On my last full day in the British Virgin Islands, I took it easy. I enjoyed a communal breakfast of the best Swedish pancakes ever (and homemade at that) in the morning, while the chickens perched on the banana trees underneath our balcony snacked on bananas.
Afterward, Seher and I split from our group to take another stab at dining at Cruzin in Carrot Bay. By the time we arrived, it was lunchtime and thankfully they were open. Seating at Cruzin is outdoors and surrounded by lots of lush, green foliage. A baby lizard crept past our table as we perused our menu and we could see the beach from across the street as we waited for our food to arrive.
The first dish to arrive was the lobster and beef patties.
Beef is my favorite patty filling but I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the lobster one too. The thick, crispy shell was filled with generous chunks of lobster and bits of fresh peppers. The beef version was extremely rich; the cabbage and raisin coleslaw on the side helped lighten things up.
We also split a plate of curry chicken roti.
This was my first taste of Caribbean roti, and a delicious one at that. The warm curry was wrapped inside a thin layer of fresh roti bread with a crepe-like consistency. The dish came with rice and salad too, but I was too stuffed to continue.
We said goodbye Cruzin after our meal and headed next toward Smugglers Cove to join the rest of the group.
Located on the West End of Tortola, Smugglers Cove is accessible via a dirt road, but the bumpy ride was completely worth it. The cove is one of BVI’s most beautiful beaches, and it quickly became my favorite. Even though it was overcast when we visited, it was still calm and I spent a few hours in the water before calling it a day.
It was nighttime by the time our group arrived back at the villa and the weather was getting worse. By the end of the night, it was storming like I’d never seen, and the rain and heat made for the arrival of some pretty serious mosquitoes. The lighting, thunder, wind and mosquito free-for-all meant I hardly slept that night.
Seher and I said our goodbyes early the next morning and headed back to Beef Island to catch our flight back to San Francisco. But not before making a stop at the grocery in Road Town for some pepper sauce – what’s a trip to the Caribbean without pepper sauce after all?
The flight back was long, stopover-filled and exhausting, but the view leaving BVI was spectacular.
The British Virgin Islands may not have been among the places I thought I’d ever visit, but I couldn’t be happier that I did.