This is long and I’m sorry for that, but I wanted to include prices, times, events and our opinions for those that might be interested in how certain things evolved.

Thursday – drove to Buffalo for early morning flight

Friday – BUF to PHI on USAirways, thunderstorms, flight PHI to SJU delayed, arrived late in SJU, $17 total for 8 people in one van to hotel in Condado district from airport, checked into El Canario by the Lagoon, had 3 of 4 available penthouses with roof top terrace, fridge/microwave, table/chairs for 4 for $131.50/night for each of the double/double penthouses and $121.50 for the 1 queen penthouse, $12 taxi to Old SJU for shopping and dinner at D’Latin Fever Cafe on Plaza Colon, highly recommended, friends came in from CLE 4 hours late due to same storms, now we are a party of 10

Saturday – AA SJU to EIS, weather delay, Andrew’s taxi waited at EIS, open air safari from airport to North South’s interim home in Road Town, Bobbys and Ticos right on time and correct order, problem with windlass on one of our two boats, fixed and we were off to Peter Island, $65 mooring ball in Sprat bay, took last 2 of 5 balls, 3 of us girls swam to shore and wandered over to Deadman’s, burgers onboard

Sunday – morning certification dives for 3 of our group plus one certified diver with Aquaventure, great company and right on time, remainder of us walked through the beautiful PI resort then ventured to Deadmans, some went snorkelling, some lounged on beach chairs and hammocks, we were advised this was fine unless guests needed them, makes perfect sense, me and my BFF walked to Big Reef Bay, no direct access except through spa, we were encouraged by Dwight to come through the spa and on our return he would provide iced lemon water and a tour, it’s on our calendar to go back and use their facilities which are available for boaters, Stephen is an excellent bartender at Deadman’s, he put an extra shot of Myers rum in the bottom of each cup before pouring in the well spiked pina colada, yum, yum, back to boat same time as divers, lunch onboard, tried to go to White bay but storm was approaching so we turned and went to Cooper, got two of the fast disappearing balls at Cooper, relaxed and went to dinner, had conch fritters, they are the BVIs best, newbies redeemed DMG2 coupons for wine, awesome dinner.

Monday – second dive day for 4 of our group, Aquaventure right on time again, remainder of group snorkelled Cistern Rock, saw our first ever octopus, had a 10 minute rain shower, wandered around dive shop and gift shop ashore then divers were back, took off for North Sound, lost an engine on the way, but as we were only going 3 knots, it didn’t make any difference to our speed and we figured we’re saving gas, radio’d charter company and made arrangements for repair to be done at our convenience, great ride up coast, no balls at Saba left, grabbed last 2 at BEYC, went to Fat Virgin for dinner, yummy, reasonable dinner at picnic tables, went for drinks at Saba, music only on Wednesday nights so nothing to do but drink, shop and look at sharks and lobsters in tank at Saba, heard steel drums at BEYC but group decided to go back to boat for nightcaps

Tuesday-left in good time for VGYH, $1/foot plus $7 for lights only or $14 for A/C, nice showers, shops and restaurants, but no air movement . Rented mini-safari and driver from Speedy’s to tour the Valley, went to Mad Dogs for lunch, you have to go here, every sandwich is $5 and they are triple deckers, I highly recommend the shrimp salad, our driver convinced owner to let us bring our own drinks in, we tipped her well and were on our way to Spring and Trunk bays, gorgeous sand and snorkelling, lots of sea urchins. Thought about going to Savannah bay but it was so hot and humid we opted to get out of the sun, went to the Mine Shaft around 4:30 thinking we could have drinks and golf before dinner, but they were closed, driver said they’d be open soon, we elected to go back to our boat and freshen up. 6 of us went to The Rock Cafe for dinner outside among the boulders and later danced inside to the piano guy, the entrees were fabulous, my husband had the skewers, one was chicken, one was shrimp and one was beef, there was so much food, we just couldn’t eat everything, the oysters au gratin were delicious, the mahi mahi was superb, the staff were hilarious and attentive, I was invited to dance on the piano by the owner and bartender provided free shooter for encouragement, my husband said it was called a Liquid Panty Remover. Danced on the piano to Mustang Ally in honour of my sister-in-law Allison who just bought a Mustang. Walked back to the marina, maybe 10-15 minute easy walk. The rest of our group ate at the Bath and Turtle and raved about their marvellous dinners and joined us later at the Rock for dancing. VGYH was the first place I’d seen cockroaches in the BVIs, I saw 3-4 flying around day and night, not swarming by any means, but it was enough, one girl almost got one in her mouth (yes, she talks too much) and another cockroach was killed onboard, something about a mutiny, I know it’s the Caribbean but of all my trips over the past 20 years to many islands, I’ve still never seen a cockroach – just lucky I guess. Due to the still air in the marina and the cockroaches, we won’t be back there. We’ll do the same as last year and get a ball at Leverick and rent a jeep to come down to the beaches and restaurants in the Valley.

