Part 1 – Arriving

Awoke at 4:30am with a reservation for a car to arrive at 5:30am. Tried to pack lightly….but I was the designated carrier of the snorkel gear for 6 people, boat vests for the kids, Geoff’s massive scuba fins, etc…all of this took up one huge rolling duffel. Then there was another duffel for cereal, son’s protein powder, kids toys, tennis racquets…basically anything that wasn’t clothing. For 4 of us, we had 6 bags + my laptop case. The limo driver gave us the “tsk tsk” look.

Philly airport was a zoo but one of the airport cops was a training client of my son Chris, so he asked one of the skycaps to help us out. Chris was really happy that his professional connections were paying off. He kept saying “if it wasn’t for me, we’d still be in that line”…(he said this 3 days later!!). We all agreed.

Checking in was smooth and we all had time to grab breakfast in the airport. We had a connection through Charlotte. This was the first time for that. We usually fly non-stop Philly to STT. Left Philly on time (USAir) with 2 bags checked and 4 Carry Ons.

Got to Charlotte and should have had about 1.5 hrs to layover. UGH! Learned that plane from Charlotte to STT was going to be delayed about another hour, which turned into another 2 hrs. We left Charlotte at about the time we should have been arriving in STT. I was not happy. This is eating into our vacation. After a bumpy flight from Charlotte to STT, we touched down and exited the plane to the warm, moist, tropical breezes of STT. We walked along to the terminal and everyone grabbed a rum punch, except my Gab. Ahhh! I went to the AVIS counter to pick up my rental (full size car $32/day) while everyone else went to the luggage belt. Little did I know that C Urchin was the pretty lady in line behind me. I noticed her….but it wasn’t until the next night at Paradise Point that we met and realized we were with each other at the Avis counter the day before.

Both checked bags arrived (thank gawd!) and we were off to the villa. Mom and dad had already arrived and were at the villa.

I hated that it was so late in the day (rush hour). Water in the harbor was choppy looking. Traffic was busy through Charlotte Amalie. I took all of the shortcuts, but still hit traffic. Soon, we were climbing the mountain and leaving the traffic behind. What a beautiful feeling. We reached Red Hook and then the villa. What a relief to pull into the gravel drive and hear the stones rumble under the car. Mom and dad came out to greet us. There were cold Red Stripes in the fridge and a bottle of wine. We all caught up and called Indigo for reservations at Table 15, our favorite in the back by the entrance to the pool and hot tub. Got a reservation and headed over. Table wasn’t ready when we arrived (10 mins early), so we took another close table, ordered cockatails and happily toasted the “Opening Ceremonies” to this caper. Delicious food all around and everyone swam in the pool and enjoyed the hot tub.

Back to the villa for unpacking and relatively early to bed. At this point, it was me, my gab, Chis, his GF and my parents.