Sitting here at work, figured writing this would kill some time, maybe provide some useless info and entertainment for others, but most importantly, give me a few moments to reflect.

The Crew

My wife Teresa, sons Max & Nick (15&12). Our friends that planned to go with us backed out at the last minute. We couldn't be too upset they had been in the process of adopting a child and of course it all came down days before our trip! Anyway big boat Moorings 4500 for just the 4 of us. A family bonding trip. All in all a great family time, even though by the time we came home I think we had enough of each other and looked forward to our own space. This was our 4th charter together..2nd time "just us".

Secured the boat via sailonline owners time...highly recommended!! Wonderful, easy process and a good deal.

11/21-Friday

We arrived on the Carribean Sun flight from PR after a 3 hr layover (I think the STT-ferry route is a better way to go if you can fly direct into stt). Carribean Sun was great and on time.

Got to the Moorings. I'm not going to go into details here but needless to say the Moorings was not a good experience. Maybe I'll post another day on this issue alone. Lots of material. Slept aboard after lots of rummers at the bar! Kids in the pool til midnight.

11/22-Saturday

Bobby's provisioning worked out great..they forgot some things and added somethings we didn't order. One phone call and they came right back and straightened it all out. Finally got underway at 3:30. Made it to Cooper in gentle winds and grabbed a ball pretty far out. Kids swam and jumped off the bow for a few hours while I mixed the first batch of PK's. I really missed my buddy at this point. Cigars and PK's is a guy bonding thing. Had dinner at the CIBC. Always just OK don't know why we alsways go back. Conch fritters are great so is the carrot cake, cheese cake is "flubber"--it really bounces!

Back on board, played flashlight tag with a barracuda and off to sleep. Huge thunder boomer that night.

11/23-Sunday

Got up early 6am. snorkeled by myself, made friends with a medium size sea turtle and followed him around for quite a while. Also, several rays. Motored to the Rhone and snorkeled. Just OK. Motored to the setllement on Salt and it was deserted. Damn, we wanted to buy a bag of salt. After all these years and trips never done it.

Sailed easily in mild wind to the Baths. No balls. As we circled someone left and we grabbed a ball. Very large swell. No snorkeling near the rocks. The kids climbed though. More PK's and Caribs. I decided at this point that over the next few days I would test the affects (or is it effects) of altering the rotation of Caribs and PK's. After much study the ideal rhythm is as follows starting at about 11am...Carib, Carib, Carib, PK, PK, Carib, Carib, PK, PK and then who cares! After the baths another nice sail over to Trellis. Went to the Mongoose for a signature rum. Damn forget the Drinking Mans Guide again. Met Davide briefly while swatting misquitos..the only true beneficiaries of the prior rains. We hoped to make to Brandywine for dinner but really don't like to make firm plans on this vacation. Also chatted it up with a guy at the bar that just returned from Anegada. Very scary misquito stories. Wow. we were going to go there the next day or two. The great thing about this vacation is not having a plan and being able to wing it. Back to the boat for pre-dinner cocktails. We had a Last Resort Ball and when the charming young lady came to collect our fee, I was so impressed and so enjoyed our discussion we decided to go there for dinner and experience the "Singing Chef".

Wow. Our best meal ever in the BVI. Maybe because we weren't expecting much. Incredible atmosphere, people and food. Really, really good. After dinner the singing chef appeared. After a trivia contest which included prizes of shots of Tequila for correct answers, he played a very good guitar and could really sing. I'm sure my kids will never forget my on-stage rendition of Jim Morrison's "Come on Baby Light My Fire"!

Home to bed after running into the reef in the dink! Luckily, a more responsible member of the family was at the helm going at a slow speed--the 12 year old!

Gotta get back to work. Client on the phone.. check part two later

George