thanks gymnastika for the reassurance! It will help me sleep on the plane tonight.

(that and a bailey's and coffee, of course)

oh gosh...we're arriving tomorrow afternoon!

on one hand I'm glad it won't be raining, on the other I'm worried Mr. Otter won't get much good snorkeling in.

Guess we'll just have to start with the south shore and pray.

see the other thread on villa pricing, there's some commentary there by me and others on the economy.

Lulu It is all supply and demand more people want to go in the winter then the summer. It is actually more expensive to run the villas in the summer because AC use goes up and wapa bills are nuts. Most villas run in the red that is why I don't own one I've checked. The owners are trying to make it ...

another thing I should have mentioned earlier. Sorry for getting all economics geeky, but I can't help it. The wildcard is, "how elastic is the demand for st. john." In other words, how many of the St. John crowd on this board will ONLY vacation there, regardless of the price differential ...

Herb nailed it. (or at least that's what I think, but I'm not as much an insider as the rest of you). The thing is, there are fewer and fewer people with the means to travel. And all around us, travel destinations are cutting prices. We will end up spending close to $6k for the WEEK in St. John for ...

Joshie, glad i'm not the only one who recognized Tubular Bells from "The Exorcist" and got a little creeped out! Rick, good save. I was on a beach on the Long Island Sound once while a mother looked indulgently on her kids "pretending" to drown. You gotta have a license to drive ...

488!! please do not tell Mr. Otter. We paid $750, but then again that's from SF.

Congrats on being able to get down here affordably, and for making lemons out of lemonade!

That was cute! Thanks for sharing! I was in Israel last year (used to work for an Israeli company). The beaches in Tel Aviv are amazing, as is the Orange Juice!

Congratulations and enjoy! We are just a few days behind you, leaving on a red eye Friday night!

My gosh rick, thanks for sharing another perspective and some great pictures! Are you having issues at Miss Lucy's for all meals or just the full moon deal? I've also heard good things about donkey diner for breakfast. I had planned to introduce Mr Otter to STJ Sunday morning at Miss Lucy's after a ...

Just tell me *exactly* where it is.

(so I can avoid it, naturally)

I just realized we'll be in STJ for the full moon and my birthday starts at midnight that night! hooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllll!!!! now the question, is where to howl at the moon? I've heard about Miss Lucy's but since we'll be having jazz brunch on Sunday I'm wondering if we should do something el...

I just realized we'll be in STJ for the full moon and my birthday starts at midnight that night!

hooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwllllllll!!!!

now the question, is where to howl at the moon?

that's a bad a$$ site, Exit Zero. That's exactly what we were looking for. Mr. Otter sails a lot in the San Fran bay so we wanted the nautical charts you guys are using locally.

Awesome.