Bringing Up Baby (Caribbean Style)

By the time my daughter was born, we were much better at enjoying our Caribbean trips. Confident enough, in fact, that we decided to introduce our new, 10-month old Charlotte to the pleasures of that beautiful water and sun. We booked a long week at a resort on a tiny island in the North Sound of the British Virgin Islands. As we were both full-time professionals, we had a wonderful au-pair who took care of Charlotte during the work day. As she was now part of our family, we invited her to join us; and being from the center of England, she was thrilled to be getting her first look at “tropical paradise”.

It was a multi-legged hike to get there: car to the airport, plane to Puerto Rico, tiny plane to Tortolla (Mark sat in the co-pilots seat, and had to work the front door on take-off, at the direction of the pilot – yikes!), taxi across Tortolla to catch the final leg: a water shuttle to our resort. This last was by far Charlotte’s favorite – she had never been on a boat before, and just raised her arms, laughing the whole way at the wind and spray on her face.

We settled in, and had one of our most memorable, fun and relaxing vacations, ever. Our au-pair was, as she put it, “gobsmacked” at the water, the sun and the whole laid-back vibe of the place. We could hike all around the little island to numerous beaches, all with different views and mixtures of sun and shade. Charlotte was still in diapers, and would sit at the water’s edge, splashing and playing, until her diapers were so soaked that they weighed as much as she did! Everywhere we went there were little hermit crabs scuttling about, and some gorgeous tropical flora. For day trips, we sometimes took water shuttles (Charlotte’s favorite part) over to the other beaches and resorts around the North Sound, having lunch at various restaurants and bars. Most memorably, we were introduced to the Painkiller at the Pusser’s Landing rum bar, the birthplace of this BVI concoction.

All in all, it couldn’t have been a more lovely way to introduce our little girl to the joys of travel, with the wonderful memories it can produce. And to top it all off, she took her first steps while we were on the island!

My husband says:

This particular resort (now gone, I’m afraid, or I’d link to it) actually had a great restaurant. So good in fact, that they were full every night, not only with the restort's guests, but with boaters from all over the North Sound (a famed sailing destination) who paid a fee to moor there for the night and have dinner.

However, Charlotte wasn’t yet eating adult food, and still sometimes required a bit more personal attention than we could give her in a restaurant setting. So, with our marvelous au-pair – Charlotte’s third parent, really – we adopted a rotating system. On night one, our au-pair got to eat a full, relaxed dinner; Karen ate a hasty dinner of her own for the first half of the evening, while I’d mind the baby; then Karen and I would switch so I could have my quick, second-half meal. Night two, Karen would get the relaxed service while our au-pair and I shared sitting shifts. Night three, I'd finally get to savor my food without haste. After a couple of nights, the restaurant’s staff caught on to the routine, and were very helpful expediting our crazy up and down, in and out shuffle. The regular guests also, I think, got used to us – but we did get quite a few sideways glances from those one-night sailboat visitors.