The "Communal Shower" Story
It was an ordinary day. For me anyway! But, for my wife Carol, it's her birthday!! We are traveling with our friends Jerry and Sue for it seems like the umpteenth time. We will be spending part of the day in an airplane. This birthday we are headed from St. Croix, which is a United States Virgin Island, to San Juan, and then on to Tortola, which is a British Virgin Island. We will be taking both trips on Cape Air which is a Caribbean airline. Got that? Our first flight has eight passengers and two pilots. It is in a small twin engine plane where they store some of our luggage in the wings and we carry the rest with us. They also seat us according to weight. Not many people like that, since they line you up on the runway after judging how much you weigh. I'm sure they wouldn't trust most people to give them their accurate weight. I would, but then again I'm tall and skinny. Or at least I used to be when we were on this trip. After take-off we see the two pilots looking at a map. The one on the right is pointing out the window to the right, so the other pilot heads the plane to the left. Makes sense to me! The second leg of our trip is in a plane of the same size, but with six passengers and only one pilot. Whe
n we check in we were given a number which we were told to hold. Remember, there are only six passengers. Why couldn't they just take a head count? And then.......what do we do if something happens to the one pilot? I'm writing this so I guess you know what happened. Fun flight with us flying closer to the water with a chance to see more sights.
After arriving we head to Prospect Reef which is our lodging for the remainder of our trip. We wanted to stay here since they had a Dolphin Encounter. Two weeks before we left I was notified that the Government closed the Dolphin Encounter. Should have given us some clues about Prospect Reef. First evening we celebrated Carol's B-Day at a local restaurant. Fun time. Next morning....no hot water! We were promised it would be fi
xed soon. We headed by ferry to another island called Virgin Gorda for the day. Named so because of the rock formation that looks like a reclining virgin. Great island. The "Baths" are the main attraction on the island. Huge boulders that supposedly erupted from the sea during an earthquake. Back at Prospect we still had no hot water. They did give us a key to another section of the place so we could shower in some one elses room. Next day off to Peter Island to snorkel. Unbelievable!! Truly great snorkeling. We saw a few sea turtles, fish of all colors and then.......Carol and I were surrounded by a herd of small silvery fish (Carol tells me that's called a school) and we could see nothing but fish on all sides of us. Kind of s
cary since big fish feed on these smaller ones. Then we saw 'em! Long, silver, sleek with big, no REALLY BIG teeth. We were told not to wear jewelry to snorkel because it attracts them, but didn't listen. Too late now. BARRACUDA!!! And they're after the small fish. Boy, did we splash and splash. Scared the crap out of everything around us, including ME! Oh the memories! After returning we showered again with the neighbors. Not bad! Made short trips to smuggler's cove and the rainforest the next day........and a trip to the neighbors. It will be fixed soon we are again told. Hey, don't hurry on account of us. They needed a part from Florida which had to be shipped to Tortola. ON ISLAND TIME! Well, our final day has arrived and we head to C & F Bar and Restaurant for our final meal. We really didn't want to go there. We had this special place in town that we wanted to try, but when we hailed a taxi, he told us he had a great place for us to eat local food. OK, why not. It was his sister's house!! She called it a restaurant. But, it was a monstrous meal. I had 2, yep 2, lobsters for next to nothing. So much that we couldn't eat all of it. Next morning we shower down the road, pack and head to the office for check out. "Oh, by the way, the parts we need to fix the shower arrived this morning. Your shower will be fixed by noon," they tell us as we turn in our keys. It as another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
n we check in we were given a number which we were told to hold. Remember, there are only six passengers. Why couldn't they just take a head count? And then.......what do we do if something happens to the one pilot? I'm writing this so I guess you know what happened. Fun flight with us flying closer to the water with a chance to see more sights. After arriving we head to Prospect Reef which is our lodging for the remainder of our trip. We wanted to stay here since they had a Dolphin Encounter. Two weeks before we left I was notified that the Government closed the Dolphin Encounter. Should have given us some clues about Prospect Reef. First evening we celebrated Carol's B-Day at a local restaurant. Fun time. Next morning....no hot water! We were promised it would be fi
xed soon. We headed by ferry to another island called Virgin Gorda for the day. Named so because of the rock formation that looks like a reclining virgin. Great island. The "Baths" are the main attraction on the island. Huge boulders that supposedly erupted from the sea during an earthquake. Back at Prospect we still had no hot water. They did give us a key to another section of the place so we could shower in some one elses room. Next day off to Peter Island to snorkel. Unbelievable!! Truly great snorkeling. We saw a few sea turtles, fish of all colors and then.......Carol and I were surrounded by a herd of small silvery fish (Carol tells me that's called a school) and we could see nothing but fish on all sides of us. Kind of s
cary since big fish feed on these smaller ones. Then we saw 'em! Long, silver, sleek with big, no REALLY BIG teeth. We were told not to wear jewelry to snorkel because it attracts them, but didn't listen. Too late now. BARRACUDA!!! And they're after the small fish. Boy, did we splash and splash. Scared the crap out of everything around us, including ME! Oh the memories! After returning we showered again with the neighbors. Not bad! Made short trips to smuggler's cove and the rainforest the next day........and a trip to the neighbors. It will be fixed soon we are again told. Hey, don't hurry on account of us. They needed a part from Florida which had to be shipped to Tortola. ON ISLAND TIME! Well, our final day has arrived and we head to C & F Bar and Restaurant for our final meal. We really didn't want to go there. We had this special place in town that we wanted to try, but when we hailed a taxi, he told us he had a great place for us to eat local food. OK, why not. It was his sister's house!! She called it a restaurant. But, it was a monstrous meal. I had 2, yep 2, lobsters for next to nothing. So much that we couldn't eat all of it. Next morning we shower down the road, pack and head to the office for check out. "Oh, by the way, the parts we need to fix the shower arrived this morning. Your shower will be fixed by noon," they tell us as we turn in our keys. It as another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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