Travelers

Well, it's been a slow weekend. Playing catch up with house chores and shopping after the family visit. Everyone made it back safely and uneventful. They wanted me to remind everyone, that when leaving St. Thomas, definitely use a porter at the airport. They take you to the front of the line, check you in and take your bags. Definitely worth the tip ($20 for small group, more for large group.)

So now we're getting ready for more guests. Captain Gary will be staying with us a couple days the first part of the week. Then my cousin from South Carolina and one of her friends will be here Thursday for a week. So we'll be doing some more "touristy" things with them.

Some other friends from Albuquerque (who used to live in WV) will be here the last week in August. My sister and maybe some friends and maybe my other sister, are planning on coming in September or October. And one couple from home is trying to come down in either August or September if they can get their schedule worked out. Then a big group from home will be coming in February and staying at one of the resorts.

I'm glad to finally start getting visitors. I knew when we moved down that people would visit, it just took a little longer to get them down here than I thought. So I'm very excited about all the upcoming travel plans.

I just sent a list of fun things to do while in St. Thomas to the group. So I thought I would share the list in case anyone else was interested.

Paradise Point - skyride up to overlook of the harbor, bar, restaurant, shopping, live music - http://paradisepointtramway.com/

Dive and snorkel trips - http://www.admiraltydive.com/ , http://sawyerdive.vi/

Atlantis Submarine - http://www.atlantisadventures.com/

Helicopter tour - http://www.island-helicopters.com/

Mountain Top - highest point on the island, overlooks Magen's bay - bar, shopping - http://www.greathouse-mountaintop.com/

Coral World - swim with the sea lions, aquarium, Sea Trek, Coki Beach - http://www.coralworldvi.com/

Sailing/Snorkel trips - sailing, open bar, food, snorkel - http://newhorizonsvi.com/ , http://limnoscharters.com/ , http://www.stjohndaysail.com/ , http://visitbreakaway.com/ , http://www.daydreamervi.com/

Soggy Dollar Bar - Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands - http://www.soggydollar.com/soggydollarbar/ - can take a ferry for $50 round trip from St. Thomas to Jost

St. John - take the ferry over to St. John for the day, shopping, beautiful beaches, bars, restaurants, $6.10 each way - http://www.gotostjohn.com/

Island hop - ferry schedules - http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/

Boat Charters - rent a power boat for the day - http://www.nautinymph.com/ , http://www.powerboatrentalsvi.com/ , http://www.worlddome.com/pocketyachts.html

Parasail, plus more - http://www.adventurecenters.net/rates.htm

Walking tour through historic downtown - http://www.blackbeardscastle.com/

Magens Bay - http://www.magensbayvi.com/

and of course, sit on the beach, relax and have a tropical cocktail!!!!!!

Charlotte Amalie

Here's a pic of downtown Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. Pretty impressive. Bluebeards Castle is in the foreground (lower left hand corner). It looks deceptive because it appears to be a part of downtown, but it's actually on top of a pretty good hill overlooking downtown and the harbor. The airport and the University are at the top of the pic and Waterfront is dead center. You'll laugh when I tell you how I got the picture. It's actually a picture on my US Virgin Islands calendar. We don't have a color scanner so I just took a picture of it with my iPhone. It turned out pretty good.

Update on the Griswalds. Today is their last full day. We had a low-key villa day yesterday which I think everyone needed. Not sure what they are doing today while Jay and I are at work, but this evening we are going to the villa and cooking up whatever is left in the fridge. The rest we get to take home.

Lunch is served

Lunch is served, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Just finished snorkeling Maho and now sitting down for an awesome lunch and a rum punch.

Mmmmmm....yummy

mmmmm....yummy, originally uploaded by captainjay.

Well, we got the car started long enough to get to the villa then it died again. We left it and came to the boat. We'll deal with it later!!

The food and drinks on nightwind is very good so I'm going to go enjoy a little breakfast.

Turtle Watching

Turtle Watching, originally uploaded by captainjay.

The group enjoying the turtles at Hawksnest.

