Don’t worry all, we are not MIA! We just got connected with the internet at home!
Our vacation has unfortunately come to an end :o(
On January 5th, we were back to slamming calculators and vouching columns. Thus far, we were living out of our suitcases, so now it was time to pull out our stale business clothes. There is no need for an iron, as pretty much all the wrinkles come out of clothes in the humidity overnight!
The first week was slack – we even managed to sneak in a driver’s license exam. In order to obtain a British Virgin islands, you must be able to successfully do 3 things: 1) be able to provide an official drivers license from Canada 2) pass a multiple choice written exam, and the hardest one…3) know which hand to use to make the appropriate hand signals while driving on the left hand side of the road in a right hand vs. left hand side vehicle. The licensing department is not aware that there are cheat-cheats flouting around on the island with all the answers to the driving exam that hasn’t change since the 80’s! Oh, did I mention, we just so happened to get our hands on it – Needless to say, half an hour in the evening, and the following morning we slapped that exam silly! We wrote the exam with a local girl - writing it for the 5th time – we kinda felt sorry for her, maybe we should have given her the cheat-cheat?
With brand new shiny licenses, and a bank account drained on rental car payments, we were determined to find a car already! On Friday January 8th, we purchased a 4 wheel drive 2002 Isuzu Rodeo from the local Mitsubishi dealer. We have been looking for so long! We hesitated buying anything else for fear of it breaking down, so we thought a dealer would be the most reputable – and he was willing to give us a $1,500 break off the purchase price! Everything is perfect about the SUV, it just need new tires.
Ben spent the nearly the entire day registering the car, and getting the car inspected. After work, happy and proud Ben, pulled up to the parking lot to pick up his wife in his new ride! It was smooth sailing on Friday evening. Just as we pulled out 100 meters out of Road Town, the car starts screeching and the entire transmission completely cuts out in the middle of the highway traffic! Don’t panic! We restarted the car, drive another 10 feet, and within seconds – the car screeches, and no matter how much you press on the gas – its clear that the engine is completely cuts out. The drivers around us are furious giving us nasty looks and honking their horn at us. Ben picks up the phone and calls the dealer sales man. I distinctively remember the words out of Ben’s mouth – without even saying hello, “Tim, The ***** car has ***** broken down! You can take the ***** piece of **** back!” Embarrassed, the sales man quickly drove and met us on the main street. He was accompanied by a mechanic. It turns out that without our knowedge from the dealer, we purchased a 4-wheel drive vehicle that will only drive in 2-wheel drive! Oh, and in the span of 1 hour of driving the car we also discover that the sun roof doesn’t open and the check engine light permanently stays on. Oh well, at least it looks cool on the outside! :o) We are keeping it!
We finished our week off with an early Saturday morning scuba dive with Blue Water Scuba Diving Company. We were going to Soldiers Bay and Angelfish reef near Norman and Peter Island. I enthusiastically unpacked my designer pink flippers and Tosha’s purple wetsuit – the fish appreciate my stylish water attire :o). Ben braved the ocean and went only in his shorts! Soldiers Bay was deep and the surge didn’t appeal to me, so I came back up. Ben stayed with the dive instructor, and was pleasantly surprised to see lobsters half the size of him and Tarpon fish the size of small sharks! More comfortable in Angelfish Reef, I was able to enjoy rainbow coloured parrot fish, angel fish, and a rare turtle.
We ended Saturday night with some local flavours at the Pusser’s Restaurant overlooking the ocean, where we both sipped on some #3 Painkillers.
Sunday was laid back, and we were invited to a BBQ on Brewers Bay. We had an opportunity to meet other professionals that have moved to the island for work. Most of the people we met were singles, working in insurance, trusts, and of course accounting firms. We met a super cute couple Nikki and Clyde. Nikki has literally just arrived to the island the day before, to meet Clyde, a long time friend. Both of them had just been out of relationships – so they were hoping to start something together. Nikki and I, quite a few years apart, instantly clicked. Oh, and Clide has a boat! – BONUS!
Coming soon....Dundee's in Tortola!
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