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Our hosts Joyce and Ed Fredkin have invited us to spent a week with them at their private resort called Drake's Anchorage. Drake's is a private Island near Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.
Our trip from Boston involved a flight to Puerto Rico and then a flight in an eight passenger Cape Air Cessna 402 to Beef Island, Virgin Gorda. A fast trip through customs and we exit the old terminal to see the new terminal under construction.
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From the Beef Island airport it is actually only a few blocks walk from the terminal to the dock. The North Sound Express folks will herd you into their van for the complementary ride to the dock. Once you are in the van the driver will often dissapear to gather other passengers. Better than sitting in the van, give the driver your luggage and stretch your legs on the short walk. At the dock you take the North Sound Express from Beef Island to Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda. In this picture we are looking back at Beef Island from the North Sound Express ferry.
It is also possible to take a ferry from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas directly to Virgin Gorda.
With all the waiting for flights and ferry connections flying to St. Thomas and taking this two
hour ferry trip could well be the fastest arrangement.
BVItravel has a very useful
Ferry Schedules and Map page.
Mosquito Island the private Island of Drake's Anchorage resort is near the
right of the picture, painted purple.
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The ferry drops you at the Leverick Bay Resort boat dock where a Drake's Anchorage boatman picks you up to take you across to Mosquito Island. On the Drake's dock Ed Fredkin (below the sign, left) discusses maintence issues while Joyce Fredkin walks out to our boat.
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Drake's is an island paradise. Shown to the left is one of the guest cottages. Each cottage has three rooms with private bathrooms. The cottages are a warm and inviting place for relaxation. Inside (below) Polly sleeps late while clouds puff up and the sun dances in the tropical sky.
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To the right is the dining room and dock area. Both the cottages and the dining room have a view to the east of Leverick Bay with the Bitter End Yacht Club in the distance. After the Bitter End the next land is on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean.
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What island is complete without beaches? Seen from both angles this one is called Lime Tree Beach. On shore behind it you can just see the roofs of the two villas on the island. The villas are more substantial than the cottages, built of stone. Below is a panoramic view inside one of the villas.
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Long Beach Road is this brick path. The path starts at the dining room and reaches around the sheltered side of the island past a small Amphitheater to the Villas. A small side road extends up to the Villas while the main 'shoreline drive' continues past Lime Tree Beach to Long Beach.
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On the other side of the island, just a few steps from the cottages, sits Rocky Beach. Out around the point to the right is a cave that is fun to investigate when the sea is very calm. Any sea swell at all pounds this shore and can make the cave an outright dangerous place to be.
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Dining occured here. From the left to right you have
Polly Kornblith,
Michael Newman,
Joyce Fredkin,
Ed Fredkin,
and the newlyweds; Selena and Paul.
In the top row the other couple are Julie and Jerry Sussman. Jerry was down talking to Ed about hardcore physics. |
Fresh water in an island ecology is tricky. The most common source is rainwater. Cisterns sit under all the buildings and the roofs act as collectors. Power is a second difficult issue. Drake's has its own generator. In fact it has two, for redundancy. Without power the water does not make it to the faucet...
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| Finally, Joyce relaxes, because relaxing is, after all, what comming to an Island Paradise is all about. |
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