Well this is long overdue, but I feel like I ought to give back to those on the board who offered so much to me in the planning of this last trip. This is our 4th trip to the Mahoe Bay Villas on VG for about a week followed by our first charter - also about a week.

Flights - Delta from Pasco, WA to SJU and Cape Air SJU to EIS - uneventful. Security lines were typically long for our mid morning flight in and out of SJU and somewhat frustrating due to two huge cruise ships departing when we were. But ...we're going to try to fly in and out on any day but Sunday midmorning next year.

Stayed overnight on the way down in SJ - first time - at the Hotel Excelsior. Clean and functional, but thin walls. Thank goodness I brought earplugs since the family next door were cheering some sporting event on TV after midnight. Breakfast was fine. Taxi was uneventful. Since we got in late and left early we didn't get to explore SJ. We'll have the same itinerary next year and so I've made reservations at the SJU Best Western based on acceptable reviews on this board.

Checking in to Cape Air on Halloween was fun - a few costumes for the ground crew. It was a perfect day to fly and our hearts started to warm as USVI and BVI came in to view. Did our usual - get rum punch at Philips at Trellis Bay, wandered thru Aragorn's and picked up cool tank tops that were worn more than any others during the trip. Met up with our friends that had stayed at Beef Island Guest House. Took the 11:15 NSX ferry to Spanish Town - no troubles. Yes, for those of you doing the math, we started drinking rum long before noon.

Villas were great as usual. This is our second year at Open Deck. Highlights from VG:
1. Snorkeling at Mahoe was the most diverse I've seen in 4 years even though the visibility wasn't great. Nurse shark, barracuda, ray, turtles and many immature and mature reef fish.
2. Playing in the surf at Devil's Bay and Stoney Bay with not another soul in sight. Limin with hubby.
3. Views from Copper Mine Point.
4. Dinner at the Flying Iguana.
5. Puck cooking dinner at the Villa.
6. Several afternoons limin in the breeze with darts, triple decker sandwiches, caribs, and pina coladas at Mad Dogs.
7. Private Patouche daysail snorkeling at the cistern at Cooper and Great Dog.
8. Limin at Mahoe.

The theme of the week was limin and other activities only when plied with rum.

Highlights of Moorings Charter on M413 with Captain Noel:
1. Getting picked up right at VGYH to start the charter right away without ferrying back to RT.
2. Snorkeling at the Bight was better than expected.
3. Singing Johnny Cash tunes on deck into the night after too much rum - sorry for those at Cooper that may not have appreciated our crooning.
4. Limin at Mariner's Inn - Long hot showers, nice pool, room, pool bar, fun meeting others and the restaurant.
5. A crew that was able to make lemonade out of the lemons the weather offered up.

The prevailing down side for both weeks was the swells making visibility, mooring, and snorkeling less than optimal and the nightly rainfall, which led to the hot/humid nights in the cabins on the boat.

For our first charter - we learned probably as much about ourselves as we did about sailing. The prevailing lesson is that we are a pretty lazy crew and sailing is a bit more work than hanging around the villa. We'll rethink how much cooking we plan on doing next time and will likely splurge for AC and a genset, too.