Thursday: OBBR appreciation day to make up for the construction. It was a good idea on their part and a great time. Started around 10AM at Le Galieon beach. OBBR set up and area with umbrellas but no chairs, plenty of libation, live music, games and a great lunch on the beach. It was our first visit to that beach and it was very relaxing, I can see us making it a regular stop. The kids had decided they wanted to do some water sports at Orient so they went that direction before joining us. S1 also remembered that Wednesday was mussel day at Baywatch per Andy, so hoping there were still some available, they made that a stop before leaving. They had a nice visit with Andy whereupon S1 pointed out that he could only see one Iowa plate and thus promised Andy someone would be bringing at least one more next year.

A really cool thing that came up at the end of this day was a couple from Chicago had a renewal of vows ceremony. They were celebrating their 10th anniversary. It was a total surprise to her as husband and friends planned it. A bunch of us from the Celine trip surprised her at the far end of Dawn beach for the 5PM ceremony. It was so cool and so sweet. After champagne on the beach we all went back to BeauBeau’s for additional libation. S2 & FDL showed up and everyone tried to convince them to plan their wedding for OBBR next year; sounds good to us! We made plans to head to Yvettes later for dinner. S1 & DL1 had planned their own romantic evening elsewhere. The meal at Yvettes was yet again wonderful. We were a little concerned upon arriving as Felix was not there to greet us, however it was just temporary as he was cooking in the back and hollered at us later. Had an outstanding meal which was very reasonably priced. Had a nice visit with his family and shared how often they receive good comments on TTOL. They were 1:1, but it would still be worth it even if they weren’t. We all walked out incredibly stuffed. Then it was back to Captain Oliver’s marina and the Yacht Club for music. There was a family from Canada also enjoying the fun. S2 eventually ended up singing with them. He can’t carry a tune but was having a blast singing. He commented he felt free to sing there as he wouldn’t run into any one on the street the next day that would make fun of him. After a while, the BG ran me back to OBBR and went back to continue to enjoy the kids and music.

Friday: Moving day, in order to please S2, we booked an extra night on the other side of the island. After saying many tearful good-byes to our friends, we were off. Didn’t expect to make it back to that side of island so planned to take the ‘scenic’ route to Simpson Bay area and stop at MaDouDou . All of us stocked up on our favorites and we were again off to the Turquoise Shell Inn. Although I had received 3 confirmations when I booked 3 rooms back in July and again in December when my card was billed, we were told they only had 2 rooms for us, but had put a futon in one room so that 4 of us could use it. They were ‘overbooked’! Overbooked on 10 rooms, when you take the payment 1 month in advance, how can that be??? Frankly, I was shocked and just didn’t know how to respond. If I had not been on vacation for 7 days at that point, I would have been all over it. But I kept my cool (so unlike me), they did a partial refund to my bill. It was very clean as I had been assured by others here on TTOL, however, after this incident, I won’t stay there again. Of course our (now) 2 rooms were not ready so we unloaded stuff into the office and were off. Kids went one way, we went another; we walked, they drove. We ended up at Toppers for lunch. BG had coconut shrimp, I the black and blue burger. Both were outstanding. Back at the Inn, we headed to the beach after getting a couple of chairs from the front desk. It wasn’t a bad beach, sand was rather clean but the shallows had a lot of trash on the bottom, decided I should be careful where I walked for fear of cutting my foot on a rusty can or something. A bit later, another person also staying at the Inn, came by and told my husband that we needed to keep a good eye on our stuff as his wife had a bag stolen before her eyes earlier that morning. 2 little boys jumped from the bushes and snatched it while she was in the water. The kids had gone to Pineapple Pete’s for lunch and brought a good report. S1 & DL1 showed up but opted to go back to the room to relax; S2 & FDL were shopping but soon showed up also. They decided to relax on the beach along with us, however, they found that the only chairs remaining at the office, were regular lawn chairs, that didn’t last long and they headed back to the room and the small futon. Dining decision was left to walking the strip to see what struck our fancy and the girls’ tastes. They are not the seafood lovers that we are. Decided on The Wharf, again a great meal. From there we split; we and S1 & DL1 decided to spend some money at the Atlantis, S2 and FDL wanted to party. They spent most of the evening at Tijuana Yacht Club and had an awesome time. S2 ‘ate the worm’ should I be proud? nah probably not! BG had good luck at Atlantis, S1 did not, thus they were ready to call it a night, since BG was on a roll, we continued from one Casino to another. His streak continued, mine did too, bad of course but at least he more than made up for me. Finally ready to call it a night, we are headed back to the Inn when we spot the kids walking on the side of the road, so they were picked up and delivered safely back also.

Saturday: Final moments on the island. As he needed his fix, BG and I got up early and headed to ZeeBest for breakfast then back to pack. The kids surprised us by getting up rather early, at least for them and we were checked out by 11AM. Was headed back to Toppers for a final lunch when the bridge caught us. Rather than waste time sitting there, we decided to turn and head to the airport for check in for our 3:46 flight. That was a breeze, Delta window was open and only a hand full of others had the same idea. We were in and out quicker than it took to walk back and forth. The exit gate from the parking lot must have been broken as it was up and we drove on out. Thought it was also a good time to make our annual stop at SSBB, kids did some more shopping and after one round of drinks, we were off to Toppers again. Another good meal, and a round of rum shots courtesy of our waitress as she felt we all looked sooo depressed (which we were, we were heading back to the freezer!). Stopped at Unity to get a couple of Michael’s guys to take us on to the airport and that was it. Flight on Delta on time and other than some rough weather en route, not a problem.

It was a great trip! It has been a really crappy year for us; putting my parents in a home, and then my dad passing away while I was out of town on business; I above all needed to get away. Can’t wait for next year which is already booked!