Tortola!!

My parents' 30 year wedding anniversary trip

I am so sorry that this post has been delayed, the reason why will be explained later in the post…

My trip to Tortola started off very strong with a flight to Charlotte to meet up with my little brother, Mikey, and another flight to St. Thomas to meet up with my parents. When we got to St. Thomas, Mikey and I caught a taxi to the ferry station where we had our first, of many, painkillers.

A painkiller is a drink that was actually invented in the British Virgin Islands, specifically Jost Van Dyke at a bar called the Soggy Dollar by a woman named Daphne Henderson. It is traditionally made with Pusser’s Rum, founded in the BVI (introduced to be by my dad after his last trip to the BVI).

Mikey and I, after a few painkillers, missed our ferry to Tortola to meet our parents and had to spend a few hours at a bar (devastating) before finally meeting our parents. I had a few Dark and Stormies (my favorite drink) to ease the pain of relaxing at St. Thomas.

Eventually, Mikey and I made it on the ferry and to Tortola. We visited the beach for a sunset cocktail and then went out for a nice dinner by the sea. When we got back I charged my laptop so that I could write the recipe that was supposed to be released last Sunday, but it stopped charging and promptly died. Hence why I wasn’t able to put out a post last week and why this week’s post was delayed.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we relaxed by the beach, snorkeled, and loitered at the beach bar. I made the mistake of wearing a backless swimsuit and snorkeling for two hours and ended up with a wicked sunburn on Tuesday. While recovering from my sunburn at the beach, I did a little watercolor painting of the beach we were staying at, Smugglers Cove. It’s really nothing special, but my mom and dad liked it and thats really all that mattered to me. I decided it would be their 30 year wedding anniversary gift, mostly because they both loved it so much

I wasn’t planning on bringing my watercolor set to the beach because I was packing so light, but I’m so glad that I did because I was able to capture this amazing memory for myself and my parents.

On Thursday, we all went deep sea fishing. Funnily enough, the boat that we were on was Jimmy Buffet’s old fishing boat! The whole time we were out there all of his songs were stuck in my head. Between the four of us, we caught six Barracudas and two Rainbow Runners! Naturally I caught the biggest fish.

We couldn’t eat the Barracudas, but we did end up having fish sandwiches with the Rainbow Runners that we caught. Which was by far the best meal we ate the entire trip!

On Friday we caught the ferry to Jost Van Dyke to go to the Famous, and aforementioned, Soggy Dollar bar, where we drank MANY painkillers. Awe could barely finish our cup before Mikey went to the bar and get us another. He says its because he enjoyed going to the bar and talking to the bartenders, but I’m convinced he was just trying to get us drunk!

Devastatingly, that was our last day that we spent with our parents in the BVI. On Saturday Mikey and I had to return to the states and begin our long day of travel home. It’s good to be home, but Im glad to have the memories from this trip to take back with me!

Happy anniversary mom and dad! Love you both tons, hope you’ve had the most magical anniversary!!