Final Musings and Observations from a First Timer

--I did not plan enough true down time. In our eagerness to explore all the highlights of the BVI's, we moved fairly quickly. The plus side is now we have experience sailing into and out of many popular spots. The downside is we didn't spend a lot of time in any one spot. I'm ok with it for this trip, as it was an investment in learning bareboating and the BVI waters both, but I will plan differently for future trips.
--We will leave the kids behind for the next trip. Not for all vacations of course, but if we were to bareboat again, I'll wait until they are older to have them along. DS14 was entirely uninterested while DS11 needed constant occupation. These dynamics are better accommodated with a different type of vacation.
--Weather matters. I tried, honestly I did, to not let the dreary weather of the second half of the week get me down. But it did. Enough said.
--On the weather topic, DH and I had agreed that, given conditions, we would have abandoned ship mid way through the week if we were on the original monohull that we had booked. We would have returned the boat and looked for shore based accommodations. DH and I could have probably managed by ourselves, but with having the kids along, and this being our one Caribbean sojourn of the year, we also needed to consider the fun/comfort/relaxation factor of the vacation. With the cat though, we had the stability and space we needed to get through the week and still be a somewhat unified family unit at the end.
--One good decision I did make ahead of time was to plan to eat most meals ashore. In hindsight, adding the complexity of provisioning for onboard meals and then the work of producing said meals would have put me over the edge. I was glad, especially with this being our first trip, that I was not overly ambitious on this point. I provisioned hot dogs and buns as backup food. Hot dogs can be grilled or boiled. I use hot dogs as backup food on our home boat as well. I ordered a bag of charcoal to experiment with grilling on the boat (remember, this was also a learning trip). The one time we tried to grill the dogs we discovered that we also needed lighter fluid. DH did his best but it was ultimately a non-starter. Note to RiteWay- sell the charcoal and lighter fluid as a package! We did end up eating most of the hot dogs, when we weren't in a port in time for lunch, by boiling them on the propane stove.
--I wouldn't hesitate to book with Conch again if they had the boat and price point we were looking for. Upgrade aside, they were very professional and responsive in ALL of my dealings with them. I would recommend them to others looking for the "Best Deals on Keels".

Thanks to all for following along on this trip with me, and for your kind words on this review.

Hopefully it won't be too long before the next review!