Hi everyone...just a quick report on our trip to Cane Garden Bay, Oct. 25-Nov. 4. We flew from CT to St. Thomas and took the ferry over to West End. Customs was a breeze. We stayed at Mongoose Apartments and loved it....very relaxing and quiet. Off the beach, down a little road, tucked away but still close to everything. We got a great summer special rate from Hertz on a peppy little Geotracker.

We never expected to do two trips in one year, but somehow talked ourselves into it, after being at Sandcastle on Jost and Heritage Villas on Tortola in June.

Highlights:

The TTOL party on 10/30...met some wonderful folks and had a great time. We started out with dinner at Big Banana Paradise Club and then moved on down to Quito's. I think there were 20 of us altogether.

Meeting Sabrina and Mario from Milan...actually saw them on the beach being photographed after their wedding. We had gone down to the beach for a swim, and happened upon their celebration! The sunset was awesome, and they are going to have some WONDERFUL photos! We met Davide and Cele too, and Sabrina insisted we join them for wedding cake and champagne. Now everyone is dressed in beautiful clothes for a wedding, and there we are in bathing suits!! So we walked back to our room and changed and then drove down to Lighthouse Villas for the reception. We felt very honored that they invited us to join them for cake and champagne.

Patouche Daysail...Sabrina and Mario were looking for a daysail and decided to go with us. We snorkeled the Indians, which I have wanted to do forever...conditions were good...no wind, so it was great snorkeling there. We really enjoyed the crew, Julie and Clive, and the other daysailors, too...there were 10 of us. We did a few other snorkeling stops...Angel Reef? and somewhere around the corner from the Caves on Norman Island. Swam with a sea turtle for a long time...very cool. Since there was no wind, we never sailed, for which Julie was apologetic. But if there had been wind, we probably wouldn't have been able to do the Indians.

Seeing a couple of people baptized in Cane Garden Bay. Just so strange to see them in the water with fancy church clothes on. And the rest of the church members singing on the beach.

Saw an octopus at Brewer's Bay.

Dinner at Brandywine Bay Restaurant...our first time there. Everything was wonderful, from Davide's pride and enthusiasm as he explained the menu, to the exceptional service, Cele's welcoming presence, and of course the delicious dinner. And my "ginger daiquiri." Loved the curried chicken ravioli and the beef carpaccio appetizer. YUM.

Breakfast at the Trellis Bay cybercafe and had Long Bay completely to ourselves. Good snorkeling. What a pretty bay that is...the water color is sooo intensely blue.

Most of the snorkeling was not great, with the exception of the Patouche stops, and Long Bay, Beef Island. Otherwise, there was just too much surf and sand being churned around. Also we had some significant rain a few days, and the runoff from that decreased the visibility. June is definitely a better time for snorkeling conditions.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" /> to Palm's Delight. Ate there twice and would have gone a third time, but they were closed on Sunday, so we went to the Jolly Roger instead...also <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

We were surprised that late Oct.-early Nov. is even quieter than June. Didn't expect so many places to still be closed, not that it was ever a problem.

Overall, we had a great time and we might even have to do 2 trips a year from now on! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" />

Flights and ferries and all were fine. No glitches. It was NOT fun coming home to cold temperatures here in CT! I don't know how folks do it in WINTER!!

Many thanks to all from TTOL who have posted helpful information which made our trip even more memorable. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Smile.gif" alt="" />

periwinkle aka Connie (and Lance) from CT

Counting down to 5/29/04 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />