Long time reader, first time trip reporter. I have wanted to write a trip report in the past, but never really got around to it, so here it goes. I apologize in advance for the length. If you don’t want to read about the planning issues that we had, please skip ahead to the day by day breakdown below.

My wife and I had been to the BVI three times prior to this trip. Two of the trips were bareboating with friends and one trip was land based. We knew that we wanted to bring our kids (Ages 6, 8 & 10) down at some point, but it never really fit into our trip plans. My goal is to get them on a boat at some point, but we thought a land based trip would work out better for a first trip. One night in 2014 while we were at a friend’s house, the topic of the BVI came up and I quickly penciled out some numbers for a land based trip and everyone agree that it would be fun. The plan was to rent a house in the North Sound for the 10 of us (Four adults and six kids ages 6 to 12) to use as a base for a week long vacation.

So the overall plan was in place, the only thing left was for me to work out all of the details and start making reservations. During our first bareboat trip in 2011, I fell in love with Leverick Bay and the people that work there. In July of 2014, I contacted the ladies at Leverick and inquired about a number of the villas that the have. I wanted to stay in the North Sound area, so we decided on the Anniversary House . At the same time as the villa reservation, the ladies reserved a mini safari from L&S for us for the week.

Fast forward to January 2015 and it’s time to start looking at flights. My travel agent informed me that with 10 people, we could do a group reservation. I had never done this, but it seemed like a good thing. All I had to do was put a $100 per person deposit down for each ticket and the seats would be held at the current price, with balance due shortly before the actual departure date. So $1000 later to US Air, the tickets were reserved. We booked flights from IND to STT through CLT. Flight times were perfect, 7:00 am out of IND, arriving STT at 2:30. This left an hour and a half of wiggle room for Kevin to get us to the ferry dock to catch the 4:00 Speedy’s ferry directly to VG.

I knew that the kids would love to go to Necker Island and see the animals, so I contacted Gumption to see about scheduling a tour. I knew that they couldn’t get the dates that far out, but I wanted to see if they would pencil me in incase the dates became available. If a Necker tour wasn’t available, I still wanted the kids to go on a reef tour.

Skip ahead to July. One Saturday I take a look at my credit card statement and see a $1000 credit on my account from US Air. The only thing I have ever paid US Air in the past year was the deposit for our BVI flights. While trying not to panic, I sent an email to my travel agent to see if she new of why I would be getting a refund. Of course, my mind starts thinking that they have cancelled the reservation and were refunding my deposit. My travel agent is a family friend and I have known her my whole life. I don’t want to bother her any more than necessary, so I called US Air on Monday morning. After talking with them, we find out that because of the US Air/American merger, they transferred the group reservation from US Air to American. American’s policy on groups was to not require a deposit for groups booked through a travel agent, so they refunded my deposit. Crisis averted, for now.

It’s now September and I find out that my mother-in-law wants to go with us. No problem, right? That’s what I though, but I was wrong. First came the arrangements. We now had too many for the house. So a call to Leverick and a room at the hotel was reserved. This ended up working out well in the end. Next came the flight. The best I could do was to get a flight with the group going down, but through MIA on the way back. I find out that this is a deal breaker because whe doesn’t want to fly alone. At this point, our kids think it's great that Grammy is going on vacation with them, and I’m not going to be the one to tell them that she isn’t. We hadn’t ticketed our group reservation yet and one benefit of the group reservation is that you don’t have to give them names of the passengers until you go to actually ticket the reservations. Good deal, I’ll put my mother-in-law’s name with the group and I’ll fly down with them, get them on the flight out of STT on the way back and meet them in IND. At this point, if you can’t tell, I’m a little anal about making arrangements. The wife of the other couple going with us is the same way, plus she has a thing about flying, she doesn’t like it. This fear of flying is to the point that she takes prescription medication to get her through it. She and I are usually the ones that take care of all of the arrangements when we do things together as our spouses are more the let the cards fall as they may type. I confirm with her that she will be ok with me flying back on different flights and she is. So, mother-in-law now going with us.

