BVI Trip January 11-18, 2025

January 10, 2025

Today we embark on a fabulous trip to sail on a catamaran through the British Virgin Islands. It’s a light travel day, just a short trip to JFK so we can catch an early flight to St. Thomas where we will then take a ferry over to Tortola, BVI, to get our boat. Other than the logistics of navigating JFK, it was a pretty easy day. We checked into our hotel and had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, went to bed and prepared for a long travel day tomorrow.

A little history… I met a fabulous group my freshman year of college. Little did I know they would be people I would spend a lifetime with. We met them on a college ski trip to Vermont. 3 very Italian girls had parents that sent them on the trip with an unbelievable amount of food, and a case of beer. There was a group of guys that came with a dozen cases of beer, a few boxes of macaroni and cheese, and some pasta with jars of sauce. When we unpacked in our condo, we had at least 12 loaves of bread, 8 dozen eggs, catering trays of homemade pasta, Italian sausage, roast beef and tons more of other food. We did what Italians do, we started cooking! We reached out to this group of guys and begged them to come and eat. A lifetime friendship was born! That was over 40 years ago.

These guys were all sailors, they brought me into their world of sailing and I’ve loved every minute of it. To their credit, they tried to teach me, but after I couldn’t get the lingo down of calling a “rope” a “line” they decided it would be best if I just stuck to cooking. I think I can safely say we’ve never gone hungry on a sail that includes me!

I’ve been beyond blessed with this group. Our group expanded into their friends, families, and future wives. We have traveled, had 12 years of season tickets to the Bills, partied in the summer on the boats and the winters spent skiing. We’ve celebrated so many things in each others lives and supported each other during hard times. Though more times than not, we are laughing and having fun.

Present day brings us to this trip. We are sailing on a Moorings 4500L catamaran, there are 7 of us in this boat, and there is another boat with 9 others. The photo at the top of the page is our boat. Many have done this trip before as they’ve sailed all over the world, It’s a first for me and I’ve been assured it will be a trip like no other. I know I am in good hands! Cheers to a safe, fun filled adventure, where laughs are guaranteed! 🍻⛵️

January 11, 2025

Very early start today, we are up, out of our rooms, and down to the lobby for the shuttle by 5:45am. My immediate group is Paul, Peggy, and Gunnar Grenauer. Once at the airport we meet up with 9 others… Peter and Maureen Johnson, their daughter Abby and her boyfriend Michael, Ken Gibbons, his daughter Delaney, her friend Julia, Ted Johnson and his girlfriend, Fotini. We had a smooth flight to St. Thomas where we met up with Paul and Sue Johnson, and their son Will. Paul, Sue, and Will will share a boat with us.

The St. Thomas airport is an open air airport, no gangways, just air stairs. Tons of people, hot, and not much organization. We claim our luggage and some smart thinking person in the group arranged for van service to shuttle all of us to the ferry. Job well done by that person! We now have to get our luggage checked into the ferry, board the ferry, and get to Tortola! Craziness begins to set in and cash changes hands rapidly… cash for the van, cash to check a bag on the ferry (we already had ferry tickets) cash for some quick drinks, and then, after a very long line for customs, cash (I think) to bring a bag into Tortola. I couldn’t keep track of all of this, thank God for Paul G. as he had me covered. Take all of this x 16 people! Once through customs, someone in the group arranged transportation from the ferry to the marina where we will get our boats…and hopefully some food! Kudos to this person! It has been about 12 hours of travel. We checked into the marina and head to the most beautiful boat ever. The marina grounds are stunning! We load our luggage on to the boat, figure out cabins, and then head to the restaurant for some food and football as the playoffs have started. After dinner, we settle into the boat, unloading some of the provisions we pre-ordered, enjoying some drinks, showers in the marina spa/ shower area and to bed! Easy night of sleeping as we are docked at the marina, let’s hope all the nights are as calm. Here is a picture of the marina, and our boat, at night. Simply beautiful! I can’t wait to see what lies ahead!

