproof bag under a shady tree and we wanted to check out the trail, until I was getting eaten up alive with mosquitoes and we John and I elected to go back to the beach while Marissa and Eric walked the trails. We took a few pictures along the beach and that’s when John told me I had to put the camera away and just enjoy this beautiful scenery. Every once in a while I need a reminder that I should put the camera away and just live in the moment, and I’m thankful I have him there to remind of that sometimes. We got in the water and just “chilled” in the beautiful torquise crystal clear water for about 30 minutes before Marissa and Eric joined us. There is a 90 minute mooring limit and we headed back to the boat shortly after.

Mrs. Pam had prepared hamburgers and Mac & Cheese for lunch and we quickly ate as we were all very hungry. We motored over to Jost Van Dyke and moored infront of Ivans. Jost is probably my favorite Island in the BVI’s. It’s home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the World, White Bay. And it’s also known for a few small bars whithin walking distance of each other. Soggy Dollar is home to the famous drink, the Painkiller. Ivans Stress Free Bar is known as a favorite spot for Kenny Chesney, along with One Love Bar.

Captain Denny took us to shore and dropped us off at Soggy Dollar. We ordered 2 drinks each and found some chairs on the beach and hung out. White bay is the perfect place for people watching, and today is no different.  There was a boat infront of us with a handful of kids… by kids I mean early 20’s or so partying. We all watched and laughed remembering how we use to act at that age…

We then headed over to One Love Bar and ordered their lobster quesadillas and a few bushwackers. We hung out there for a bit before making the walk over to Ivan’s .  

Neither I or John have been there before and it was a neat looking bar that we wanted to check out. It’s called Ivan’s Stress Free bar for a reason, it’s open, beachy, wood floors, playing country music, pictures of Kenny Chesney all on the wall. This is where he wrote “somewhere in the sun” and also filmed “no shoes, no shirt, no problem”.

We headed up to the top deck, grabbed a few chairs, and placed our feet up, and just enjoyed the breathtaking scenery. We met a couple and chatted them up a bit before calling Captain Denny and heading back to the boat. 

We showered and Mrs Pam had dinner ready for us, ceasar salad, a delicious mouthwatering steak, green beans, and some wine. We hung out, ate, and talked about our futures, our future kids and more life changing and important matters – then called it a night.

1/6: I was the first one to wake up around 7:15 am and went up to the trampoline. It’s not often that I wake up in absolute paradise, In the middle of the Caribbean on a catamaran and I wanted to soak it all in. Mrs Pam was awake shortly after and prepared coffee for us and john joined shortly after. We sat on the deck, sipping our last cup of coffee aboard the Whisper.

Breakfast was eggs and bacon, then we got ready and started packing our belongings. It was a bitter sweet morning as we were leaving the Whisper – but thankfully we had a few more days on St. John. We quickly gathered and packed all of our things, so we can sit on the trampoline and enjoy the last sail back to St. John.

We moored and took the dinghy and our belongings to Customs on St. John. And while Marissa and Eric were getting our luggage, John and I went to L&L Jeep rentals to pick up our jeep – where we realized we had confirmed for an extra day than we really needed but it was too late to change. We went back with the jeep, loaded our things, and said goodbye to Captain Denny and Mrs Pam for the best vacation of our lives.

We made our way to the Condo we are renting for a few days. First things first, turn on that AC! We all took a very LONG shower, and by long I mean it was probably 15-20 minutes, but it felt like an hour after the showers we took aboard the Whisper – in and out within 5 minutes or less.

We changed, got dressed, and headed to Joe’s Rum Hut for lunch and a few drinks. We Headed to Hawksnest beach for a few hours before heading back to the Condo to get ready for dinner. Tonight was going to be our first of 2 fancy dinners while we are on St. John and we were heading to Asolare for a dinner reservation at 8:15 pm

We arrived and were seated on the beautiful balcony overlooking the town that was alive with the lights and music coming from the few local bars. We ordered the Island Pancake appetizer and a bottle of wine. John ordered the conch encrusted Corvina which is a local white flaky fish, and I ordered a steak which was equally delicious. For dessert, we ordered a lavender infused Crème Brule that was absolute heaven and just perfect enough to end our night. We headed home, and went straight to bed.