Next speed bump in my plans is in October when I find out that Gumption’s boat was damaged in a storm. I reach out to Gumption and we make some plans to see if he can still figure out a way to get us to Necker. We come up with a tentative plan, as long as his boat can get repaired.

We are a week out from the trip and I stop by my travel agent’s to say hi and she prints off some of the ticketing information. I take a look at it and realize that only half of the group’s names are on it. We start checking and after spending an hour on the phone with American, the only thing they can tell us is that some of the names must have got “lost” when going through the seat assignment process. The names that got lost were the entire other family that was going with us. American tells us that they have tickets, just not seats. At this time, we also realize that American switched the routing of the group when they migrated the reservations over from US Air. The group is now flying IND-PHL-STT. Why can’t this just be easy? After I break the news to the other wife, I start working on getting seat assignments. By the time I am done, we are only missing 5 seat assignments out of the 44 flight segments that we have. I also know that there is one seat on the PHL-STT flight, but American won’t let me change my flight. They say you can try at the airport if it is still available.

We only live an hour from the Indy airport, but whenever we are going to be gone a week or more, we go up the night before and stay by the airport. The hotel lets us park for free and provides a free shuttle service. In the end, it works out about the same money wise and lets us get some additional sleep and free breakfast the morning of our flights. At check in, the desk informs us that we have too many in our party for on shuttle, so we will have to break into two groups. No problem, I’ll go first and check on switching my flight and start getting everyone else checked in.

Saturday

We wake up the next morning to find out that the shuttle driver got pulled over on the way back from the airport for not having any tail lights and the officer realized that driver didn’t have the right license to be driving the shuttle. The officer informed the driver that he should park the shuttle and would arrest him if he saw him driving again. I think this was a little too much for the hotel desk attendant to take on her second night of working and she seemed a little stressed. A few minutes later we had it worked out to take taxis and a Montero that they were using a shuttle and we were off to the airport. They even reimbursed us for the taxi cost!

At the airport, I was able to get my flights switched after I explained my story to the gate agent. The rest of our group arrived at the airport and off through security we went. Our flight left on time and we arrived in PHL without incident. As soon as I turned on my phone in PHL, I had a text from Kevin checking on us. Text him back that we were on time and I would advise if anything changed. I guess I spoke too soon. We arrived in PHL on the B concourse and had a short layover. My mother-in-law has had both knees replaced so we arranged for wheelchair assistance. This was a good thing as our flight to STT was leaving gate A23, which is at the end of A-West, which was a good walk from our arrival gate. When we arrived at A23, we realize that things are not looking good for an ontime departure. A few minutes later, there was a bad news, good news, bad news announcement. Bad news, the plane schedule for our flight had mechanical issues. Good news, they have another plane on the ground that was available. Bad news, it's at gate A6 in the A-East terminal. In what I can only describe as a flamingo mating dance (See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW8GX2n4qbY), all of the passengers migrated the 0.5 mile trek to the new gate. Once we arrived at the gate, I started doing the what time is it, what is the flight time, what is the time change, what is the ferry time calculations in my head to see how much the delay is going to impact our scheduled arrival and chances of making the last direct ferry to VG. At this point, we were still ok. We were still ok after boarding the plane. When they told us that, while doing their pre-flight, that the pilots found something in a tire and we would have to get it changed, I was beginning to worry. At one point, I seriously considered offering to help change the tire. I really wish I could tell you that we felt the airplane getting jacked up and we were all leaning to one side while they were changing the tire, but we couldn’t. But the pilots finally said they had the tire changed, but catering hadn’t made it over yet. This confused me, because while we had a 0.5 mile trek on foot, we could see the first plane still sitting at A23 and it was ony a 0.2 mile straight line between the two aircraft. I guess they got lost. Needless to say, at this point, making the ferry wasn’t looking good. While I had backup plans, none of them were appealing. I sent Kevin a text when we pushed back and told him it would be tight.

