Day 1 of most trips is a travel day and this was no exception. For us, 5 AM alarm, 8:30 AM flight, 11:30 arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 5:00 PM departure to Tortola, arriving at 5:45 and at our sea-side hotel by 6:30. A long day.

Sightseeing wise, we had some nice views of the British Virgin Islands flying in. You can see various harbors similar to those we’ll be visiting, albeit on different islands in the BVI chain. A nice foretaste of what’s to come.

Our hotel, which we’ll be at only one night, is very nice. We have a cottage near the water. There’s a restaurant that we’ll try out a bit later. We kinda pigged out in San Juan eating mashed up plantains and yellow rice and pork and who-knows-what. But we’ll rise to the occasion. The only catch is that the hotel, while line-of-sight from the airport, is on the other side of a significant mountain that the taxi had to climb and descend. East End, the town through which we passed, still shows the signs of hurricanes.

Tomorrow Mike is going to pick us up, drive to the airport (30 minutes) where we will gather up Jeff and Carter (they’re overnighting in San Juan) and then go to Nanny Cay to start our yachting adventure. The wind forecast for Saturday and Sunday is for calm (5 mph) winds so our serious sailing may have to be delayed until Monday where ideal (15 mph) winds are forecast.

And dinner was great – outside, gentle breeze, warm temps, crashing waves in the background. Coconut shrimp, tropical chicken salad and Anagada Island conch fritters. Conch fritters are a local specialty, I guess, although I’m wondering if it’s like having aligator bites in Florida – something the tourists do to brag about back home. Anagada Island is one our ports of call so maybe we can try the real thing. But it was all good and we’re ready to wrap up this 16+ hour day.