Our first impressions of Tortola, as we were driven to Robin & Jill’s home were decidedly mixed, tinged with apprehension as the road, once it had left Beef Island by way of the newly opened Queen Elizabeth II Bridge across the narrow dividing channel, passed through the villages of Parham Town and Long Swamp, on the shires of Fat Hoggs Bay, neither place likely candidates to feature in ‘Country Life’, both bordered by what appeared to our unaccustomed European eyes, dilapidated and ramshackle shanties fringed by an assortment of accumulated rubbish.
However climbing the first of several steep sections of the main road, this culture shock was soon forgotten as the full magnificence of Drake’s Channel unfolded before our eyes, first near Maya Cove, then near Paraquita Bay, and again at Hoggs Valley point near the evocatively named Brandywine Bay where we soaked up the sight of Ginger, Cooper, Salt, Peter and Norman islands strung out in a chain about three miles offshore, the the US Virgin Island st John in the distance to the west and Virgin Gorda to the east. Quite breathtaking.
We continued along the eastern shore of the wide Roadtown Bay past Fish and Baughers Bays, the latter being the location of scrapyard type activity, with Roadtown to the west backed by the steep sided mountain ridge topped by Mt Sage and what remained of once thick tropical rain forest, a little sparse by 1968.
Then after passing Fort George and Pasea Hall Estate we arrived at Robin’s government owned bungalow near the Agricultural Department, and not far from the Treasure Isle Hotel.
Lee Family History 