As soon as we touched down, I text Kevin to let him know we landed. Knowing that we could be facing something like this, we did not have any checked bags. I know that Kevin must have used up most of the favors he was owed, but we made the ferry. I don’t know how he pulled it off, and if anyone on this board was on that ferry, I apologize, as we were the group that made you wait. I was talking to the ferry captain and one of the crew and they knew what we would have not had any good choices if we missed that boat and I think that helped. As always, Speedy’s ferry service was great. I don’t know why, but I always want to ride outside on the ferry when we are leaving STT. I think it helps relax me, but that day was especially relaxing after getting all 11 of us down there and on our way to VG.

This was the first time that we had checked in at anywhere other than the West End. Talk about easy. I was actually joking with the staff about the differences and they just smiled knowingly. Leon with L&S was outside waiting for us with the mini-safari. It was the first time I used L&S and I have nothing but good things to say about them. I knew where our house was, so Leon asked if I would lead another one of his customers to the North Sound since their house was right across the road from ours. No problem, mon!! I didn’t want to make anyone stay late from Leverick, so we agreed that they would just leave the house and hotel room unlocked and we would take care of the paperwork the next morning. Well, since our neighbors hadn’t been there before, Letica, from Leverick Bay, was there to meet them and it was nice to finally put a face to the name. While I wasn't expecting it, Letica had opened the house up and had the lights on for us. I had seen pictures up until this point, but hadn’t fully appreciated the Anniversary House. It was beautiful.







We had had a long day of travel and it was nice to finally relax. Everyone chose bedrooms for the week and put their stuff up. The kids got their suits on and a couple of us went down and brought back pizzas from The Cove at Leverick and had drinks at Jumbies while we waited. It felt great to be back at Leverick Bay!!

Sunday

Sunday morning we woke up to our first daylight view of the house and the spectacular views that it offered of the North Sound. The Anniversary House is actually three separate buildings. The main building offers a wonderful kitchen, dining area, living area, full bathroom and wrap around veranda with outdoor seating and grill. There are two other buildings that each include two separate bedrooms, each with their own full bath. The living area, veranda and pool areas offered views of Leverick Bay, Mosquito, Anegada and Prickly Pear, while the decks from the sleeping areas offer views of Gun Creek to Prickly Pear.





While waiting for everyone to wake up, I went down to the Chef’s Pantry and picked up stuff for breakfast. We ate and then relaxed a little while the kids played in the pool. We then decided to head to the Baths. On the way, we stopped and made dinner reservations at Hog Heaven. I was worried about potential cruise ship people, since there were a couple of boats in that day, but there was hardly anyone there. My wife and mother-in-law went straight to Devil’s Bay, while I took the rest of the group through the Bath’s and met them there. There were red flags up, so I was very cautious about getting the kids in the water, but we had fun.



My 10 year old was a little upset that her sister and brother were allowed to get on her rock. While we were swimming, I had the pleasure of watching a cat try to tie up to the dingy line. It took them a few minutes before they moved back to a mooring ball. After we swam for a while, we made the trip back to the top via the trail. I was in front of the group leading the way while my wife and mother-in-law were bringing up the rear. This was a good thing as I ran across a snake on the trail. Nothing big or dangerous, but my wife hates snakes!! After the kids told her about it, she said that the BVI’s were ruined for her. She didn’t think there were any snakes on the island. I tried to play it off that it was just the tail of a big lizard, but I don’t think she bought it. We had drinks at Mad Dog’s and Edith was great as usual.

We stopped by Bucks at the yacht harbor and picked up a few provisions for the house on the way back. We cleaned up and headed to Hog Heaven in time for sunset and dinner.

Monday

Before we booked the Anniversary House, we looked at Euphoria . Turns out that the owner (mdoyle9999 on TTOL) likes to be down during Thanksgiving. He did extend an invitation to come down and meet him while taking a look at his house. I contacted him and he said to come on down. As others have said here before, Euphoria is a beautiful house. It’s definitely on the list for a future trip.

