Planned August 2002<br>Captain: Bill<br>Crew: wife Julie, friends Mike & Sandy, son Bill JR & Nicole from Calif., son Trevor & friend Dan from Calif.<br>History: Bill & Julie keep their boat across from ours in Port Washington, WI (Lake Michigan). Bill, who has sailed since he was a child & does a yearly sailing trip with his family. Mike and I are very fortunate that they asked us to join them this year. Mike & I have only been on a sail boat once. Trevor and Dan went to Tortola a week earlier to surf and party.<br>March 20<br> Fog on the trip to Milwaukee. We stayed at FourPoints Sheraton across from the airport. Had a couple drinks at the bar before retiring. <br>March 21<br> 4am wake up call and no fog. We joined Bill & Julie in the lobby at 4:45 for our shuttle ride to the airport (7:06 flight). We walked in and discovered a huge line but luckily it was a charter. We cut through the line and noticed that no one was at the AA counter. GREAT. Wrong - our flight was cancelled because the plane couldn't land the night before in the fog. Of course they never called us. A bus ride didn't seem that bad. The only problem was the three block walk to the bus terminal with all our luggage (no wheels) and fresh coffee. The Milw. lady told us to check our bags curbside in Chicago so we stood in the drizzle for over a hour until another woman announce that anyone going international needed to go to the AA counter to check bags. Thanks!!! Another long line but we finally made it to our gate and enjoyed our breakfast from McDonalds.<br>Bill presented me with a gift that he & several other doctors made. A bikini made out of surgical masks. Top was two molded ones and the bottom two flat ones. I was suppose to model it -NO WAY!!! <br>We arrived in Tortola at 6:30 and got thru customs and even had all our bags. A porter grabbed our bags onto a flat cart and we were off - to the other side of the wall. Next time I think we can handle taking care of them. A driver put our bags in the back of a van (he barely got them in because it was already full) and another guy took Bill's. I told him we were together and he said both vans were going to Sunsail so around to the door we go. Every seat was full!! I said there wasn't room and the driver told the others to move over. I lost it and said there was no way I was going to sit on someone's lap. He said " work with me mon" and I walked away. They ended up geting another car for us but our luggage left ten minutes before we did. It all worked out ok and I calmed down after my second painkiller.<br>Got to our rooms at the marina and did a fast change of clothes and headed to the bar. Meet Trevor and Dan at the bar and after a couple painkillers we decide to take a taxi over to Quito's. Oh my god -what a ride. No one told me about the hills!! We had some food and a few more drinks and decided to call it a night. Of course, Trevor and Dan didn't go back with us. Too many cute girls.<br>March 22<br> Woke up to a beautiful day. Meet for breakfast and Bill said he found our boat "Banana" and we could take it out early afternoon. Problem!! Provisions were suppose to be delivered at 5:30. Another Problem: Michelle and Paul (Pepperfish) were coming over to visit us in the evening. I tried to call their hotel but only got an answering machine. I left a message for them and also one at the Sunsail office. I was really upset because we had been planning our first meeting for weeks. Bill Jr. and Nicole needed to get new snorkeling gear and Julie and I were going to pick out fresh stuff at Bobby's so we took a taxi into Roadtown. We talked to Carol at Bobby's and she was so sweet. Said she would have all our stuff ready to go by the time we picked out our extra stuff. They even gave all of us a ride back to the marina. We were very pleased with our order. Frozen meats looked good and produce was great. We only had one substitution - no big deal. <br> We unloaded the groceries, put on our 2003 t-shirts, took a couple group pictures and we were off. Bill looked like he was in heaven at the wheel.<br> Note: I'm not a sailor and I didn't learn all the correct terms so please excuse me if I call something the wrong name. We put the sails up and headed for Salt Island, back to Nanny Cay and then over and anchored near Key Point on Peter Island. Time for cocktails. We grilled hamburgers and had a wonderful evening. I wasn't too thrilled about my first night sleeping in that small cabin but I made it.<br>March 23<br> We pulled anchor around 9:30 and decided we'd go to Jost Van Dyke. Not much wind so it was a slow trip. Instead of heading into Great Harbour, we decided to run over to Sandy Cay for a couple hours. We walked around the island and enjoyed the sun. We had no problem finding a mooring ball. We cleaned up and discovered that it was cocktail time again.. We had a great dinner at Foxy's. The four older kids headed back to the boat while the four younger ones stayed at Foxy's. We really enjoyed the music from the boat. <br>March 24<br> We pulled out around 11:00 and headed to the Bitter End. Ran into a couple sprinkles for about a half hour. Again we had no problem finding a mooring ball. We needed water because we were down to about half on the second tank. I won't mention any names but someone was talking long showers!! To our surprise, they were out of water. The hotel guests were told that they couldn't shower. No problem - we still had enough. We got a couple more bags of ice. It really melts fast in a drink!! Cocktail time again. Trevor and Dan made jerk chicken - they had stopped at Sunny Caribbee earlier in the week - it was delicious. The four older kids decided we needed sleep so just the young ones went out to party. Our plan was to stop for water, ice and some snacks at Leverick Bay in the morning and then to go to Anegada.<br><br>To be continued: