Good morning everyone! I wanted to give you all a final update on this trip. I will first say this was probably one of the coolest and yet mildly saddest thing I have ever done.

I'll start with TSA in Charlotte early Saturday morning. I had my parents boxes in my duffel bag and announced that when I approached. I had all necessary paperwork with me as well. The first thing the TSA agent told me was condolences for my loss. He put the boxes in a special bin and ran it through the x-ray. They then took me and the boxes to the table to run a swab around both boxes. The boxes were never opened of course. Total time with TSA was less than 3 minutes. They were extremely compassionate and did not ask for any paperwork.

We were scheduled to fly directly from STT to Anegada. Since there were other passengers we were forced to go through CI on Tortola. My bags were left on the plane so no issues there. Since we had already gone through CI on Tortola, when we landed on Anegada we walked straight through to Dean who was waiting with our vehicle. So no CI issues whatsoever. I breathed a sigh of relief knowing my parents made it to the islands.

Before I go into the Wednesday ceremony I have to tell you about a couple we met at Cow Wreck. If you read an earlier post on this thread NWA4Sail and I were hoping to meet on Anegada sometime that week. So on Monday I was approached at Cow Wreck by NWA4Sail (Jonny). We chatted for a bit and then introduced our wives. Of course Jonny's wife Carol (a Wheel of Fortune Champion!) and my wife Melissa hit if off. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with this great couple.

Tuesday brought heavy winds and several rain squalls that lasted into the night. Wednesday's forecast did not look much better. The forecast was for heavy winds and 70% chance for rain. We were very concerned that we might not make it to Tortola on Wednesday. On Wednesday morning we got to the airport on Anegada and found that VI Airlink was definitely on their way to get us. The flight was a little bumpy, but not bad.

We arrived at Beef Island to a very warm welcome from Val who then took us to Myett's. She told us on the way that CGB is still very much under construction. When we arrived saws and hammers were prevalent. There is still a lot of work to be done. But CGB is absolutely coming along nicely. But it sure looks different.

Val had arranged a boat for us and that was the first thing we did. Kareem had picked some fresh flowers and placed the petals in a basket for us. Along with another couple my parents were friends with in MI we set off to just out of the cove to send my parents off properly. Once the boat anchored I read a poem and then Melissa and I opened the boxes and carefully dumped the ashes into the sea. We then followed that up with the flower petals and held each other while everything floated away. After a couple of minutes Val and Kareem opened a bottle of champagne and we toasted my parents.

Jonny was planning to bonefish with Danny on Tuesday morning. As said earlier, the weather was not conducive for fishing. So Jonny and Carol decided to leave Anegada early and head to Jost. They did that so they could be with us on CGB Wednesday. That was a wonderful surprised for my wife and I. This awesome couple took time away from their vacation to be with us. We will be forever grateful.

Once back at CGB Val arranged for appetizers and I had the bar opened up. We spent the next 3 hours eating, drinking, reminiscing and laughing with the couple from MI, our new friends Jonny and Carol and several locals who knew my parents. One special visitor for me was Patsy Rhymer. She has known my parents for a very long time and it was a pleasure that she came. What a wonderful lady. Val and Kareem, while under construction and plenty of work to do, spent the whole day with us. I cannot thank them both enough for helping make this a very special day for us. They were no less than amazing. I am forever indebted to them both.

Remember what I wrote earlier about the weather forecast? The entire day was absolutely beautiful! No rain and slight winds. Do you think my parents had anything to do with that?

Thank you all who commented earlier with your advice. Thanks again for reading. I am very proud I was able to fulfill my parents wishes and they are now where they belong. Just off the coast of beautiful Cane Garden Bay where they will remain forever.

Bill & Melissa Mason