Travel with Dale & Margaret

The long title of this blog entry is a spoof of American Airlines’ (AA for short) marketing gimmick of naming everything with their moniker AA.  They have AAnytime fares, AAward tickets, etc.

Last night, after doing some shopping at the mall in El Segundo (see related post soon about that) I got to the airport at about 9 pm.  I checked with the kids and found out that Wes was being dropped off about 10 and Jenny and Geoff, taking advantage of being in LA for a couple hours, were having dinner with their mother and would arrive about 10:30.  Cutoff time was 10:50 so we should be OK.  When I went to check-in I found out that American had still preserved the two free bags (instead of $25 for the first and $50 for the second) policy for “elite” airline passengers like me!  So, I figured I’d wait for Geoff since he had “my” second bag.

Wes was on-time and the others showed up a bit after 10:30.  The baggage lines had backed up so I drug my two bags over about 200 feet to the first class line (another benefit of being life-time Platinum) where I was waited on immediately.  Up the escalator we went only to find the absolute slowest security line EVER!  It was like the entire place was in slow or still motion.  Nothing moving for five minutes at a time.  After about 30 minutes we managed to eek our way through the time warp figuring we would arrive at 42B after the boarding had started.  Not so!  Our flight had been delayed from 11:35 pm to 12:30 am.  Then to 1 and finally 1:30 am.  Ugh!

While we were waiting I managed to get our connection in the morning changed from 10 am to 11 am and “upgrade” the three kids to exit row seats next to me.  Score!  Then, I convinced Wes and Jenny (not Geoff who was all setup on the floor with a power outlet editing pictures on his Mac) to go to the Admiral’s Club with me.  They were very impressed with the cushy seats and would not need any convincing to go to the club when we got to San Juan!

The American gate attendant was actually honest when he announced on the PA that someone had just screwed up scheduling the planes and had put the wrong plane at the gate.  They had to find another plane, get it cleaned and switch planes at the gate.  When we boarded, the pilot made up a story about a maintenance issue with the first plane and tried the old “you wouldn’t want us flying a plane that had a problem, would you?” line — only one way to answer that question…

The 757 had seats that were hAArd as a rock but at least we had some leg room in our “deluxe” exit row.  Pity the poor other people who had their knees in their lap for the 6 ½ hour flight (especially for 6’2” people like Wes!)  We arrived in San Juan at just about 10:50 am in time to find out that our 11 am flight had already departed.  Off to the Customer NoService line to get re-booked on the 1:45 pm flight and our $7 food voucher.  Funny thing is you couldn’t even eat a meal at AA’s Admiral’s club with their $7.  But, after hanging out at the club for an hour and a half we boarded the puddle jumper and flew to Tortola.  The beautiful shades of blue, green and puffy white clouds foretold what we would soon be experiencing on the ground and in the water!   We had AArived four hours late but we were in pAArAAdise.  AAll was good again.

At the airport we plundered through the immigration and customs forms and lines and went outside to find a cab.  I found a cab driver and tried to negotiate a bit with him as I’d been told was possible.  Nothing going.  He actually said that after he took us to our hotel we’d see that it was worth $20 more, not less!  Geoff really enjoyed hearing his stories about the island, his work as a developer and his four kids.  He also told us about the vegetation on the island, especially the trees…almond, mango, etc.  The ride was about 45 minutes, some of it steep and windy (not with wind but curvy…funny how the same word is used for both) and we eventually arrived at the Long Bay Resort.  The highlight of our ride was the cab driver telling us that “A belly full of anything on an island is a good thing!”.  Hopefully this is a foretelling of things to come…

Next thing you know, Wes and Jenny had their scuba gear and were ready for their lesson, Geoff and I have taken the bags to the room and 30 minutes later we were all in a jeep heading to the West End landing to a dive boat.  We motored out to a small island about a mile West, towards St. Thomas, anchored the boat, put on our gear and did a back roll into the warm, aqua blue water.  After adjusting our weights to achieve neutral buoyancy we were able to enjoy lots of coral, a number of small fish and a turtle (although I personally didn’t see it).  We tried out my Canon S90 camera in the submersible plastic case and it seemed to work great!  (See the photo gallery below.)

