LAST FULL DAY….Headed back to base and end of trip

With heavy hearts we got up and headed to the Moorings to turn the boat in to them. We hailed them and I told them that I’d like a captain to meet us and take it in. As I mentioned in a previous post, I knew Julian Hodge from years ago….and the captain climbs aboard and I’m not sure how we got there but I quickly learned that he is Julian’s brother. And, man I’ll tell you what, I knew what a CAT was capable of, but I truly witnessed it with this guy! There were two 4800 CATs at the dock and there was what looked to be BARELY enough room to fit out boat and picture this….I am talking basically parallel parking this puppy! And, when it was all said and done, he did it with about two feet to spare front and back!!

We got off of the boat and they topped off the fuel which was 34.6 gallons for the week for $173.00.

I track Julian down and thanked him…we turned in our phone. I called Deadman at DeDe’s car rental and told him we were at base and he sent a rental car right over for us. I had a room reserved and paid for at Rymers in CGB for the night. My gut told me to check on a room at the Moorings….we did and I booked it, knowing I could cancel if my gut wasn’t right…..it turned out to be right!

We loaded up our stuff in the car and headed to West End/Sopers for lunch at Pussers. After some shopping and lunch, I told Ruth there was something I wanted her to see. So, we got in the car and I drove her to Bomba’s. She was amazed at the size of the waves…and that this place actually stood in a wind more that 10mph!! LOL We had a cold one, took some pics and headed to CGB. As we left Bomba’s we could see it was raining ahead. Now, if you haven’t made this drive, read this carefully, the roads are TAR and like ICE when it rains!! It scared the heck out of Ruth! Like some of the roads in the islands, these are straight up and straight down! It was the straight up that got us…..we rounded a a hair-pin turn to the left and had traffic behind us….as we made the turn the car wasn’t going forward…the tires were spinning on the wet pavement and we were sliding backwards. This would be a good time to tell you, we actually don’t have a “car” we have an SUV and being from Texas, I know the great advantage of four wheel drive…..this truck has it, I got the SUV to stop, I put it in four wheel drive and stepped on it….all four spun but we got around the corner. This little encounter told me why my gut told me to book the Moorings room! If it were raining the next morning, Ruth and I didn’t need the stress of roads heading to the airport.

We walked around CGB briefly, re-living our great time with our new found friends that we had many nights before…and then headed back to Moorings. We got the luggage in the room and pretty much called it a day.

NEXT MORNING

We got up for our 9:15 flight and headed to the airport. When you get there, don’t forget you have to pay a departure fee at the window. We completed our C&I forms, paid our fee and got on the plane (after a short delay). As we began to taxi….Ruth started crying…..(a combination of happy pills and DIF)…and she said “I don’t want to leave”…she said this several times. I held her and said “we’ll be back” and she said “Promise?”….I said “yes” and she laid her head on my shoulder and wept.

We got to SJU and the line at the U S Airways was nuts! When we walked up we were told to get in the delayed line? WTH?? I won’t bore you will all of the details and I will cut to the chase…our flight was delayed by4 or 5 hours and they had to put us up in the hotel in Charlotte that night and we didn’t get back to San Antonio until 2pm on Monday!

End of trip report….not the end of my love for the islands.