January 12, 2025

We’re up early as everyone is excited to get the day started. We do a little shopping at the marina (it’s more like a resort) and grab some coffee and breakfast. Back at the boat, the captains (Paul and Paul) and the crew (Gunnar and Will) all go through a mandatory debrief on the boats. The girls finish putting away the provisions, we touch base with the other boat, and by 10:00 we are pulling out of the marina. Here are the captains at the helm…

I plant myself up on the upper deck, taking it all in! Our first destination is Cooper Island. It’s only about 6 miles. Here is my view as we approach the island…

As we approach, the crew springs into action and tie us up to a mooring. Here is the crew in action…

We are now anchored and will stay here until tomorrow morning. The group is hungry so Captain Paul G. fires up the charcoal grill ( the boat has both charcoal and electric grills) loads it up with Italian sausage, opens up some drinks and we all drift into relaxation mode…

So our main mission today is to watch the Bills game and have a nice dinner on Cooper Island. Paul and Peggy take the dinghy to shore to try and get a reservation for a very nice restaurant they are familiar with. The crew (Gunnar and Will) take the paddle boards out.

Sue is relaxing in a beanbag chair on the front of the boat, and Captain Paul J and I try to get the game on either the boat TV or his computer. We can connect through Paramount +, which should give us CBS, we connect, but no CBS. Paul and Peggy have been gone a while, my guess is they are at bar drinking island cocktails. Next thing we know Maureen Johnson pulls up in their dinghy, tells us to board as we all watching the game at a bar on the island.

So let’s talk about the dinghy.. the dinghy is not my friend… here he is… my mode of transportation from the boat to the shore…

The dinghy and I go way back, just like the issues with the ropes, we don’t quite mesh. This was realized very early on and for most of my boating days, I’ve had a standing request to be dropped off at the dock. My friends are so kind they simply oblige, either that or, you know, they will never hear the end of it

Anyways, back to the day… with much instructions and hand holding, I elegantly “plop” into the dinghy. Maureen brings us ashore where you now have to climb out of the dinghy, with, grace, composure, and hope that your ass won’t end up in the air, or worse, you end up in the water. I exit with success… phew! The group is in full swing, let the shenanigans begin!! Bills Mafia has arrived!! Paul J continued his quest to get the game and, with help from I think Abby, we got the game!! Drinks flowing, lots of cheering, good clean fun. Sue and I decided our drink would be the Dam Sprtizer… persecco and peach vodka… delicious! We did find Peggy and Paul, at the bar as suspected, dinner reservations are at 8… all I think about is how many trips is that in dinghy language?? Bills win! Here is the Mafia plus some new recruits that joined in.

Cooper Island was so quaint and picturesque…

Now, back on the dinghy and let me tell you it didn’t go well…as I walk out on the dock and approach the dinghy, I plie, go on point, and graciously get ready for my leap onto the boat, slipping and falling face first into Peggy’s feet! Ok… the ballet part was made up but not the rest…we are all ok, I calmly pull myself off the floor of the dinghy and sit on one of the sides, cursing the dinghy continuously under my breath. With all the support of the crew, I exit with ease. Once back on the boat, we invite the others on board for happy hour, why not, let’s keep the party going! We watch our first priceless sunset.

We quickly clean up for our dinner on the island… how do we get there?? You guessed it, back in the dinghy! I safely get in and Captain Paul J is the last person to board, what does he do? Yup falls face first into the boat… phew I’m not the only one. Although my slip and fall was purely due to my klutziness, I think Paul, the experienced sailor that he is, was due to overindulging in adult beverages. So we cruise over to the dock, the crew boys help the girls off the dinghy and…yup the dinghy took its first real victim… Paul j… overboard!