After about an hour we passed our gear to the guys on the boat, climbed up the rear ladder and took the short ride back to the Jolly Roger dock.  Pina Colada’s followed and then we loaded ourselves into a pickup and drove back to Long Bay.  Sequential showers were followed by a trip to the hotel restaurant.  They convinced us that this was THE place to eat and they were right.  Goeff’s whole red snapper was fantastic as was the jerk chicken, the baby back ribs and Jenny’s vegetarian burritos.  With the great butternut soup, the Caesar salad and the desert (I had a great pecan pie) we were stuffed!

Geoff, Jen and I went to the lounge to do picture processing, finish up the on-line diving course and to work on blog articles respectively.  When we returned, Wes was passed out on the bed and next thing you know, all of us were converted to island time, drifting off to the sound of the palm trees blowing in the gentle island breeze and the waves breaking on the white sandy beaches.

Here are the Picture Galleries for today.  You can get larger versions in the Mobile Me Gallery with the link at the very bottom of this post:

BVI Day 1 Picture Gallery: http://gallery.me.com/travelwithdmcontent/100719

I flew to LAX today at noon on Southwest.  It brought back memories as this used to be my “every other week” trip when I had a company in SoCal.  I figured that I’d go to my dentist and tax guy while I’m close to Manhattan Beach since I’m overdue on both.

I also keep putting off switching my dentist from my old friend and neighbor Arthur (and partner Bea who works with him as a dental hygienist) so they squeezed me in for a 3:30 appointment.  Their office is in an office complex next to a building that is the Miami Dade County Police Department.  Well, not really, but this is the building where they film most of CSI Miami.

Every time I come to the dentist I get to see them filming a different episode!  Today they were filming a scene inside the white Miami Prison bus, another scene in front of the building which normally is the wrap-up scene at the end of the episode and finally another scene with the prison bus only this time all the orange jump suit clad prisoners were outside the bus.  Lights, camera, ACTION!!! (You only get this excitement in LA!).

To top it off I figured I’d take a picture of Arthur and Bea for this article (and a little PR for them since they are using Facebook for some promotions now).  Arthur went into the room where Bea was working on a customer and posed with her…the customer flat on his back in between them.  I asked his permission to take the picture and he said “Sure, no problem!”.  Arthur than told me that this guy was famous in that he was the actor who posed as Jack Stephan, the TV plumber on countless commercials while I was growing up in LA.  He sat up and spit and let me take his picture and sure enough, it was Jack Stephan, TV plumber!  Turns out he’s looking for some work so if you need a classic TV plumber, he’s available.

What does this have to do with our trip to the BVI’s?  Coincidences being what they are, it turns out that my dentist and his family (Jeffrey and Steven and their girlfriends) had just gone to the BVI’s to charter a 38′ catamaran in December (what are the odds!  This is almost exactly what we are getting ready to do!).  So, while Bea was scaling my teeth I got the lowdown on what to do and where to go.  I am now on assignment to try to sneak onto Neckar Island…the one owned by Virgin’s CEO Richard Branson.  Seems there is some disagreement between Arthur and Bea as to whether it’s private or a public resort.  They didn’t have time so we’ll check it out.  They also said that Normal Island was the best place for snorkeling.

To sum it up, they had a fantastic time and said that we will have an equal or better time due to the smaller number of people on our boat (there is just the 4 of us).  Back in 2000 we went on a similar trip to the BVI’s and brought Arthur’s son Steven who was probably about 10 years old at the time and my next door neighbor.  Now, Wes and Steven work together at Cabrillo Yacht Club in their youth program and Steven is Wes’ boss.  Arthur’s older son Jeffrey is Geoff’s age and they used to be best friends too!

