Since Tom wrote his piece of this week’s log before I had a chance to write about the week from my perspective, I knew I had to play off of his chosen title of, “A Fork in the Road”. I thought maybe I would write, “the other fork” or some such jumble of words. Then, as I thought of the experiences that the boys and I had during our 4-night, 5-day stay at Long Bay Beach Resort I knew the title had to encompass our reliance on restaurant food while we were off the boat.
Tom’s friends very generously put our kidsOur and I up at the resort while they enjoyed touring around on our boat. As the trip came into view, the boys and I all eagerly anticipated sleeping in a real bed–one that didn’t move, taking a real shower and letting the water run while we soaped up! It is the little things you miss! And, I would be misleading if I didn’t mention my excitement at the prospect of not washing a dish for 5 days! Nor cooking a meal, nor lugging the food for the meals from grocery store to dinghy to boat. There were several restaurants on the resort grounds, which was a good thing since the resort was quite secluded from surrounding villages or eating establishments. The interesting fact was that only one restaurant was open at a time for the evening meal! Our first night at the resort, the open restaurant was on the more dressy side… heavy on the etiquette!
Here is a picture of the boys after our first hot hotel shower as we make our way down to the restaurant.
This is “Long Bay”, a lovely beach on the north side of Tortola’s western end. The surf here is known for being pretty sizable and the beach is one of the nicer ones that we have enjoyed.
So, off we went to dinner and the first thing that happened is that the waitress placed their napkins across their laps. This led to quite a discussion of why so much silverware? … How is one to know that the fork placed sideways above your plate is your dessert fork? If that is the dessert fork, then why is there also a spoon up there with it? Why on earth would someone need so many forks, spoons and knives in the first place and who made up these rules. That was my favorite question, who made “the rules” up and why is it important that everyone know and follow these rules! This was quickly followed by, “Yeah, who is really going to care if I pick up the dessert fork and use it for my salad?” By golly, I’ll be kicked out of this restaurant for improper fork usage!
While we did get a kick out of what it must have been like to be the rule makers once upon a time, this experience did serve a good purpose to expose my boys to an establishment which observed a high standard of etiquette. We talked about all types of things that are acceptable or not. They both seemed to enjoy it, even though they would never admit it.
The main restaurant where we ate most of our meals was right on the beach. It was set in a restored sugar mill plantation which was originally built in 1784. Each morning, we had a great breakfast buffet and looked out over the breaking surf. This first morning, the waves were pretty good sized and I asked the boys if they would like to rent boogie boards. Of course they would! Here are some pictures from the day on the beach.
In both of these shots, Zachary is in the foreground with our youngest back and off to the right.
Our youngest buried alive! I can not imagine how much this must itch!!
Monkey see, monkey do!
The boys both played so hard on this first day. They put their boogie boards aside for a quick lunch, then were right back at it! We stayed at the beach until the sun began to set. I think they had been a bit overworked leading up to this time in hopes of getting school work behind us prior to going to the resort. They needed this cut-loose time and I was so happy to see them with huge smiles and very little cares. The next morning, I told them that we needed to try as hard as we could to have more fun than Daddy was going to have with the guys on the boat. While we might not have succeeded, we did our best!
Here is a picture of the boys enjoying a virgin strawberry daiquiri pool-side!
This was a great pool. Of course, the main attraction is this swim-up-to-place-your-order bar, complete with seats that wait just below the surface of the water for an eager patron! The pool also had lots of bench seats tucked in random locations all the way around the pool so one could sit and read a book while cooling off.There was a water slide and even a 4-lane lap pool section. We spent a lot of time here!
I was grateful to have this time with just the boys and I. We forgot about school work, provisioning, boat maintenance and the general responsibilities which come with living aboard a boat. They were kids and I was a relaxing mom. After our restful time on land, we boarded Thalia with a renewed interest in our trip and what ever adventures lie in our paths.
In keeping with the page title of “The Dessert Fork”, I’ll leave you with this final photo of our kids at the end of one of our breakfasts. The building in the background is the old sugar mill building. The beach is to the back of the camera’s view.
Thanks for visiting our web site. Happy 2007 to all!