Sorry about the delay in posting this after my comments the other day regarding my visit to the BVIs. I was exhausted from all the travel and still had a bunch of things waiting for me when I got home. Here’s what my thoughts (and impressions) are.

1.The islands themselves are beautiful.
a. Most of them look exactly alike so unless you just want to sail, find a place you like to snorkel and set the anchor.

2. There is a tremendous amount of poverty amongst the folks living there. Many dilapidated one room shacks and yards filled with rusted out cars and trucks. Many needed to be hauled to a dump though I doubt there is one there.

3. Prices for everything were extremely high, from a hamburger at 16.00 (in a place we wouldn’t eat at in the states) to a cab ride from the airport to the marina at 100.00 in a beat up fifteen-year-old van.

4. The roads were narrow and in bad shape. I aged ten years on the ride to the marina in the rain.

5. There is a general unkempt appearance to everything and you need to be prepared for everything to occur on “island time” when you’re waiting for service. That is everywhere, from restaurants to marine vendors and even the company we were chartering from.

6. I doubt American Eagle would attempt to get away with the antique airplane they were flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Tortola if it were in the states. It was very old and when we were getting ready to return, it lifted off, circled the runway once and landed again, due to “mechanical problems” and we had to wait five hours to board another flight, making us miss all of our stateside flights and turning the trip into a two day affair. The flight into Tortola in a thunderstorm was so frightening that EVERYONE on the plane burst into applause when the plane finally came to a stop. I’m sixty three, flown many times and that’s the first time that every occurred to me.

7. My wife and I had always wanted to visit the BVIs and perhaps we were expecting too much. For my money, I’d just as soon cruise the Florida Keys. There are nice places to see and visit, infrastructure to get you around once you arrive and the water is still clear enough to snorkel. It was also very hot the entire time we were there. If we didn’t have A/C on the boat I don’t think we would have gotten much sleep. Call me a pansy if you like.

8. Peter Island is spectacular. If I could fly in on my private jet and stay in one of the five thousand to thirteen thousand dollar a night villas I'd probably think it was the great place on the planet. Unfortunately, none of my Powerball tickets has paid off.

9. Regarding my comment comparing the airport in Miami to a third world country, it had nothing to do with the facilities and everything to do with the citizenry. (Race is not the issue as one BB'er implied). English has become the second language in Miami. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer. It is no longer the United States I grew up in. I know many people are probably thrilled with the “Global Melting Pot” that Jimmy Carter must have envisioned when he gave Florida away. I didn’t share that vision then nor now.