Score… dinghy 1, us, 0

Now there was nothing I could do but capture the moment! Paul, soaking wet, insisted on going to dinner, but the more rational people, Paul G and Will, convinced him to go back to the boat and change. We went to the restaurant and ordered adult beverages…. Lots of them! We had a fabulous dinner, the freshest red snapper… simply outstanding!!

Now… back on the dinghy! As we were cruising back, the night sky was beautiful, all the lights in the picture below are not stars they are lights atop the mast of all the boats.

Home and to bed for some of us, including me, Will, Gunnar and Sue went to the other boat for a nightcap…. And I’m sure a few stories.

January 13, 2025

Beautiful morning in Cooper Island, waking up to chef Peggy making bacon and eggs.

We are going to head to Virgin Gorda to maybe snorkel and explore The Baths. I’ve failed to mention that you need one thing in order to sail… it’s wind! We have not had much wind so we’ve been motoring everywhere. Today, I’m so happy, the small sail goes up and we are sailing!!

How beautiful Virgin Gorda is! We are on the east side of the island and will travel to the North side later today…we are going to head over to the Baths… first picture I took, they are the rocks that form the caves, they are huge! The 2 other photos are stock photos as I forgot my camera…and why did I forget my camera, because the Captains give us no notice we are leaving!

So to prepare for the Baths we gather our snorkel gear and I grab a swim noodle to hang on to. We have to take the dinghy only so far, then we have to swim into the beach. The conversation on the dinghy was about a new rule I want to implement, the 15 minute rule, giving us girls 15 minutes notice before departure. That didn’t go over so well and the words “are you complaining” came out. I vowed I wouldn’t complain because I want to be invited back… I better zip it up!

The waves were rough, we went to one spot and there was only one other dinghy’s there. They were leaving and told us to go one spot over, it will be a little easier. So we go literally 15 yards to another spot. We tie up to a rope line and the water is still rough. I say to my self “am I crazy, I can’t swim in this!” The entire ride over I wasn’t worried about the swim in, I thought it would be calm, I was terrified and asked 100 times… “how do I get back in the dinghy, there is no ladder?” I was reassured I would be fine, but I knew I wouldn’t be. So I grab my mask and noodle, and slide in, or plop in, whatever you want to call it. OMG I can’t do this! But now I can’t get back in the boat!!!! The guys are long gone and Peggy assures me we will get in… and Sue is with us too. I start kicking and swimming and going absolutely no where. Literally went like 2 inches per every 50 strokes. Honestly I may as well been swimming in the English Channel, it would have been easier! Thank God for the noodle, it’s keeping me up because I have a football field to go before I hit the beach. With a lot of teamwork I wash up on shore like a beached whale! The guys were waiting, and watching in disbelief at the site. I don’t get even a minute to catch my breath and we are headed in to hike the cave. I want to die, this is like running a triathalon and forgetting to do any training!!! So we climb and hike and squeeze between narrow rocks and climb under and over other rocks, it was really cool! I think in total this took about 2 hours. Sue started with us but stopped early on as she has had 2 knee replacements. Oddly, there were many people in the caves, however Peggy noticed we were the only ones that were barefoot, most had hiking shoes on, and we were the only ones with snorkel gear on our heads, and I was carrying a noodle! I guess there was a way to get there via land… I wish I would have known🤦🏻‍♀️. We eventually end up back where we started… at the beach. Paul, Gunnar and Will put their masks on and head out, Paul J goes to find Sue. Peggy and I are left, we try to head out, but the waves bring us right back in. Peggy is a good swimmer , and a good sport, we go over to the rope line and I use that, and the noodle to try and pull myself out. Peggy stays right with me. What felt like 10 hours later we get to the dinghy… now to get back in! Paul tells us to swim under the rope, and swim to the other side of the boat and they will help pull us in. Sure, no problem, and my next act will be to walk a tightrope across the Grand Canyon! Peggy, who is 100lbs soaking wet, pulls herself up with ease, not needing any help. Now me… no way. Will and Gunnar are trying so hard not to laugh, they are so sweet… the are like “we got you” Paul instructs them to grab me under my arms and “hoist” me up…not quite sure how I feel about the use of the word “hoist” but I’m in no position to analyze that any further. The true reality is they need to drive a crane into the Caribbean ocean to pluck me up and then dump me into the dinghy. The boys, with all their might, get me up and drape me over the edge, lying there on my stomach. They let me go and I’m so tired I start to slip backward… dear God, let this end! If this is the demise of me then so be it! They grab me, now they are laughing, I don’t blame them, I’m waiting for one of them to shout “Moby Dick comin aboard”. I finally pull my leg over and roll to the floor of the dinghy. Flat on my back! I can’t move. The dinghy won… score Dinghy 2, us, 0. We find out later that the first spot had a double red warning flag, the spot we were at had a single red warning flag. AKA… don’t swim here!