We left the kids swimming at the house with my mother-in-law while the adults went in to RTW and Bucks for some more provisioning. I had been in touch with Gumption before we left and he was able to get us scheduled on a Necker trip for today. Before we left, the condition of his boat was still touch and go. Progress was being made, but it didn’t look like it would be done. We stayed in contact and while his glass bottom boat wasn’t going to be finished, he did manage to find an alternate boat to get us to Necker for a Nature Tour. He really went above and beyond what I thought was required to make a tour happen for us. The kids loved the tour and it was worth all of the work to make it happen.







After our tour, we came back and fixed dinner for the kids before leaving them with my mother-in-law before the adults headed to Coco Maya for dinner. Dinner was great as usual and after dinner drinks on the beach at Jumbies bar at Leverick capped off a great day.

Tuesday

We had a lazy morning around the house including a late breakfast. Everyone was lounging around and relaxing after breakfast. We decided to hit a beach and headed down to Savannah Bay for some swimming and shell hunting. There were not that many people on the beach with us that day. After playing at the beach, we spent the afternoon at Leverick, playing around the pool and beach. I took one of our friends over to the dock wanting to show him a Moorings 4600, which is the boats we have chartered twice during previous trips. We were able to find one that just came in from the mooring field to top up on water. My friend was impressed with the spaciousness of the boat. I think it wouldn’t be hard to talk them into a sailing trip in the future. I should note that I am always amazed at watching the dock guys work at Leverick. They are great guys and can make any captain look like a docking professional if they listen to their instructions.

We didn’t have any plans for dinner and asked around for suggestions. The Rock Cafe was the near unanimous recommendation. We had never been there before and decided to try it out. We were not disappointed. I didn’t know what to expect as we were lead through the piano bar, but as we were lead to the back patio, the atmosphere was amazing. It was almost like having a candlelight dinner at the Baths. I didn’t get any pictures of the dining area, but you can see them on their website. They even had a great menu for the kids.



Wednesday

We had a big day planned for Wednesday, so we were up early to catch a ferry to Beef Island. But it was a beautiful morning.

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Today was the day to visit Tortola and take in a Full Moon Party at Trellis. I had arranged a couple of vehicles with Deadman and they were waiting at Trellis bay for us upon our arrival. While I was taking care of the rental paperwork, the rest of the group went to D’ Best Cup for breakfast. While we were waiting for breakfast, the kids explored Trellis Bay and found the cargo net at Aragorn’s. They loved it. I had checked the cruise ship schedule and today was a big day for cruise ships in Road Town. If it hadn’t been for the full moon party, I would have switched days for the group to explore Tortola. With that being said, the last thing I wanted to do was head to Roadtown. Well, the kids and wives wanted to get some souvenirs. I tried to explain that the shops around the ferry dock would be a mess but I was out voted, so off to Roadtown we went.

Honestly, for as many big ships that were in port, it wasn’t as bad as I expected. We spent some time shopping and I was finally able to drag everyone back to the vehicles. I had brought some things down for a friend, so we headed off to the West End to drop them off. We found our friend’s house to find that his brother had locked him in the house and he couldn’t get out. Why anyone would install a screen door that had a hook on the outside is beyond me, but we were able to free him and drop off some things we had brought down.

I had only been to Smuggler’s once and thought it would be a good place to spend some time until the cruise ship passengers left CGB and thought I remembered how to get there. After missing a turn and asking for directions, we finally made it. It was worth the effort.

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Nigel had a bar and grill set up which was a nice addition. We swam and drank for a couple of hours before we loaded up and headed to CGB for a late lunch. Luckily we arrived at CGB as the cruise ship day trippers we leaving. We had a great lunch at Tony’s while the kids played and a some of the adults napped on the beach.

It was time to leave CGB as I wanted to make sure we got back to Trellis during the daylight as I didn’t want the other driver to have to drive on Tortola after dark. It was his first time to the island and first time driving on the left. It did surprise me to see all of the road construction that was being done on the island. They even removed the boulder from the road. I had wanted to take them through Brewer’s but missed the turn and stayed on the ridge road. We did pass a cow walking down the middle of the road dragging a 30’ chain with a 30’ rope attached to the chain. Nothing surprises me anymore.

