Sorry for the delay in this recap. I've been "paying the price" at work since taking the time off. In any event...

We did a mid-week trip to take advantage of an American Airlines fare sale Miami - STT for $79 roundtrip (plus taxes and fees). To accomplish that (we're in Lexington Kentucky) I cashed in Delta miles to get to Miami. Great news is that we went on the trip when we otherwise didn't plan to go this year (we promised our daughters a family cruise to expose them to the beauty of the islands); the bad news is the only way to make it happen created huge layovers, including an overnight in Miami on the way back home.

Tuesday
Up at 4am to catch the 6am flight out of Lexington. We packed light on clothes, allowing extra space for snorkel gear and a soft-sided cooler to be checked. Flights out of Lexington and Atlanta were easy. Delta has a baggage arrangement with American allowing our checked bags to be pushed all the way to STT without us having to claim and re-check in Miami. That was a real help. As I said above, in order to make the tickets work, we had a 6 hour layover in Miami. I went ahead and rented a car from Enterprise ($40) and drove to South Beach for lunch, a walk on the beach, and to kill some time. Lunch was good, but the fringe of Tropical Storm Noel was beginning to arrive in Miami. No rain, but the beach wind was terrible. We stuck it out for a few minutes, walked around some of the shops along Ocean Drive then headed back to the airport. Miami flight was on-time and we arrived in STT without a hitch. Got the Tauras from Budget and it was a continuous dent, ding, and scratch from front to back. My history with Budget has been a nice car then a junker alternating yearly. Oh well - it ran fine - just looked terrible. Documented the condition of the car and headed off to The Greenhouse for a quick bite to eat before checking in at the Mafolie for a couple of nights. Got to the Greenhouse just as "happy hour" started again so got the 2 for 1 drink specials and split the Fish Sandwich. Tired from a very long day to just unpacked and slept soundly.

Wednesday
We love Magans Bay. I don't care how "touristy" it is or how crowded it gets. It's just our traditional perfect start to our relaxing vacation. A couple of lounge chairs down the left side (away from the taxi stand and past the restrooms) and we dig into our little piece of heaven. We spent the day there alternating between enjoying the deep heating sun, the clear refreshing water of the bay, and the cool tropical drinks from the bar! I started "Bermuda Schwartz" by Bob Morris. Bob writes his action/mystery books around the tropics (Jamaica, Burmuda, Bahamas) and is a real "guy's" set of books. I highly recommend as reading for guys looking for an easy, intruiging read while on the beach. Anyway - lots of laziness at the beach followed by dinner in Frenchtown. Sat out on the balcony at the Mafolie hotel for a few minutes before retiring for the night.

Thursday
Checked out of the hotel and took the car ferry over to STJ. Car ferry was easy - though we just missed one and had to wait awhile for the next one. We booked a condo at Cruz Bay Villas. It's a very quaint, somewhat dated, but very economical way of spending some time on STJ. It was perfect for this trip as we decided early-on that this would be a more "economical" vacation (since we're crusing with my parents and daughters in January). We dropped our luggage at the condo, packed the cooler with a couple sandwiches and beers, and headed to Trunk. You'll find the common theme of the next few days to be as follows: "Hit the beach, alternated between sun and water, read a little, talked a little, and just took in the beauty of the islands". That was our mission and we accomplished it in fine style! We cooked-in the condo this night then went to Morgan's Mango for after dinner drinks.

Friday
Breakfast at the condo, packed a lunch and drinks and off to Cinnamon for the day. This is my wife's favorite beach. Did a whole lot of nothing again today! Did take a walk down the beach and wife noticed a couple of topless sunbathers (of course, she had to point them out to me since I only have eyes for her!). Got back to the condo in time to share a glass of wine and watch the sun fade over St. Thomas. Cooked steaks for dinner, watched a little television and retired early.

Saturday
Off to Waterlemon Cay for the day. This is our favorite snorkel day. It's a pretty long hike - especially when you're carrying a cooler of sandwiches/drinks, snorkel gear, and beach chairs. To make it worse, we got half-way there and I realized that I left my sunglasses on the hood of the car! So - back to the car - back to the half-way point - then all the way to the beach. No doubt it's worth it. It was pretty quiet with only a dozen or so people arriving throughout the day. Snorkeling was productive with us seeing zillions of fish, a sea turtle, several different stingrays (one big spotted one and a couple solid gray ones), starfish, a school of squid, big conch shells, and the usual variety of coral. We probably snorkeled for 2 hours total throughout the day. Stopped for a quick look at Cinnamon again then back to clean up. Went to Mongoose Junction for shopping then thought we'd catch dinner. There was a wedding celebration happening and they really did it up. Had Carnival characters greeting the guests as they arrived, a live band playing in the gathering area, and Morgan's Mango reserved for the night. That bride and groom had a very special day! We dined at Margarita Phil's and it was good. Shared a HUGE margarita and I had the Shrimp and Crab Enchillada. Tasty!

