As I took one last sunrise picture, we were pretty sad to leave the wonderful little island of Petit St. Vincent. We were going to miss simply being able to raise the yellow flag and have our private butler to bring breakfast!

But finally, our last Moke ride came. They loaded our luggage and drove us down to the dock.

We loaded the boat and said our good-byes.

PSV even sent us off with a packed lunch for our day of travel.

As we crossed over to Union Island, we reflected on our celebration week.

At Union Island, the PSV crew dropped us off to catch the teeny plane to Barbados.

We had the same pilot, but this time made a pit stop in St. Vincent, where we stretched our legs.

But our trip isn’t over! We are just more independent for this second part. We’ve rented an AirBnB in Hastings, the more local South Coast of Barbados. I will work, we will celebrate Thanksgiving, and live like the locals.

We did have a few rough patches – you will have to read on . . . .

But the sunsets are amazing.

I wanted to do something extra special for my 50th Birthday. Not only is it a big day, obviously, but it is the 5-year anniversary of the day I started taking tamoxifen to treat breast cancer. Tamoxifen has a bunch of side effects and a lot of women don’t make it 5 years.  But for my kind of breast cancer, it can be an effective prevention for recurrence.  So I have done my best to stick it out.  And was overjoyed that my 5 years was up – and on my birthday!

So we had a lot to celebrate.  And PSV came through for a private dinner on the beach.

First, they picked us up in the Moke jeeps and drove us to the end of the island, where there are no cottages and it was pitch dark.  But soon, we saw candlight and stopped at a fully set table on the beach surrounded by lanterns.  Wow.

Our servers poured wine and set out the soup course – a pumpkin curry – then told us they would return with the main course.  They drove off, leaving me and Frank to pinch ourselves with how beautiful and unique this was.

Then to our next course – lamb shank and lobster stir fry.  And more wine.  By this time, we were giggling and even danced on the beach while waiting for dessert.

And then – the cake. Made especially for my 50th Birthday.

I am one lucky girl.

While it is very tempting to just raise our yellow flag and order room service all day, Petit St. Vincent has a lot to offer.

We usually start the evening with cocktails in the lounge, where you can tell the bartender your favorite flavors, and he will concoct a bespoke drink just for you.

There are two restaurants. One is “fancier” with a 3-course menu each night.  (When I say fancy, it is still all very laid back, but in an elegant way.)

The other is the beach club, where we sit with our feet in the sand.

Both are delicious, but the beach club is my favorite.  You can pick out a lobster from the pool and they will grill it for you right there.  All is included except alcohol – so you can try as many dishes or order as many lobsters as you want! Sailboats anchor off of here and dinghy in for lunch and dinner – we’ve had fun comparing notes with other sailors and dreaming of a future charter back in the Grenadines.

There are water sports (also included) and snorkeling on reefs right off the beach.

And a fabulous spa.  It is run by a team from Bali.  Frank and I had a couples massage up in an open-air treehouse overlooking the sailboats.

And after lunch, the beach club is a perfect place for a nap.  (Notice the fishing pole, too – Frank has found his place!)

So we are on Petit St. Vincent (PSV), an island in the Grenadines not too far from Grenada.  Besides the beautiful beaches and views, they are probably best known for the flags.  Here’s how it works.

Each cottage has a flag system.

Red means we want privacy – do not disturb.  

Yellow means we want something. 

There is a box in our room full of menus – breakfast, cocktails, even Afternoon Tea. 

If we want something, we fill out the menu, roll it up, put it in the circular mailbox by our flags, and raise the yellow flag. 

Butlers in Moke jeeps ride around and when they see a yellow flag, they stop to pick up the message. 

Before you know it, someone is outside of our cottage ringing the bell to deliver our request. 

We can also order laundry, fishing gear, or even to be picked up by Moke if we don’t feel like walking somewhere.  All included (except cost of alcohol).  It’s brilliant!

The Two Fools are back on the road – this time to the West Indies!

But . . . we we had so much fun on our last trip that we didn’t even finish the blog.

We love looking back at past blogs to re-live memories. So – we are going to finish up our winter travels with Frank’s Sicilian cousin Enza after we return from the islands.  Once you see how much we did, you will see why we just didn’t have time to host Enza, make pasta, speak Italian, run around Sicily, drink limoncello AND write a blog.  (I like to think that I am adopting the Italian lifestyle – I’ll get to it when I get to it.)

But first – to the islands.

You may wonder why we chose to head to the Caribbean at the tail end of hurricane season.  Well, it is my 50th Birthday!  And it turns out to be an excellent time to be in the islands because hurricane season is just about done but Christmas season has not yet started so there are great deals to be had. 

We are spending my birthday week at a tiny private island called Petit St. Vincent.  To get there, we had to fly to Barbados and then pick up a 6-seat puddle-jumper (where the boarding passes were handwritten!).

We flew with one other couple to Union Island, where we were the only people going through immigration.

Then a boat whisked us to Petit St. Vincent.

Where we were met on the dock with cool towels scented wth frangiopane, pina colladas, and little Jeeps (called Mokes – Mo-Kees) to drive us to our cottage.

Petit St. Vincent is a resort with 22 “cottages” – all set apart from each other for privacy and good views.  We are right on the water in a villa with an outdoor living room.

And plenty of places to sit and read and soak up the sun.

All on our own private beach.

And best of all – no Internet or phone.  We will be off the grid for a week.  (I wrote this sitting in our backyard with a view of the ocean – but had to post once we returned to civilization.). 

Tomorrow I’ll write about my favorite part of Petit St. Vincent (or PSV for short) – the flag system, where you can raise a yellow flag and a butler will come by Jeep to your cottage to deliver whatever you want.  We could get used to this!