We got back to trellis and threw the keys under the floor mats of the rental vehicles and headed to Aragorn’s. It was a more subdued Full Moon Party than I have been to in the past, but it was still nice. It was strange seeing the Cyber Cafe closed up as this was the first party I have been to since Jeremy’s passing. I did get to have a good conversation with Aragorn as he took a break from working on a new ball.

Three of the girls wanted their hair braided and my son made a new friend with the son of the lady doing the braiding. They played all night. The kids had a great time and I wish we had been able to stay for the lighting of the balls in the water, but they weren’t planning on lighting them until 10 and it had been a long day. I don’t think that they would have made it to the 11:00 ferry.

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We caught the 9:00 ferry back to VG and relaxed at the house after a long, but fun, day.

Thursday

After a long day on Tortola, we all slept in and had a very lazy day around the house. We knew that it would be our last day to fix breakfast at the house as we were leaving the house early the next two days, so we fixed a big breakfast with most of our remaining food. We had Thanksgiving dinner reservations at the Leverick Upstairs Restaurant for dinner, so we wanted to stay around the North Sound this day. I finally got everyone motivated and we ventured down to the marina to rent some snorkeling gear for Friday from Dive BVI. They are remodeling the shops at Leverick, so they have a temporary shop setup on the dock.

I had called ahead and arranged for the Saba Rock ferry to pick us up. While we were waiting, we had to take the standard Leverick picture.

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On the way to Saba Rock’s dock, we passed Catatonic. I have always wanted to take a look at it thinking it would make a great boat for a first sailing trip for the kids. It did look beautiful. We made it to Saba rock and had drinks while the kids watched the tarpon and aquatic life in the aquarium. We had reservations back at Leverick, so we didn’t get a chance to stay for the tarpon feeding. I think the kids would have like that.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with most of the group having lobster and a few prime ribs. My son decided to keep it traditional and had the turkey. He was the only one. They had a musician in for after dinner and the kids had fun dragging mom and dad to the dance floor.

Friday

When we sailed during our first trip, we were fortunate enough to make it up to Anegada for a couple days. I loved it and have been wanting to make it back ever since that first trip. So, we all got up early and made it to the ferry dock for the 7:30ish ferry. Roadtown Fast Ferry was running the route this week and with the amount of people and supplies heading to Anegada for the Lobsterfest, they didn’t leave Roadtown ontime. We finally left the dock and made the trip to Anegada. I had arranged a mini safari through the Anegada Reef Hotel and we were able to get that squared away upon arrival. I my plan was to head straight to Flash of Beauty to get in some snorkeling before heading to the Wonky Dog for lunch, but everyone was hungry, so off to the Wonky Dog for breakfast. I walked around back and ran into Peter who informed me that he wasn’t starting the breakfast and lunch hours until 12/1. Bummer as I was wanted to experience all of the great things I have read about his restaurant. He did let me know that Neptunes was open for breakfast, so we headed over there.

After breakfast, we headed up to Flash of Beauty for some snorkeling. That wasn’t going to happen today. There were probably 4 to 6 foot waves crashing at shore and a very strong current running parallel to shore. We were able to get in for a little, but we didn’t stay long. We walked down the beach and looked at Loblolly, but the conditions weren’t any better there. So off to Cow Wreck we went. We had planned on going there anyway, we just went sooner than expected.

It was great to see Belle and met Ann. They were both great. The water was a little calmer here, so we drank, swam and lounged away the afternoon. It was beautiful as usual and the conch fritters were better than I remembered. I forgot how much I missed this place.

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After a few hours of limin’ we had to say goodbye to Belle and Ann as it was time to head back and catch the ferry. The ferry was late, so the kids went to the gift shop as we killed some time at the Anegada Reef Hotel with drinks.

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The ferry ride back was uneventful and we watched the end of Avatar on the boat. The kids like that and it helped pass the time. We got back to the house in time to clean up and head down for the Jumbies BBQ at Leverick. We had never been to one, so I didn’t want to miss this chance. We have heard great things about it and it didn’t disappoint. The food was great and the party was a fun way to end the trip.