Once back on the boat, we are going to the other side of the island where we will hook up to a mooring, have dinner and sleep. The ride over is beautiful!

We get to this cute part of the island. Back on the dinghy (I hate it) to go to shop and have some drinks. Once back in the boat we decide to get back in the dinghy for happy hour on the other boat. After happy hour it’s steaks on the grill, some card playing, a visit from some barracuda sharks circling our boat, and a beautiful moon with a well lit boat next to us. Despite the challenges of the day, they become quickly forgotten when you are in paradise.

JANUARY 14, 2025

Another beautiful morning in paradise! Chef Peggy is back at it with breakfast sausage and eggs. Sue and I help with toast and making breakfast sandwich’s. Sea turtles swimming by our boat! Today is going to be a pretty easy day. We head out and head towards one of the most beautiful spots yet, and the place where Peggy and Paul had their honeymoon 30 years ago. It’s called Bitter End. Peggy fills us with stories of their honeymoon, educating us on how all of this was destroyed in 2017 by a hurricane. They are rebuilding and it’s perfect. We take the dinghy in and just enjoy island life of shopping, drinking, sunbathing, some corn hole, food, and exploring. There are some very large yachts here. The biggest one was $894,000 to charter, per week. Helipad included. I wonder what their dinghy is like??

After a relaxing day ashore, we head back to the boat to get ready for dinner. Will and Gunnar spend some time jumping off the upper deck before getting ready. We got the 15 minute departure rule notice at 4:15, I guess they do listen to me 🙂 The restaurant, called Saba Rock, is it’s own island, it has a small beach on the back side, an upstairs with a lush lawn, amazing views, a few rooms to rent, and another bar. Our reservations aren’t until 8:00, but at 5:00 they feed tarpon off the dock.

We get over there in time to see the fish feeding, did a group photo, then got some drinks. Paul J got our dinner reservations moved 5:30, good move otherwise there would have been a lot of drinking. Dinner was fabulous! We had appetizers of tuna sashimi, wahoo ceviche, Paul, Paul, and Will had steaks, Peggy and Gunnar had wahoo bouillabaisse, Sue had crispy lobsters and I had a seafood linguine dish full of lobster, mussels, clams, and scallops. So during dinner I thought we could talk about the dinghy, it’s always in my mind so why not talk about it. I think we need to name the dinghy and, my preferred would have some connotation to the devil. I suggested satan, Peggy, supportive as usual, suggested Lucifer, Sue said evil. I look at the other end of the table and the guys are staring at us are like “umm I don’t think that is a good idea.” Will pipes in “how about Matthew, Mark, Luke or John!” The guys also suggested St. Paul, or St. Peter. Clearly, we are not aligned. The sailors strongly think naming a vessel you rely on after the devil is NOT a good idea. It would be bringing bad karma. Have you seen what that thing has done to me!!! We don’t end up coming up with a name, but we do go up to the upper deck to explore and play some Jenga.

