Trellis Bay, Bear Island

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Thu 12 Apr 2012 18:05

18:26.86N 64:31.90W

 

Tues 10th April

 

There was no swell to cause any problems but we were a bit disappointed by the happy hour prices ($7 for a punch!) so again entertaining on board with salads made out of the detritus left in the fridge…..

 

In the morning we got away early to motor the mile over to Trellis Bay and pick up buoys.   The previous evening we had rung Hertz car hire at 6pm on Easter Monday and were astonished to get an answer:  No, they couldn’t help but passed us on to Avis (who were, we discovered, just over the low booth wall!).   So we walked up to the airport and picked up our car;  well in fact not our car as it hadn’t arrived as we were earlier than we had said we would be, so we took out a slightly larger model un-cleaned for the same price – perfect!   Rob and I had felt we couldn’t possibly wave goodbye to Scott-Free without one of our infamous road trips sans decent map.   And the Tortola map proved to be particularly awful, not helped by the rare but visually attractive road signs which leave you none the wiser.   The roads also left a lot to be desired with many many sleeping policemen and huge pot-holes.   More on this theme later.

 

First we hot-footed it to Road Town for traditional coffee and cake.   And then proceeded west, nipping into Prospect Reef Hotel where I used to work on flotilla out of their tiny harbour (circa 1980).   The hotel is now owned by the government and looks pretty sad.   We then called in at Nanny Cay so Rob and Steve could have a wander around Budget Marine (no trip would be complete without a chandlery visit).   On to Soper’s Hole where, sat in the middle of the road was a huge Iguana with an extremely long tail.   Rob hopped out of the car to stalk it with the camera as the Iguana sauntered to the roadside, at which point it shot off at amazing high speed into the undergrowth – quite a clever trick!

 

Soper’s Hole didn’t inspire us much with its slightly saccharine facades so we pressed on.   Or tried to, it was impossible to decide which tiny dirt track continued on as the main road.    Eventually we chose one, quite possibly the wrong one as further along the vertical road it pointed out that you proceeded forward under your own risk, but since a three-point turn was well beyond the driver (me) in this situation we had to continue.   At several points I had to turf out the passengers to allow the car to lurch forward (on only three wheels I was reliably informed) over rainwater gullies.   Apparently there were some good views but most of us were hanging on for grim death and watching for every hole in the track!

 

We re-joined civilisation at Long Bay, a beautiful beach and drove along the north coast road climbing impressive hills over headlands between yet more wonderful beaches.  We stopped for lunch at Sugar Mill Resort’s lovely lunchtime café.   This resort is known for its cuisine and its prices, but lunch was a much more reasonable affair with a view to die  and extremely jolly staff.

 

After Cane Garden Bay, the coast road headed inland presenting us with difficult decisions at each junction.   Eventually Rob went and asked at a bar at one junction as we couldn’t come to a consensus.   The local guy he asked had just driven out of Road Town, but was so drunk he couldn’t recognise anything on the map and wasn’t even sure which road he would be taking back!   We continuously met the local taxis ferrying around the latest cruise ship arrivals.   These taxis are wide, open trucks with the passengers lined up in bus fashion;  not necessarily what you want to meet on Tortolan roads (They seem to follow a fixed route presumably to avoid meeting each other).  We found our way to Josiah’s Bay which had obviously been set up as a surfers paradise but was now a little worn.   There were two surfers in the pretty impressive seas.

 

We eventually headed back to Road Town for tea (yes we do eat ourselves to a standstill, part of the excursion ethos) and then a quick shopping trip at the posh supermarket, before heading back to Trellis Bay.   At this point we discovered that we had a flat tyre – possibly it had been in this condition when we picked it up, or just one too many staggers over potholes – so we pumped it up and crossed our fingers.   As we were early enough, I dropped the others and the vast amount of bags and shopping we had accumulated and attempted to return the car.   This became a long drawn out exercise starting with the fact that I was unable to get the parking ticket machine to work.   So I drove round to the other side of the airport which leads you back to the same machine.   Eventually I was told I should have double tapped the button and then held it – why didn’t I think of that?   The Avis lad then deemed we had returned it with insufficient  petrol so kindly drove me back to the petrol station to top it up, overtaking every single car in front of us regardless of road state or orientation!   After he had helped out a colleague with a broken tailgate, re-entered all our information into their previously broken computer, checked the car out for damage under the headlights of another car, I was free to walk back in the dark!