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The BBQ was a great way to end the trip. I highly recommend it to anyone that hasn’t had a chance to attend one. We said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back up to the house for our last night. We had an early morning ahead of us, so we all got packed up. One of my daughters and son wanted to take one last swim in the pool. Swim or pack, that was a hard decision. At some point during the week, my six year old son came up to the adults sitting on the veranda and asked if our camera would be ok if it were to go underwater. My first question was asking if it had already been underwater. He said yes. Good thing it is waterproof. We finally called it a night and went to bed.

Saturday

Saturday morning came early, especially after a big day before. The remnants of an overnight storm was finishing up and we woke to find the power was out. Luckily, everyone had showered the night before. I had a couple of things to return to the marina and need to pick up my mother-in-law from the hotel before our departure, so I headed down the hill one last time to the marina. I was able to find Letica and she offered to take care of returning our snorkel gear to Dive BVI and a life jacket we rented from B&B. I took one last stroll down the dock and it was very quiet. It was nice. I passed Catatonic in a slip and would have loved to get a closer look, but it was early and no one was stirring.

We headed back up to the house to pick up the rest of the group and head out to catch the direct ferry back to STT. The ferry trip back was quiet as most were still tired from the previous days activities. I text Kevin as we were leaving the dock and he said he would meet us at CA. We had a little time to kill and I thought about an early lunch near the ferry dock but opted to go straight to the airport to check in and see if there was any way I could switch my flight to go back with our group.

No luck switching my flight as the gate agent didn’t seem to be in a helpful mood. We made it through security quickly. I’m glad we skipped lunch, because security quickly became a madhouse and the lines were backed out to the check in area.

I got the group off to CLT and waited for my MIA flight. As I arrived in MIA, I received four email saying that my MIA-IND flight was delayed due to a delayed flight coming in from Nassau. At this point, it was a small delay. That changed quickly. I touched base the rest of my group in CLT and their connection was still on time. I went down to my gate to check on the status and it was a mad house down there (American Express). I waited in line and asked if the plane they were using for the Indy flight was at least on its way to MIA. They just laughed and pointed out the door and said the plane was here. It hadn’t even left to go to Nassau yet, much less be on its way back. Seeing this wasn’t going well, I went up stairs to look at options. I found a flight going to Louisville that would work and it was on time. After some asking around, I was finally told there was an AA rebooking desk in the terminal and I made my way there. They weren’t much help. I was basically stuck between AA and American Express, with both saying the other had to help me. I ended up grabbing dinner and hoped that some time would allow the gate chaos to calm down. It did. I went back down the and the supervisor told me that they couldn’t switch my flight, but he gave me a number to try. We confirmed that there was space on the flight and I made the call. The lady on the phone was very helpful and we got me switched from the Indy flight to Louisville. I went back to the gate to get a boarding pass. I joked with the agent and asked if they put me in first class. They didn’t, but she said that there were empty seats but she couldn’t upgrade me. She said a supervisor could and she called one over. We had a great conversation and I said I was having a bad day. He said he was too. We made a bet and if I was having a worse day than him, I would get upgraded. We both told our stories and he won. Coach for me!

The gate agent did tell me that I could always ask the flight attendants when I got on the flight. I waited until the end of the line to board and when I got on board, I told the flight attendant that I was having a bad day and would love to just sit here in first class. He laughed and sent me toward my seat. When I got to my assigned seat, I see that there is a child sitting in it next to what looks like another small family member. I had passed a couple of open rows on the way to my seat and walked to the back of the plane to ask the other flight attendant is I could just sit in any open seat. She wasn’t having it. At this point, I just wanted to get home. She took me back up there and asked to see the ticket of the kid sitting in my assigned seat. At this point, his mother said he was seated alone somewhere else in the plane and just wanted to sit next to his brother. Again, I point out that I can just go sit in one of the empty rows a few seats in front of us. Again, she isn’t interested in my thoughts. I finally ask the kids mother where his seat was and that I would sit there. Again, at this point, I just want to get home. The flight attendant seems ok with this arrangement and I find the kids seat. Of course it's a window seat on a CRJ (2+2) and I’m not a small person. The gentleman sitting in the aisle seat isn’t below average either, but we manage to make it work.