Nightwind

Today, the Griswalds are going on a daysail with Nightwind. From what I've read and heard, it sounds like an awesome day. We leave out of Redhook bright and early (yea right) and head out to the waters of St. Thomas and St. John. The price includes sailing, snorkeling, breakfast, lunch, open bar, use of water toys, etc. We already know the captain, Doug, so that makes it that much more fun. Jay's sis booked two days, today and tomorrow, so we'll see who survives the first day and is ready for a second (I know I will be). Jay has to work today so he won't be joining the group, but hopefully will tomorrow :-(

I'll try to post some live pictures through out the day.

Enjoy!

Fishing With Will

Fishing With Will, originally uploaded by captainjay.

The little guy in the shot is my nephew Will. We walked down and did a little fishing from the Villa Pier.
Jay

Griswald's In The Villa

Well the whole gang is here now. My parents flight was only 40 minutes late yesterday, so I guess not to bad by American Airlines standards. I took my sister out to provision the house yesterday. Needless to say buying food, wine, and booze for twelve people for ten days or so pushed the limits of what would fit in the Celica. With the seat folded down we could barely close the hatch. I won't go into to price details but it was and obnoxious amount of money.

The Villa is absolutely spectacular. The view is directly out to the south towards Buck Island and French Cap. There is a nice snorkel area right off of the concrete pier that goes with the house and a five minute walk down a private trail to a beach.

Jay

Jay

Griswald's In The Caribbean Begins

Well part of the group is here. Of course they aren't were they are supposed to be. My sisters with all the kids got in yesterday about 5:30. The rental car they had reserved of course wasn't available, because after all the rental car companies here close at 5:00. Deb and I didn't meet them at the airport because we had a company picnic to attend. It turns out they had been trying to get a hold of us 14 missed calls on my cell phone when I got out of the pool. The Villa greeter didn't show up at the airport either. So here we have three adults four kids 5:30 in the evening in the St Thomas airport. No car, no villa and no local knowledge. Fortunately my sisters have both traveled and didn't panic. They hired a cab to take them over to the Villa in hopes that someone would be there to let them in, no such luck. So they spent the first night at the Wyndham Sugar Bay. By the way the second picture is the Wyndham so don't feel to sorry for them. They plan to straighten out the whole villa mess today.

The second part of the saga is my parents. They were supposed to arrive on American Airlines around 8:00 last night. Now if you know anything about the current state of the airlines American to the Caribbean is a really bad idea. They have cancelled/rescheduled approximately 30 percent of their normal flights to all Caribbean locations. This said it was actually Delta's fault that they are currently in Miami Hotel instead of St Thomas. I would also put the blame on the travel agent that booked their flights. Do Not, let me repeat this, Do Not book a flight on multiple airlines. All of the big ones, Kayak, Orbitz, Travelocity etc show these discounted rates with multiple airlines. Here is the problem they had to fly Charleston to Atlanta on Delta, then Atlanta to Miami on Delta, then connect to the American flight to here. Well the flight from Atlanta was delayed because there was no crew to fly it. By the time they got to Miami they had missed the flight to STT. Well American wasn't much help because it wasn't their fault that they missed the flight since Delta caused the problem. Delta doesn't care because, after all they got them to Miami which is what they were hired to do. So two hundred dollars later for a room at the Miami Airport and the better part of 24 hours lost from their trip they might get here around 3:20 today.

Stay tuned for more updates about the Griswald's Caribbean Reunion.

Jay

The Griswalds soon come

Well this Sunday the Griswalds invade the Caribbean. As I posted before pretty much my whole family will be here this Sunday. My little brother is the only hold out. So next week there should be plenty of tourist like posts as we try to balance work and entertaining the family. The picture is of the Villa my sister rented for the family, Cote Sud. We don't have the room for all of them.

Jay

The Griswald's Caribbean Summer Tour

Well since yesterday was father's day we talked to the families. My family is planning a trip down next month in mass so it should be another Griswald's Vacation. Both of my sister's, my parents, two nieces and a nephew will all be here at the same time. There will also be a friend of my older sisters with her daughter as well. The only person that's not going to make it is my little brother. It should make for some big fun. We are actually looking forward to having people around since we haven't had any company for a while. They are renting a nice villa on St Thomas, a few miles from our house since we just don't have room for that many people. So look out in the next few weeks for continuing Griswald updates.

Jay