Gang of 6 Trip Report - 10/27-11/5 - Part 2
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2007 12:14 pm
Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=5029
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=5060
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=5207
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=6104
Day 1 - Sunday - Villa Rain Day, Tap Room, Forum Gathering
We awoke to rain on Sunday. No worries, champagne corks popped at about 8AM for mimosas. We tried a lot of different champagnes this year, but once you add OJ they are pretty much the same. My vote is for Cook's for $6.99 a bottle at Pine Peace Market. I do like fine champagne, but not adulterated. Iron Chef St. John prepared an enormous breakfast for us that we enjoyed on the deck under the overhang.
What are to do in the rain? Drink West Indian Viagra! We had loaded up on Foreign Extra Stout and enjoyed 5 or 6 different types. The blender started early and the horseplay began.
We headed down to the Tap Room at about 3PM with our spirits already high. Our gang is very serious about beer. We are all homebrewers and serial competition medal winners. Big Red and Becky won Best of Show and Homebrewers of the Year in the 4000+ entry National Homebrew Competition in 2005. Four of us are certified beer judges. So, the advent of freshly brewed beer on island was a big development for us. We had a couple of rounds and chatted with Cheech (we met Kevin later in the week) and Meghan. I had brought down three homebrewed beers as a gift to the guys.
Next stop was the Gecko Gazebo for a quick one. The rain drove a crowd to Mongoose Junction, so we just had one round. At 4:30, we headed down to the Beach Bar for the forum gathering.
We had a good turnout at the October 28 forum gathering. Randy and Marcia were there talking about the excitement of concrete deliveries to their new villa Reef Madness going up high above Coral Bay. MrB and MrsB were in fine style. Brad and KellyAna brought some Southern flair. Gene and Eileen from Blue Caribe had the biggest smiles in the crowd. Nascarfan and Becky were very relaxed. Linda and Mr. Linda checked in, they are building a house in Coral Bay. Our gang - Becky, Big Red, Pat, Janet and Sweet Christine were on a mission. Chet and Mrs. Chet we met at the airport and invited them to join us - Chet's now active on the forum. STJ Ruth popped and completed the picture. I'm sure I left someone out? Thanks to STJ Ruth for corrections.
Kirk (shown with KellyAna) was intensely blissed out. We were looking forward to staying with him at the Tamarind Court on Saturday and Sunday nights.
BongoBongo Jeff had his camera and was doing his on-stjohn.com schtick - really nice guy living a dream. It's easy to be jealous of him. Here's Jeff talking to Marcia and Eileen. Jeff did interviews of some of the gang. We came across as more sober than we really were - http://www.on-stjohn.com/2007/11/12/a-forum-gathering/
After the Beach Bar quieted down we took a couple of party casualties home for a nap. The rest of us hit the Quiet Mon and Woody's for a couple of hours, after which I was running out of energy. Back at the villa the party casualties got up for a couple more hours of reindeer play. I got gored.
Day 2 - Monday - Francis Bay, Allesandra Dinner with Forum Pals
Another big breakfast and Mimosas. We packed up our nearly large enough cooler and headed to Francis Bay to meet MrB and MrsB as well as KellyAna and Brad. Francis Bay is such a great place. The place was pretty empty. I guess Mondays and threatening rain kept people away. We camped out to the left of the trail and proceeded to holler, drink beers in the water, and generally make a spectacle. Exactly the kind of fun I love. Most of the folks did some snorkeling. Sweet Christine and I kept an eye on the cooler. 10 people can work through a case and a half of Presidente pretty darn fast, but Brad saved the day with a run to Love City Mini Mart for reinforcements.
Dinner was at MrB and MrsB's villa Allesandra with KellyAna and Brad joining us later. This is a wonderful villa. It is laid out in a serious of layers - kitchen and dining room, down to lanai with hot tub, down to swimming pool. The effect is that if you are in the kitchen you can pretty much see everything that is going on. Plus, there are lots of nooks and areas to hang by yourself. The lanai has a big table with easily room for 10. Dinner was great. MrB made some killer grilled chicken. Janet made pork tenderloin with black beans. The rest of the evening is a relaxed blur. We were goofing off, telling stories, and (apparently) getting bit by mosquitoes. This was a great relaxed evening, one of my favorite of the trip.
