Part 3 of 3

Friday, June 7 - Day 7
Up before 6 today. early to bed, early to rise...
Big breakfast of eggs, sausage, and bagels.
Went on shore to get a few provisions. Grocery said it opened at 8:30…9:45…still not open..ilon time!
Got Ice from Bobby at Ali Baba’s and said our goodbyes.
Motored to pick up a mooring and hike to the Bubbly
Foxy's Taboo was great for post-hike refreshments.
Over to White Bay for late lunch of burgers. As we were dining, stern swung around in the swirl of the White Bay winds and the group that was in front of us was now clearly behind us…and enjoying the “natural” sunshine. Quote of the week: “y'all wanna get naked too?"
Checked out Ivan's and the Doggy dollar – great stop…back to Wahoo for sunset viewing and dinner prep. Sunset was spectacular over the hills of Jost. Showers over Tortola created a beautiful rainbow in the eastern sky. Kenny singing “Somewhere in the Sun” from our playlist. I could not have scripted a more perfect conclusion to the trip.

Slow night in White Bay…called Ivan’s…no joy tonight. Jim, who had recently completed a 2.5 year circumnavigation rowed up…said we were the only ones awake on the bay. We shared a Dark and Stormy and some of his stories….

Saturday, June 8- day 8
Left White Bay at 9:15 after ice delivery. Motored to Thatch then raised sails and continued into SFD Channel. Light winds for BVI. Less than 10 kts for a good while.
2 tacks and were heading just west of Peter island. Decided to moor there in Great Harbor for lunch. Got a ball near shore in beautiful turquoise water. Lunch and then some quick snorkeling and at 2:00 we began motoring across SFD channel to Hodges Creek.
Docked at fuel dock. Took 5 gallons in starboard tank and ~20 in the port. Clearly the generator runs off the port tank!
Haniff piloted us to the tight slip, hooked up power, and we were back where the whole trip started. No damage to the boat and everyone had a great time.
Showers and then over to Charlie T's for dinner. Lobster & Mahi were the key choices. Tried the key lime pie - deemed not as good as Ali's, or Last Resort.
Discussed highs and lows of the trip. Highs were the Baths, Savannah Bay, The Caves, and Jost. Low we're hangovers and slight motion sickness, both necessary costs for the highs.
Finished the evening stargazing on the Tramp!

Sunday, June 9 - Day 9
Quick Breakfast at Calamaya, 8:00 taxi to ferry, 9:00 ferry to CA, on time departure, at CA at 10:00. Cleared customs by 10:30.
~10:30 taxi to STT. Simon there to meet us. Started to airport, realized we had much time, so took us into town for food/shopping. Lunch at Greengo's. Shopping was sparse as many shops closed on Sunday. At 12:46, got the first of what would be 7 emails about flight delays due to equipment problems. This one said 6:00 departure, tight connection, but still hope. Simon picked us up at 1:00. Good guy, helped make St Thomas interesting.
4:45 flight scheduled for all to Charlotte originally. Youngest had connection on United, so she paid to switch to 2:30 US Air flight and got what we think was the last seat. Quick thru customs and security for her and we had one success story. That would be our only one.
Emails and calls from US Air continued with gradual slips. Final email said 11:45 departure and no connection hopes. We'll be sleeping in an airport somewhere. On the good news side, they kept the bar open, so we were able to invest in the local economy. There was still some lingering pain to kill!

Finally about 7:45 we received confirmation that our plane was in the air on the way from clt to stt. I guess it's better to have travel screw up your trip home than the trip to vacation. We finally board a little after 11:00, take off around 11:30, and arrive clt at 2:40 am on day 10 of our trip...not really the vacation bonus day we were after.

We got boarding passes for our 7:30 am flights and our $5 food voucher...because $10 was clearly too much. Option for a hotel, but we opted to set up a shanty town in the terminal for the short nap. They have two versions of the "maintain control of you bags" announcement that run about every 10 minutes, whether there are flights scheduled or not. Also, it got very cold on the floor of clt airport at 4 am when you're in Caribbean clothes. A poncho makes a poor blanket.

Monday, June 10 - Day 10 of 9
Awoke at 6:00 on the floor of an airport. Never a good start to a story. One crew member had a small tube of toothpaste, what a great feeling. All finally arrived home safely…from what was the trip of a lifetime…til next time.

Currently making plans for a return trip in March 2014…working to align with the Full Moon. Look forward to TTOL pointers on the best way to enjoy the Full Moon Parties.