Cue the island music, break out the umbrellas for your cocktails, and lather up with lots of sunscreen. When you’re finished, join me on a little magical tour of my summer vacation. Beware: lots of beach photos to be seen, mostly starring none other than yours truly. You see, while it would appear I may have gone on this vacation solo, I promise you that my mother was along for the ride. However, since she prefers I never take photos of her, I’m left with these lovelies she snapped of me. Oh darn.

While visiting mommy dearest in Florida over my summer vacation, we decided to take a girls trip down to the Virgin Islands. I should preface this with a little background. When I was about ten years old, my parents took me on the most magical vacation to the Virgin Islands. We sailed from one island to another for a week-long trip in paradise. I have never gotten over it. It may or may not be where my obsession with islands came from.

Since that time, I’ve been begging to go back. Between all of the vacations we’ve taken, somehow we just haven’t made it back to the paradise of my childhood. However, since I left hubby at home this time, I have a feeling we’ll be going back quite soon. Let’s let hurricane season pass, and then we’ll set sail.

For our girls trip, my mom rented an Airbnb on Water Island, which is the newest Virgin Island. It’s also the smallest of the group, and has less than 200 residents. In other words, perfect for us to relax for a few days. Not only are there not many locals, there are only two businesses on the island: Dinghy’s Beach Bar (YES!), and a beach-side food bar, Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill. Both are located on Honeymoon Beach, which just so happened to be one of the prettiest beaches I’ve ever seen. And as you can see below, my friend Squirt was a regular.

Squirt and I had a little BFF quality time every morning. His friends tended to show up, but we had a special connection. Clearly. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway, because it was magical. He let me pet him for heaven’s sake. If that’s not magical, I don’t know what is.

To me, there may never be another day as perfect as this: swimming with sea turtles on one of the best beaches in the world, only to come out and be greeted by one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever consumed. All while sipping a Painkiller cocktail. Paradise indeed.

And while she wouldn’t let me take many photos of her, I would like to present the evidence that I was on this vacation with another human being. She may or may not be the cutest mother in the world, so I had to post at least one photo of her. Even if she’ll hold this against me for the rest of my life. As long as I have this photo to cherish for the rest of my life, I’ll take her anger right along with it.

Although we spent the majority of our time on Honeymoon Beach, I did manage to beg her to take me to St. John one day. Since being there as a child, I’ve been itching to go back. Not only does it have some of the prettiest beaches in the world, but it’s also home to a very large National Park which also includes an underwater snorkeling park. In Trunk Bay you can swim through the underwater park or just relax in one of the World’s Best Beaches. Which was the reason for my trip, clearly.

You can’t be expected to tour the Virgin Islands and not stop to appreciate the beauty. Which I did plenty of. With my camera. I know people say that you should enjoy the moment and not always be snapping photos, but really, if you don’t have a photo to prove you were there, were you really there?