We load up into St. Whatever and head back to the boat. Once again beautiful views

Back in the boat we settle in with some good music, good conversation, guys smoking cigars, and a few games of card. Tomorrow will be a big travel day. 4 hours across the Caribbean Ocean to get to Jost Van Dyke.

JANUARY 15, 2015

Beautiful morning in Paradise! We are pretty set in our daily routine, starting with chef Peggy at the stove cooking bacon and eggs, me doing toast and serving, and Sue helping with clean up. We got about 4 hours of travel ahead of so we are anxious to get going. Just as we finish the dishes I hear motors start. We head out and the waters are rough. To me, it felt like we were in 16ft swells, but I’m told they were actually only 3-4 ft swells. We hit a speed of 10.2 knots, which I’m told is a pretty solid speed. It was a rockin on the boat! At one point we had both sails up, which I love!! Watch the videos below to get a sense of the seas…

We eat very good on the boat, once the winds calmed we were able to get lunch going, it’s typically salads and sandwiches…

We tied up to a mooring in an area called Little Harbor. Just a quaint island bay that would serve our purposes until tomorrow morning. Time for some swimming, shopping, eating and drinking.

All 16 of us together, I love this time!! We had lobster dinners and barbecue, they fish the lobster right out of the bay. The harbor is all ours, just our boats and maybe 2 others. So amazing!

After dinner we converge on our boat for drinks, laughs, music, cigars, and fun… plus a few tarpon swimming around our boat… I’ll call it “family time”… a perfect ending to a wonderful day in paradise!

JANUARY 16, 2025

Another easy day today. We leave Little Harbor and head to Great Harbor, which is just a short ride, maybe 30 minutes. Day starts with our typical breakfast, bacon and eggs. As soon as we are done we head out. Waters a pretty calm and in no time we are there. So beautiful, just like all the other bays.

Paul G and Gunnar take 1803 (Eighteen Oh Three) the number on the dinghy and its new name, to see if there is a dive shop. No luck, but they walked the town and got some new t-shirts. Once back, Gunnar and Will head out in the paddle boards.

We decide to head into the little town, do some shopping and have lunch,

After lunch and shopping, we take a taxi to meet up with the others at the “Soggy Dollar.’ Cute beach and bar where we have a cocktail and relax.

After the Soggy Dollar, we had back into town and go to the famous bar, Foxy’s. Here we shop, have some drinks, noticed a flag on the ceiling from Bills Mafia, and Sue enters a hermit crab race with hopes of winning a free t-shirt. Sue gets called up to lets the crabs free. That are all numbered, first one to fall off the table wins!!

Sue didn’t win, but it was fun to watch. we head back to the 1803 to make some dinner. We make BBQ chicken on the grill. Cooking dinner was a little challenging tonight. Our electric grill wasn’t working so we had to use the charcoal grill. To help speed things along we wanted to par cook the chicken in the oven, however we also needed the oven to cook some potatoes and roast some broccoli. It took a long time, eventually everything got cooked. Hats off to the chefs… Peggy, Paul G and Paul J… and I helped with the broccoli.. it was delish! After cleaning up, we are all tired from a day of drinking and head to bed early.

January 17, 2025

Let’s start by saying, by the end of the today, the dinghy will haven taken a substantial lead, claiming 3 more victims. Peggy… overboard, Delaney… overboard, and Maureen… overboard. Score will be dinghy 5, us 0.

It’s our last full day, I can’t believe how quickly the week has gone by. We are up early again, Peggy is back at the stove cooking her bacon and eggs. We are doing well using up all our provisions and will use whatever bread is left to make egg sandwiches. We pull out around 9:00 and head to Norman Island. Should be about 1 1/2 hour ride over. Overall it’s a fairly easy sail.

On the way to Norman, we stop at Pelican Island to check out some snorkeling opportunities. There are a few other boats here. Paul G, Gunnar and Will gear up and head into the water. They swim out a bit and see some colorful fish along with some regular fish.