Wednesday – charter company repair guy came to fix boat and we didn’t get underway until almost 11:00am, which is the check-out time, woman in the office said not to worry unless there were no slips left, finally underway. Stopped at Monkey Point on Guana as we have read that bait fish come through this channel and predator fish are easily spotted, we snorkelled near the rocks and saw a barracuda, my first, and once we realized what it was, we casually turned and beat a path back to the boat, when we stopped to make sure we were all together, he was still behind us, me the non-swimmer was first back to the boat, great experience, heart still throbbing! Always a beautiful boat ride along the north coast of Tortola then over to Diamond Cay, grabbed a ball and everyone came aboard our boat as the layout was more conducive for large groups, charter company needed to get a part so we agreed to meet at Diamond Cay for the install of the new part, they were there just before dinner and did what they needed to do, a cold beer for the guys to thank them for being so accommodating with our plans and they were gone, ate onboard as Foxy’s Taboo was closed, had a wonderful quiet, star filled night, way more stars than last year, they truly stretch from horizon to horizon in every direction you look, the lights on the north coast of Tortola look like the stars continue right across the island, it’s a beautiful view, much like that from Peter or Cooper, for after dinner entertainment we shone our flashlights overboard and were surprised by schools of tarpon had to be 5 and 6 feet long and schools of nurse sharks 4-6 feet, some 15 or more in the schools of each, they were hanging around our boat, probably due to the flashlights, our friends who had to dinghy back to their boat after dinner considered having a sleep-over, unlike every other morning, the girls didn’t jump overboard!

Thursday-some snorkelled in the morning over by Little JVD while some walked to the Bubbly Pool guided by Brandi the dog, a very good guide, however the pool wasn’t bubbly, we understand it’s related to the swells which weren’t high, we’ll try again next time, Foxy’s Taboo was opening on our return so we stopped for a drink and then the gift shop opened, very nice stuff here, bartender was superb (Louis, I think) and made painkillers, met Foxy’s dog named Taboo, got underway for Great Harbour, anchored in Great Harbour, lunch at Foxy’s Tamarind and saw Taboo the dog again, waiter confirmed that he regularly walks between the two places, what a dog! Good lunch but no Foxy, checked to make sure our Canadian flag was still on the ceiling, added new notes on the woodwork, grabbed a taxi to White Bay and meant to go from Soggy Dollar to Ivans, but never strayed too far from Soggy Dollar, you guys told us that would happen! Checked out Seddy’s and his wife Raquelle was very helpful calling Corsairs for us to make dinner reservations as we’d forgotten to do that while in Great Harbour, later saw Raquelle and kids at Corsairs, we covered the kids in Canadian flag stickers while they smiled with delight, lovely shops on White Bay, we’ll be back again, hopefully we'll make it all the way to Ivans. Corsairs for dinner, jerk Creole chicken wings and everything else on the menu are to die for!

Friday-made CGB at 11:00am, got last 2 balls, planned to do a beach tour but as island time gets a hold, that plan was ditched, ended up going ashore to email kids again, had great hamburger at Stanleys, bought some souveniers, Music Fest sound stage being set up, bands started, we started dancing, next thing you know – it’s dark! Had best ribs and beef patties ever, the CGB Baptist Church kiosk rocks! Another kiosk kept making pitchers of pina coladas for me so I could just go back whenever I was empty and refill! Souvenier kiosks up and down the beach for shopping between bands and food and drinks, the emcee (I think it was Frank Mahoney) made certain all night long that Canada was still in d’ house, we did our country proud, some of us were hoarse by dawn, there were people from Germany and most of the Caribbean islands were represented, it was a powerful event, next year they should pass a hat through the audience for contributions to the music fest, I think we got back to the boat around 4am, bands kept playing till dawn, finally fell asleep then they started again at 7:30am, oh well, might as well get up and dance, the music’s great!

Saturday-some crew a little slow getting underway today, made our way around Steele Point to Norman, SFD channel was rougher than we’ve seen, stopped at Indians for a great snorkel around one of the pinnacles, grabbed one of many, many balls in the Bight, planned to hit the Willy T for a drink or two in the afternoon to show the newbies, we ended up jumping (yes, this non-swimmer is now the proud owner of a Willy T t-shirt and a chipped/cracked and loose tooth, but just another story, right!) stayed for dinner, whipped cream and kahlua body shots and many, many drinks, it was a little colourful when we arrived in the afternoon, even with my very open mind I was a little put off, but I knew they’d leave sooner or later and we were a party of 10 with the entire aft clearly defined as Canadian territory, we were checking visas before allowing visitors across our border, had a great time with the PR Navy, danced with their young kids, reminded us mommy’s on the trip of our kids back home, had engaging conversations the lasted far longer than they should have due to neither of us speaking the other’s language, all in all a great, wicked afternoon/evening!

Sunday- some of the crew were very slow getting going this day, and we only had to make it from Norman to Road Town, left at 8am and made Road Town by 10, one of our boats pulled into gas dock nearest to North South and the pump ran empty during the fill, our boat was directed to another gas dock some distance away (about 15-20 min) further into the marina, I guarantee our tanks were not full when we took the boat – another lesson, we’ll check next time before leaving, paid $4.10/gallon, finally docked the boats just after 11 – captain was not pleased with this delay, the bright light of our return was Andrew’s taxi already dockside waiting for us yet again to take us to the airport, this was the fastest ride we’ve ever had in a taxi in the BVIs, we made the airport with time to spare and got underway on time to SJU. Back to El Canario by the Lagoon and grabbed some cold beer for the fridge and snacks. Group split for dinner, some ordered in from a place on Ashford Avenue and raved about the quality and quantity of food, us other 4 went to Old SJU (love the place) where we had appetizers at Brick House (awesome wings and very strong drinks) and entrees at Sonne, awesome risotto, fettucine, beef medallions and red curry chicken with shanghi noodles, all very close to the Plaza Colon, easy walking in Old SJU but take a street map as it starts to all look the same after a while. Went to the Wyndam Hotel and Casino which is now the Sheraton and everyone at our black jack table of 6 was winning, our group of four walked away with net $600 total, and felt fairly proud of ourselves as I play blackjack like I swim!

Monday-one last quick trip to Old SJU for souveniers, great prices on gold, carved masks and kids things, back to the hotel, final packing and off to the airport for the uneventful trip home on USAirways via Philly to Buffalo.

Things we learned – We prefer the STT route to the SJU route, too long for us from Toronto area with too many connections and possibility of delay, we love SJU but it involved too many taxis from airport to hotel to where we wanted to eat and shop. Will try to get group on one boat next time or if we have more boats, it would probably work better for the groups to make their own travel arrangements as it will provide more flexibility for using airmiles or routing based on personal requirements. With 2 boats, there should be more flexibility on itinerary, it might work better if the boats travel separately and meet where agreed. Love Bobbys and Ticos but will put in separate orders for separate boats, we tried to change our plans late in the process and everything got confused – our fault, not Bobby’s. Still packed too much, planning on using smaller bag next time to limit myself, why do I continue to take so many clothes when the nature of our trip and the places we go in the BVIs just doesn’t warrant it?

Already planning for early April 2007, have the boat picked out, the itinerary (which we know is just a guideline) and the captain and his crew. Thanks again to the wonderful posters on TTOL for all the information and guidance you provide. Your ability to customize a friend’s trip is greatly appreciated. Thanks again.