Sunday
Same old story - breakfast at the condo; pack a cooler; go to the beach! Today was Hawksnest. We don't often go here, but since we had so many consecutive days on STJ (we normally go to JVD on the weekend ferry) we gave Hawksnest a visit. It really is a pretty beach. A family reunion was occurring just down from us and they were having a great time - lots of hugs, kid's playing soccer on the beach, and just a really great feeling around it. We left at lunchtime and headed to Woody's. Love the fresh fish sandwich and Bushwacker! After lunch, we went back to Trunk for the afternoon for our routine of sun, water, and lot's of nothing else. I'm not normally such a sloth, but my annual island visit allows me to just relax. I guess that's why I so long for a return trip. Too busy at home! Made dinner at the condo then headed back to Morgan's Mango for dessert and after-dinner drinks.

Monday
Awhile back I accepted an invitation from another member to join their 2 couples in a chartered powerboat trip. We met Connie, Jim, Bob, and Cathy at the National Park docks for our day on Lion in da' Sun with Josh. We've never done the private charter before, so we were thrilled to be able to do it on this trip. It's just too expensive for us to do alone, so we were thrilled to join these other fun couples for the day. The other couples had not been to the area before, so it was great to see it again for the first time through their eyes. Josh was awesome! He took us for a brief tour through some of the noteworthy places on STJ (stopping at Peter Bay to see the beautiful homes there) then headed to Tortola for customs. The winds were cooperating today and he was able to anchor at Great Thatch for some snorkeling. WOW! This is an area that gets very little traffic. As such, the coral is really undesturbed. It was breathtaking. The colors and "completeness" of the coral is unlike what you see at the normal snorkel stops. The fish were really colorful and abundant, but it's the coral that stuck out in my mind as the great differentiator between here and other areas. Then - we went off to Smuggler's Cove for a little beach time. The water there is just beautiful. This is the spot where the "beach bar" is run off of a car battery! It was pretty early so we didn't sample, and the mosquitos and noseeums were aweful so be swam a bit then headed back out on the boat. Went to Sandy Spit next. It's really neat. Just a very small little patch of paradise sticking up in the ocean. We swam in and walked around a bit. Off for lunch at Foxy's Taboo on JVD. Lunch was really great. Wife had the burger and really enjoyed it. I had the fresh fish sandwich (today was Marlin) and it was tremendous. A couple of Painkillers with luch and we were off to White Bay for an hour or so. Visited Soggy Dollar then hiked over to Ivans for a few minutes. Our new friends really liked seeing Ivan there and stopped all along White Bay to visit the beach bars and shops. It was really cloudy that afternoon and while it was still great, the beauty of White Bay couldn't be realized. Josh took us over to Foxy's where we had a while to look around, shop, and sample a "firewater rum" drink. Foxy was there with is infectuous smile and our new friends got a photo with him. The day ended with Josh giving us another (in a string of) story made up of part history part humor. If you are at all interested in a captained powerboat charter for 6 people or less, CALL Lion in Da' Sun!

We got back to the condo just after 5pm then cleaned up and headed to Zozo's for dinner. Last night on the island - what the heck - have a great dinner. Zozo's provided just that.

Tuesday
Departure day. Boo! However, flight doesn't leave until 4pm so we took advantage of one more morning on the beach. Went to Trunk and have never seen water so rough in the islands. Poor cruise ship people made the trip over only to discover that they couldn't get in the water (red flagged). The sun was out and it was still fine for us, but the waves really crashed this morning. Headed back for lunch (leftovers from Zozo's) and a final clean-up of the condo before heading out. Car ferry back over to STT, stopped for gas (paid $3.79) then a quick shopping stop at Havensight. Arrived at the airport 2 hours before flight and while they REALLY test your patience there, got through ticketing and customs just fine. Unfortunately, my creative flight plans had us spending the night in Miami and we waited outside baggage claim for an hour for the shuttle bus to take us to our hotel. Oh well - got there safe and sound, ordered a pizza to be delivered to the room. Wednesday's flight home was perfectly uneventful and we got lots of hugs and kisses from the kids when they came home from school.

Already planning our February 2009 trip! Hoping to talk some family and friends into going with us next time. While we cherish this trip as our husband-wife bonding time, there's just so much to do with other couples. We're also considering flying into St. Croix to spend a few nights before heading to STJ to finish out the week, then flying home from STT. Might be a few bucks more, but would give us exposure to the other great island where we've never been.

Thanks again to Connie, Jim, Bob, and Cathy for allowing us to join them on their powerboat day - we had great fun! Thanks also to Josh at Lion in Da' Sun for making it such fun! See you next year!