After they are done, we continue heading towards Norman Island

Breathtaking views as usual, this never gets old. We now relax, everyone doing their own thing on the boat. Sue and I choose a glass of wine and sunning on the catamaran. Paul J does some work, Will and Gunner go out in the paddle boards, and Peggy and Paul G take the dinghy to go snorkel. Paul G. knew I wanted to snorkel, but I did not want to deal with getting back in the dinghy from the water. I certainly don’t want to relive THAT hellacious event again! Paul did the sweetest thing, he took a piece of rope, attached it to a handle on the dinghy, and made a big loop at the other end of the rope, which would then drop into the water. The loop was for me to put my foot in, almost like a rope ladder, and it would give me some leverage. I contemplated this for all of one second and immediately I had this visual of me stepping into the loop, and then flipping the boat over, capsizing it, throwing everyone overboard and the boat landing over my head and probably drowning me as with all my klutziness my foot would get twisted in the rope loop and that would be the end. Thank you Paul, but no way, my wine is calling me.

Paul and Peg return, and with all their athleticism, they decide to try the paddle boards. Sue and I are very content laying out on the catamaran, drinking wine, chatting, and waving to them as they float by. Now when Peggy and Paul returned from snorkeling, I did hear a lot of laughing from Paul, Paul and Peg… apparently this is when Peggy went overboard, which I eventually heard about the next day.

Once they are done, we decide to go over to Willy T’s which is a bar on a boat. The hi light here is everyone jumps off the upper deck of the boat… some topless, some nude. When we pull up to the boat to dock the dinghy we immediately get our first show… Buffalo Yacht Club friends that met up with us earlier in the day… she is topless and he is nude! LOL… Welcome aboard! All 16 of us are here and what a fun family time… in addition to the jumping there is “titty tattooing”…(I’ve been given permission to post, the boob shall remain nameless ✅ ). There is also a “shot ski” which Gunnar, Will, Sandy, and Michael chose to try out…

I manage to keep my clothes on and “the girls” tattoo free! I just take in more of the scenery…

We head back to the boat and get ready for dinner. All 16 of us will dine together on Norman Island for our last night together❤️.

After dinner we head back to pack and get ready to return the boat. All the kids decide to take one last venture over to Willy T’s. I find out the next day that upon returning Delaney to her boat, she goes overboard getting out of the dinghy. I also found out that Maureen went overboard getting out of the dinghy the night we went to Saba Rock.. the dinghy is relentless, no one is safe! I will have nightmares that will look like this…invasion of the dinghy’s!!

January 18, 2025

We are up around 6:15, our boat will leave by 7:00 to go back to the Moorings. It’s going to be a long travel day! Water is a little choppy, the ride back to Tortola is short, but we get caught in a torrential downpour. Once again things are clanking around and the microwave goes flying… complaint to The Moorings as they need to secure this better.