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=5060
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=5207
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=6104
Day 1 - Sunday - Villa Rain Day, Tap Room, Forum Gathering
We awoke to rain on Sunday. No worries, champagne corks popped at about 8AM for mimosas. We tried a lot of different champagnes this year, but once you add OJ they are pretty much the same. My vote is for Cook's for $6.99 a bottle at Pine Peace Market. I do like fine champagne, but not adulterated. Iron Chef St. John prepared an enormous breakfast for us that we enjoyed on the deck under the overhang.
What are to do in the rain? Drink West Indian Viagra! We had loaded up on Foreign Extra Stout and enjoyed 5 or 6 different types. The blender started early and the horseplay began.
We headed down to the Tap Room at about 3PM with our spirits already high. Our gang is very serious about beer. We are all homebrewers and serial competition medal winners. Big Red and Becky won Best of Show and Homebrewers of the Year in the 4000+ entry National Homebrew Competition in 2005. Four of us are certified beer judges. So, the advent of freshly brewed beer on island was a big development for us. We had a couple of rounds and chatted with Cheech (we met Kevin later in the week) and Meghan. I had brought down three homebrewed beers as a gift to the guys.
Next stop was the Gecko Gazebo for a quick one. The rain drove a crowd to Mongoose Junction, so we just had one round. At 4:30, we headed down to the Beach Bar for the forum gathering.
We had a good turnout at the October 28 forum gathering. Randy and Marcia were there talking about the excitement of concrete deliveries to their new villa Reef Madness going up high above Coral Bay. MrB and MrsB were in fine style. Brad and KellyAna brought some Southern flair. Gene and Eileen from Blue Caribe had the biggest smiles in the crowd. Nascarfan and Becky were very relaxed. Linda and Mr. Linda checked in, they are building a house in Coral Bay. Our gang - Becky, Big Red, Pat, Janet and Sweet Christine were on a mission. Chet and Mrs. Chet we met at the airport and invited them to join us - Chet's now active on the forum. STJ Ruth popped and completed the picture. I'm sure I left someone out? Thanks to STJ Ruth for corrections.
Kirk (shown with KellyAna) was intensely blissed out. We were looking forward to staying with him at the Tamarind Court on Saturday and Sunday nights.
BongoBongo Jeff had his camera and was doing his on-stjohn.com schtick - really nice guy living a dream. It's easy to be jealous of him. Here's Jeff talking to Marcia and Eileen. Jeff did interviews of some of the gang. We came across as more sober than we really were - http://www.on-stjohn.com/2007/11/12/a-forum-gathering/
After the Beach Bar quieted down we took a couple of party casualties home for a nap. The rest of us hit the Quiet Mon and Woody's for a couple of hours, after which I was running out of energy. Back at the villa the party casualties got up for a couple more hours of reindeer play. I got gored.
Day 2 - Monday - Francis Bay, Allesandra Dinner with Forum Pals
Another big breakfast and Mimosas. We packed up our nearly large enough cooler and headed to Francis Bay to meet MrB and MrsB as well as KellyAna and Brad. Francis Bay is such a great place. The place was pretty empty. I guess Mondays and threatening rain kept people away. We camped out to the left of the trail and proceeded to holler, drink beers in the water, and generally make a spectacle. Exactly the kind of fun I love. Most of the folks did some snorkeling. Sweet Christine and I kept an eye on the cooler. 10 people can work through a case and a half of Presidente pretty darn fast, but Brad saved the day with a run to Love City Mini Mart for reinforcements.
Dinner was at MrB and MrsB's villa Allesandra with KellyAna and Brad joining us later. This is a wonderful villa. It is laid out in a serious of layers - kitchen and dining room, down to lanai with hot tub, down to swimming pool. The effect is that if you are in the kitchen you can pretty much see everything that is going on. Plus, there are lots of nooks and areas to hang by yourself. The lanai has a big table with easily room for 10. Dinner was great. MrB made some killer grilled chicken. Janet made pork tenderloin with black beans. The rest of the evening is a relaxed blur. We were goofing off, telling stories, and (apparently) getting bit by mosquitoes. This was a great relaxed evening, one of my favorite of the trip.
