Hi gang. Sorry about the delay. Work is crazy and we just downloaded pics from the camera last night.

Here we go......I am going to keep the parts coming....

Trip Report – St Thomas 6/26 – 7/7.

Background: This is the trip that almost wasn’t. I am the usuall planner for everyone's visit and I really thought we should have skipped this summer’s visit…only because we’ve been traveling so much to other places and I felt tight on money and vacation time from work. But, my family kept asking and pressing….so I knew they really wanted to go. I’m such a sucker...and now I am so glad we went!

Cast in this caper:
Me: Mom of 2 (one age 9, the other age 20)…divorced, but seriously dating someone wonderful who has never been to the VI, but is a native of Jamaica who has been in the US for 30 years. I have logged dozens of VI visits and am now on a twice annual visiting schedule – February and sometime in the summer.

Geoff: My boyfriend of 4 months – and a good friend for the past 2.5 yrs. First-time VI visitor. Water-sports enthusiast – scuba diver, loves boating, loves island culture, really laid back guy.

Gabbi(s): My daughter is Gabbi, age 9. Geoff’s daughter is Gabbi, age 9. Same school, same class, good friends. That’s how Geoff and I met. Pretty cool, eh?

Chris: My son, age 20. college student who works summers as a personal trainer for Bally’s Fitness clubs. Total health enthusiast. He’s been to the VI dozens of time and knows STT like the back of his hand. Likes to hang out at Duffy’s, Caribbean Saloon, Ritz Carlton, Sapphire Beach. His challenge was to find a place to work out each day on vacation.

Son’s GF of almost 2 yrs (I won’t name her since I didn’t ask her if I could). This was her first visit to the VI. She’s a really sweet girl and we knew she would appreciate the beauty of the islands and the culture of the people.

Nana and Pop-Pop: My parents. TOTAL VI enthusiasts. I mean…really….crazy for the VI. They’re still there!! (in Tortola). They go for 2-3 weeks at a time. I guess this is where I got it from. These are the people who like to sit on the beach and look at the water for hours at a time. They love calypso music, local food, dancing, full moon parties. They have an entire room in their home dedicated to islands and decorated with treasures they’ve brought home. They support churches in the Grenadine islands and have made friends up and down the Caribbean chain….often traveling by mailboat and small hopper planes. Mom’s claim to fame is that she and dad can go for 3 weeks and pack everything into one 20” carry-on. Mom has a new hip and needs another one. She can’t walk well and got a kick out of being wheeled through the airport in a wheelchair (this was the first time she had to do that) on this last trip…and using her cell phone to call and tell her VI friends “I’m in a wheelchair going through the San Juan airport!! I told you nothing would keep me from the islands!” She said that when her health gets too bad to travel, she’ll just stay down there. I believe her!

Ok, so that’s us. Not everyone is traveling together. Only my kids, I and my son’s GF are going together. Others will rotate in and out. Mom and dad had a date with Bomba at the shack for the full moon on the 1st, so they left us for Tortola on the 30th. Geoff and his Gabbi were coming in on the 27th.

We rented villa Sail Away on the east end of St Thomas (very close to Red Hook) in a swank area called Estate Nazareth. The villa sits above the St Thomas Yacht Club and I am now told that it used to be owned by the Grande Dame of the Yacht Club. This was our second time renting this villa and we knew we’d love it – the beds are “to die for!” (yes, I am a stickler for nice bedding, as I’ve written before). The location is awesome…we could walk to three beaches and could also be in Red Hook in 3 minutes.
There’s no pool, but we loved walking to the beach (really close) and loved the villa’s amenities. The owner is sometimes on this forum (Lip) and is really great to do business with. The villa has 3 bedrooms plus a full downstairs apartment….3 baths…complete A/C…..really nice, new furniture.

Ok, so after major sticker shock on airfare prices, cashing in lots of FF miles, sending Lip a check for the villa, reserving a couple of cars via Hotwire, explaining to my mom and that my BF and I would not be sleeping together (yes, 40 yr olds still have to explain to mom) but my son and his GF probably would (gasp), we were all set.

It was all arranged in about 1 month. Everyone was soooooo psyched!