Once in port, we clean out the refrigerators, strip the beds, clean up and organize the boat and disembark. We see the folks from the other boat, they are doing the same thing. We grab some coffee at the cafe and hang out until it is time to leave for the airport. The other group, plus Paul J, Sue, and Will all head out to catch the ferry back to St. Thomas. We are flying out of Tortola to San Juan, from there we go to Atlanta and then to Buffalo. We should be home around midnight… at least that’s what we thought! We get a taxi to the airport. The ride was much longer than I thought, but we got a great tour of Tortola. Our departure time changed, and we are now leaving 30 minutes later than scheduled. We are on a small prop plane, it actually wasn’t bad, they’ve come a long way with these small planes. Once in San Juan, we claim our luggage, go through customs, head to departures, have our luggage inspected by the Agricultural Department (required for traveling back to the US), get our boarding passes and then go to drop our luggage. We are told it’s too late, we won’t catch our flight. Ugh! All this is due to the delay in getting out of Tortola. They re-ticket us to leave tomorrow at 4:00pm to go to Detroit, then Buffalo. Great, we are going to miss the Bills game😡. We step aside and Paul tries to find us a room for the night. No luck! For the next 2 hours we try looking for a hotel, the closest one is 40 minutes away as there is some big music festival going on in San Juan. Peggy also looked into AirBnB’s, and I tried to see if any other airline was flying to Buffalo tonight. No luck! We are literally stranded for the next 22 hours. Paul suggested we try to find a flight out of here to anywhere in mainland USA, at least we may then be able to get a hotel. Peg and I go to Jet Blue as they have a flight to Washington DC, but we find out it is sold out. Paul and Gunnar can get us to Orlando on Southwest. We book it, it’s leaving in about 40 minutes. We all have TSA so security should be a breeze… nope… all backed up and we are told to go through the regular line as it will be shorter. The people in line were very kind and helped us get to the front of the line. Once through security we run to the gate, we made it!! We then find a 7:00am flight from Orlando to Buffalo, we book it. Once in Orlando, probably around 8:00, I get us a hotel while they collect the luggage. We shuttle to the hotel, Paul orders some food, and we all crash. Up at 4:15, Uber back to the airport at 5:00am and by 7:00 we are in our way home! Amen!! BTW… Delta airlines did nothing for us, not a meal voucher or assistance with a hotel, shame on them! They caused this by changing the departure time out of Tortola. I will be filing a complaint! I heard that Julia misses her connection as well. She stayed the night with Delaney in NYC, then took a train to Buffalo. Paul J and Sue also got delayed, they ended up missing the first half of the Bills game.

Closing thoughts…

What an amazing trip, I am truly blessed to have the privilege of going on this adventure. THANK YOU to the Grenauer’s and the Johnson’s for including me. Paul and Paul… thank you for being the Captains! You did an amazing job navigating us, taking care of everything on the boat, securing moorings in every port, carting us around in the dinghy, remembering to make water so we wouldn’t run out, taking care of bar drinks and food in every port, and so many other things including travel logistics, but most importantly thank you for keeping us safe! Will and Gunnar… thank you for being the crew. You two were right there at every port getting us docked, helping with the lines and most of all, being the perfect gentleman and assisting the ladies on and off the dinghy. We needed you and you were right there to assist, You were amazing!! Also, thank you for sharing a room so I could have my own. I truly appreciate that. Peggy and Sue… thank you for all the companionship, the laughs and fun times! You two are the BEST! And a few more shout outs… Paul G was our master griller and Peggy was our main chef, thank you, everything was delicious! Will, thank you being our DJ all week, great job with the music! Gunnar… thank you, I think if I had to say what was the “word” of the trip, it would be “Gunnar”. I think there were days where all I heard was your name…” Gunnar could you get this” “Gunnar could you help me.. “ Gunnar, put the drinks in the refrigerator” “Gunnar…. “ on and on and on…thank you for being such a good sport. Paul J thank you for being the finance guy, the organizer, and so many other things. And Sue, thank you for helping in the kitchen, keeping the boat swept and clean, and constantly hanging towels on the lines to dry. We were all a great team!!

To the other boat… thank you as well for your company. It was so nice to spend time with everyone. I met a few new people, had time to spend with people I don’t see that often, and got s chance to get reacquainted with all the kids. For many, you were babies the last time I saw you, now you are grown adults, starting new careers, and living your best life!!

This was written from my perspective. I probably don’t have everything exactly correct, but I’m close enough… and I don’t know all the boating lingo, but I did my best. There are so many more stories to tell. I will keep editing as things come to mind, or as my co-travelers share their stories. 2024 was a rough year for me and for so many of my friends. We got threw it by supporting each other. I’ve kicked off 2025 in the most amazing way, let’s hope for a good year for everyone!!

Love, Sharon

P.S. I hope I was a good girl, I promised not to complain… I hope I get invited back!!🤞🏻