Our “Lets get married in the BVI” trip got off to an auspicious start when our 7:00 AM Ottawa Philadelphia US Air flight on March 10 was cancelled due to maintenance problems. US Air did their best and re routed us via Air Canada to Chicago, American Airlines from Chicago to Miami, and AA to St. Thomas where we arrived (after delays on the Miami St. Thomas portion) at about 11:00 PM instead of our originally scheduled 3:30 PM. All was not bad however, as AA upgraded us to first class on the Chicago - Miami leg which was great. We had planned on staying is St. Thomas that night so happily crawled into bed at the Holiday Inn.

The next morning we were up early and collected our things for the 8:30 Fast Ferry to Road Town. We were a little heavy on the luggage as Mary Jane’s son John and girlfriend Katherine were flying down on Saturday to join us. They didn’t have the luxury of a night stopover in St. Thomas and the connection to the last ferry was tight so we volunteered to take their diving gear so they could travel with carry on only. J’amais plus! Never Again!

We were met at the ferry by Violet who is the sister of Elaine, who is the wife of Allington Hodge, who was the Registrar that we had arranged with to perform the ceremony. She was truly delightful and spirited us off to the Attorney Generals Chambers where we filled out the Marriage License application and paid the fees. Very efficient - the whole operation took about 15 minutes. From there Violet took us to TMM at the Road Reef Marina where we received a warm welcome from Sam and a bottle of Champagne with instructions not to open until the appointed day – March 17. We were then introduced to the Trade Winds of Emsworth, the Beneteau 40CC that would be our home for the next 10 days. We stowed our gear, Bobby’s arrived right on time, and by 1:00 PM we were heading for the high seas.

... Part 2 - Mary Jane Learns to Sail