Final installment. Remember , we are 3 couples staying at Island Horizons, and loving our trip. Weather has not been completely cooperative, but the front has moved on and Day 6 (Waterlemon) was just the most perfect day we could ask for. Here's the final 2 days on island.

Day 7 (Friday)
We decided to go to Jost Van Dyke for a day trip today. i know this is a USVI board, but allow me the quick diversion to describe this day. We left the villa early so we could get a parking spot along the road at the Dept. of Natural Resources road. Walked to the Cruz Bay Bakery and has some wonderful pastries for breakfast. The ferry was behind schedule, so they sent the Tortola passengers off on a different boat and we went directly to JVD to clear customs. Trip was quick, customs easy and we were soon at Ivan's Stress Free Bar and Campground. We just love Ivan's to get the day started. It is just beautiful with white sand, clear blue water, and everyone there is completely into doing absolutely nothing! We laid in the sun then cooled in the water until a little after 11am. I then introduced our "rookie couple" to the honor bar system. I made a round of Bananawackers for them and pulled an ice-cold Carib from the cooler for me. We then ordered our lunch from the grill. Took about a half-hour for the burgers (time - who cares about time?), and we all agreed that they were the best ever! The fact is they would have been crappy if served in Kentucky - but they were absolutely delicious on JVD (maybe the setting?).

Shortly after lunch we headed to the Soggy Dollar bar side of White Bay, hiking over the rocky trail that separates the 2 beaches. Soggy Dollar is just too busy for me. I go to JVD for the beauty and serenity and Soggy Dollar was extra busy today. We walked down the beach to Seddy's One Love to shop and have a drink. IT'S OFFICIAL: I have a new favorite Bushwacker site! Man-o-Man Seddy's wife made a blender full of Bushwackers and they were so tasty - strong - cold - flavorful. I could have just stayed there, but too many Bushwackers isn't good for me. We stayed till 2pm then took a taxi over to Foxy's. I'm not a big Foxy's fan for a daylight trip, but I wanted couple #3 to at least see it for reference.

Here are some other JVD photos:

Got back from JVD and went to Skinny Legs for dinner. Got there just in time as the band was playing (bluegrass with an island flair - is that possible?) and it filled up quickly. Had a great meal, good drinks, poor service, and left with no real desire to do it again - at least not on a Friday night.

Day 8 (Saturday)

Last day on STJ and were were hell-bent to have a great day at Cinnamon. The sun was out in full force, and so was the wind! Cinnamon tends to be more windy anyway, but it was really whipping around today. No fear - we just ignored it as best we could and enjoyed the sunshine and the water. Went snorkeling around the Cay in the morning, had a picnic lunch to finish-off the provisions we bought earlier in the week, then snorkeled all the way over to Little Cinnamon Beach in the afternoon. Wow! I had no idea that the snorkeling was that good over on the left side of the Bay. We spend probably 90 minutes snorkeling over, getting out on the beach and realizing that the water looked completely different from Little Cinnamon versus the bigger beach. We found the airplane engine/wing on the way back and just meandered our way back knowing this was our last chance to witness nature's underwater life. Here's a few photos of what we saw today.

This is the view from Little Cinnamon Beach

Today was Feb 14th and Valentine's Day, so we made reservations at Morgan's Mango for 7:30pm. We left Cinnamon, readied ourselves at the villa (only time I wore long pants all week) then went to Mongoose Junction for before-dinner shopping. We were seated just after 7:30 and we had a really great dinner. i had the Island Bowl seafood dish with large chunks of fish, large shrimp, and mussels all cooked in a tomato stock base. Very tasty and very filling. Key Lime Pie was served on an Oreo Cookie crust, but was still just "okay". Overall - it was an excellent dinner at one of our favorite places.

Departure Day (Sunday)
Performed our final villa clean-up duties and packed our bags for home. Left the villa at 10am and headed to the car ferry. Between the drive to Cruz Bay and the late start of the ferry, we didn't get to Red Hook until around 11:30. Drove to Havensight for shopping since our flights didn't depart until 5:20. Shopped awhile and got some pretty neat island/tropical stuff. We just built a new house with a swimming pool and needed some items to set around during the summer - got some good things on this trip - and cheap by my accounts. Had a really great lunch at Delly Deck. The frozen Raspberry drink was simply awesome. Food was all hot and fresh and delivered quickly. I'd definitely dine there again.

Got to the airport at 2:50 for our 5:20 flight. Really glad we got there early! The US AIR line was about 50 people deep and wasn't moving at all. I turned the Budget car information in while the others waited in the check-in line. We got to the front after 45 minutes and then stood there trying our best to check in for another 20 minutes! The ticket agent was a recent transfer from Continental and she had absolutely no idea how the US Air computer worked. Anyway - no problem because we cleared customs quickly and were sitting in the airport bar 60 minutes before departure. Normally - the airlines begin boarding 30 minutes before the flight is scheduled to depart, so I stayed with our carry-on stuff while the others went to the bookstore to look around. They came back with 40 minutes left before scheduled departure and asked me where all the passengers went! I couldn't see anything from inside the bar/restaurant area so I peeked out and sure enough NOBODY was in the terminal. I asked the ticket guy what was going on and he told me to hurry up because they want to leave early. Wow! i never expected that. Got on the plane (obviously the last ones on) and everything was smooth going home from there.

Well - that's it. It's all done. Kind of sad for me because this puts a sort of "finality" to this trip. Oh well - guess I'll have to start daydreaming about next year!

Hope you enjoyed at least some of it!