Well, just got back from 8 glorious days in the VI on Sat.(9-11). The trip really began a week before we left because we were so busy checking on Hurricane Frances progress. You see, we decided to roll the dice and not take out the trip insurance. We looked into it and had decided it really wasn't worth it for the cost. We had frequent flyer miles, so of course that played into our decision! The only problem we had was that they cancelled flights out of Miami and that's where we were stopping on our way to STT from St. Louis. We were leaving on Fri. the 3rd, and on Wed. American Airlines lifted their penalty for changing your flight, so we immediately changed our plans. We went thru Dallas to San Juan to St. Thomas. Left at the same time and got there 2 hrs. later than originally scheduled, but in the scheme of things, not bad.

Met at the airport by our representative from McLaughlin Anderson because we were renting a villa in Peterborg East, Villa Allure. Glad they were there to escort us, because even though we had been to St. Thomas 2 times in the previous year, we would never have been able to find it in the dark! The villa was absolutely gorgeous and it has spoiled us forever. Since there were 4 people on this trip, we went the villa route instead of the condo route(previous stays Sapphire and condos at Bolongo). Would do it again in a heartbeat, but I think we would only do it if we had at least 4 people to justify the cost.

Since we had the gas grill at the villa, we brought frozen meats with us and supplemented with fresh produce and lunch meats and cereal. Ate out some lunches and dinners, but had our best meal at Sibs. Of course being up by St. Thomas Dairy had its' advantages, that being their delicious "adult milkshakes"!!

Went to St. John for 2 days and snorkeled Cinnamon Bay, Trunk Bay, Francis Bay and Waterlemon Cay! Disappointed in Trunk, but loved Francis and Waterlemon. Saw turtles, stingrays, barracuda,starfish, and many beautiful fish and coral!

Took a trip to the British Virgin islands on New Horizons II. It was the highlight of our trip. We had been on a previous trip to BVI and by far enjoyed this trip better. Guana Island was another great place to snorkel and we liked swimming into the Baths at Virgin Gorda instead of walking in. Great day!!

Had only about 15 min. of rain the entire time there, but one of the days, I believe Sun., we were told that there was a tremendous amount of rain on St. Thomas. However we were on St. John and the sun shone all day. Lucky us!!

I wrote this report because I have been reading this board for about 6months and I've learned much about the islands from it. Have even posted and answered a question or two. I have enjoyed reading other people's reports and hope someone enjoys this one as well. In closing, all the people we met and who waited on us ,or who just answered our questions while on island, were EXTREMELY FRIENDLY!!!!! I have read other reports to the contrary, but I just have to disagree about the attitude of the people. We can all have a bad day, but I have to say that on a whole, eveybody we talked to were extremely patient and gracious.