A few more people board the plane and I look up to see the first flight attendant get my attention and motions for me to come back up front. I get up there and see the gate agent that I had been talking to with the flight attendant. They are both smiling and he asks me if I have any bags. I do and he says go get them. He proceeds to seat me in first class! I have never flown first class and while even on a small CRJ, it was extremely nice. Plenty of room and they even use real glass cups for your drinks. I can honestly say that this leg of the journey was probably the most relaxing flight that I had ever had. I made it to Louisville on time and was picked up by one of our group members and we were home at midnight.

Conclusion

Looking back on it, we did a lot this week. But, I’m glad the kids were able to see all of the sights that we were able to take in while still having a relaxing week. There were some other things that I would have like to see or do, but I guess that’s what we will plan for the next trip.

That’s one of the things that I love about the BVI’s, we have four trips under our belts and every trip has been unique. I can’t help but think that or future trips will continue to be unique as well.

I can’t say enough good things about all of the fine people at Leverick Bay. Nick has a great crew there and they will always go out of their way to help with anything that you need. I know that I have told him thanks before, but I need to say it again. The house was beautiful and worked well for our group. Is it bad I was looking at flights for February on the way home? I have had DIF since our first trip and it's getting worse!!

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Outstanding trip report. Thanks so much for the effort. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cool.gif" alt="" />

Beautiful report!!! Thanks so much!!

OMG I was exhausted reading your first few paragraphs but soon took a deep breath and relaxed as you arrived at VG. ...but the getting there is part of the fun right...if it was easy everyone would go and lord knows we don't want that.!!

Sounds like tour villa worked out well.....yes the Leverick staff ( I consider them my BVI family) are incredible. ...

Sure sounds like you packed a ton of fun in this vacation.....your kids don't realize how lucky they are. ...we are bringing our girls ( now 26 and 24 ) in May for their second time.....only found BVI paradise in 2010....

Disney and all inclusive Caribbean concrete jungles before that...what heck were we thinking??? So glad Ward picked up that sailing magazine and we took a sailing course and bought into Reef Song..

THANK YOU so much for this awesome report ...Missing my BVI very much these days and needed a remedy for my very contagious fever....

....booking flights for Feb eh? Seems as if you have been afflicted as well <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Great trip report, I loved it. Trips with kids are fun!

Cheers, RickG

What a great trip report.....what a great trip! Thanks for sharing!

NIce trip report - we'll be down there in two days.

Thanks so much for the great report! Be there in under two months now. Cannot wait!

Great report and photos!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Thank you all for the kind words. As I reread the report, there are so many things that I now realize that I left out. I only hope that our kids grow up to appreciate trips like this and see that the things they are experiencing are unlike the things their friends at home experience.

One thing I forgot to mention is my oldest daughter is now addicted to Ting. I'm afraid I'm going to have to find a local source.

Great report! I'm sure your kids will remember such a special trip.
If you find the Ting let me know - we discovered it's a great mixer with vodka <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

How much do you charge to follow us around and write our trip reports? Great one!! Oh, I also have a thing for Ting.

Thank you sir, that means a lot after reading your trip reports!!!

Charge would be minimal, flights, food and drink. I will probably want to upgrade cameras and of course you would need to provide a DJI Phantom from DSLR Pro for a truly unique report!!

Love your report! If you need an a daughter? Just saying.

Great trip report. I don't post often but read regularly. Ironically, I had just sent a request for information on anniversary house minutes before I started reading your trip report. We too are bringing our kids to the BVIs for the first time this summer. We had a crewed charter all set to go when our other couple had to back out. We haven't done a land only in years. Your trip report almost convinced me that we will have a great time whether we are on land or on the water. Any additional feedback on the villa would be great. (pm me if you have time)

Anything you need to know Nadine about any of our houses here at Leverick Bay or Mahoe Bay, I would be pleased to help.

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It was great to meet you all - a very friendly crew. Glad to hear you had such a great trip.