1/7: We woke up, got gussied up and ready to go take our “fancy pictures”. I  had told Marissa that we needed to take some maternity pics while we were there. And John and I – well mainly me, wanted to also take nice pictures while we were all dressed up. First stop – locating Oppenheimer Beach!

I follow a blogger online who travels to all these amazing places, and while browsing her posts a few months back, I noticed that she was in St. John and took a pictures at this beautiful beach that had a tire swing. I had commented on her pictures and she told me that it was a hidden gem and you had to look for it closely. I HAD to find this beach when we get to St. John – and we sure did!

It was high tide and a little difficult to get on that tire swing, but we did it and took about a million pictures. It was absolutely perfect, and so beautiful, but the water was so high that we said we will come back that afternoon, in our bathing suits, to take more pictures.

We headed to Maho Beach and took our fancy pictures there then headed to Coral Bay to eat lunch at Skinny Legs and enjoy their awesome burgers. We headed back to Cruz Bay and walked around Mongoose Junction, enjoyed the shops, then headed for some ice cream at Scoops. Ice cream is so much better as an adult when its painkiller flavored and has alcohol – you just can’t beat that! We headed back to a few shops, where I got 2 shirts, and went to the Beach Bar for a drink.

We went back to Oppenheimer to take more pictures, this time the tide was a little nicer to us. Some of the pictures we took here are my favorite from this vacation – frame worthy honestly, they were just beautiful.

We headed back to Hawksnest for a few hours where there was unusual high tide but john elected to stay in the water and get beaten up, while myself, Marissa and Eric stayed on the Beach relaxing. I met a lady who was sitting close who happens to be from New Hampshire and owns 2 properties on the Island. She gave me her contact information in the event we would come back and are interested in staying at her house.  We headed back to the Condo to get ready for dinner which was at ZoZo’s at 7:45 pm.

We arrived at ZoZo’s and were seated at a railside table overlooking the pristine grounds of Caneel Bay Resort. For appetizers, we ordered the filet mignon meatballs, the Antipasto plate that had a ball of fried goat cheese – yeah I’ll let that settle in for a minute – pure heaven. Dinner was a HUGE portion of pork 3 ways for John and Eric, and Marissa and I ordered the Osso Bucco – which in reality we could have shared because we were stuffed from the appetizers. Of course there’s room for dessert though, and we ordered a key lime pie mousse. We headed back to our Condo, packed all of our things, and headed to bed!

1/8: it’s our last day in paradise, and although it was bittersweet, I think we were all ready to head home. We finished packing up our belongings, cleaned the Condo, dropped the jeep back to L&L at 10am and we headed to eat Breakfast at Cruz Bay  Landing for their amazing coffee’s and pancakes. We finished and walked around the shops for a bit, bought some hot sauce (that later was taken away at the airport because yours truly forgot to put liquids in the checked luggage… very sad). We bought our tickets for the Noon ferry back to Red Hook and took a cab to the airport.

Our vacation has come to an end. I could not have asked for a better time away from reality, or for better friends to be with, or for a better Captain and Chef. This was a trip of a lifetime for all of us. Marissa and Eric are at a point in their lives where they are about to welcome their first born into this world. John and I don’t know what 2016 will hold for us. To say we are blessed to be able to take this vacation is an understatement. This is the first vacation where I left without being truly upset, sad, or depressed. It was the perfect amount of time needed to decompress, leave all of the worries behind, and enjoy a truly relaxing vacation. It also helps tremendously that we lost cell service when we left St. John aboard the Whisper so I couldn’t check emails even if I wanted to.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Captain Denny and Mrs Pam. Thank you for sharing your home with us. Thank you for taking care of our every need. Thank you for showing us the beautiful BVI’s like I never thought I would ever see them. Thank you for a trip of a lifetime.