After the dentist I went and did my second favorite thing in life…meet with my Manhattan Beach ocean view tax guy named Martial to finalize my 2009 taxes.  I think I’ve heard the saying that this is as much fun as getting your teeth drilled.  I guess that’s why I do both on the same day!  He really does have a view of the Pacific Ocean from his office and he always does a great job of making me feel not so bad about paying taxes.  More like getting your teeth cleaned than drilled I guess.

Since I’m still having withdrawals about not writing about the history of interesting places I’ll give you a little history of Manhattan Beach.  After all, why in the world is a beach on the “left coast” named Manhattan?

It started out as a rancho of about 22,000 acres along the coast.  After the original owners died and his family was forced to sell it to pay estate taxes it finally ended up in the hands  of developers.  In 1888 the Santa Fe Railroad put in the first rail line to Redondo Beach and the development of the sand dunes got underway.  There were three main areas being developed.  One was named Manhattan after the real Manhattan in New York.  No particular reason was given for this.  One of the other areas was simply called Shore Acres.  As development continued the three areas grew together and it was decided to come up with a common name.  A coin flip was made between Manhattan and Shore Acres and Manhattan won.  In 1927, the postmaster, frustrated by the fact that there were about 15 Manhattans around the country, added “Beach” to the name and thus was born the famous Manhattan Beach!

While we are at it let’s take a look at two other interesting tidbits about this area.  In the 20’2 and 30’s, the Hollywood studios used this area to film desert scenes.  Today, right across the street from Arthur’s office, there is a major studio complex (Boston Legal and many other TV shows were/are filmed there) in addition to filming done at other locations here and in Redondo Beach like CSI.  Last but not least, in the early 20’s, as development took place, it was all they could do to get rid of the sand that was excavated in the area.  Some was used as the base for the field in the LA Coliseum.  But the most amazing thing is Waikiki Beach in Hawaii was just coral heads at the time…no sandy beach!  The developers researched where in the world they could get sand and selected Manhattan Beach as the best sand around.  It just so happened that they had more than they knew what to do with so they moved it on ships out of San Pedro and created what is now those beautiful white sandy beaches.  To this day, Waikiki’s beaches are made of Manhattan Beach sand!

Here’s the Picture Gallery for today:

Welcome

Hi. This is Dale and I’d like to welcome you to our new blog for the big trip to the BVI’s (British Virgin Islands) with my kids and me.  The purpose of the trip is to spend some time together, relax a bit and get in some great scuba diving and sailing.  If you haven’t already, check out the About option at the top of the page for some more background information.  But now let’s get to our cast of characters:

Geoff with his slightly bearded and medium hair length look.

Geoff is living on his beautiful 37′ Tayana sailboat (more on this later on) in Northern California.  He graduated from college last year (no proof yet but he’s working on it).  He is a professional sailing instructor, photographer and budding entrepreneur and he’s getting his boat ready to to sail around the world.  He will be our captain since he’s an ASA (American Sailing Association) certified instructor for just about everything as well as having his license for very large boats.  Like his younger brother he also has extensive experience in championship youth match racing.  Geoff is also a PADI certified scuba diver.

Jenny with her “I know how to cook anything…no problem” look.

Jenny is living in a beautiful old Craftsman house in a delightful part of Berkeley after graduating from UCLA last year.  Like my wife, she loves to cook and is a great chef.  She is currently working at Chez Pannise, one of the greatest restaurants in the world.  That’s her boyfriend Erik looking on.

Wes with his “why do you need this fancy camera Dad?” look.

Wes lives in Southern California while he attends a community college.  He is in charge of youth sailing at a major SoCal yacht club, has a sailing photography business and also does web development in his spare time.  He just got back from New Zealand where the King Harbor Yacht Club youth match racing team (where he is the “middle man”) came in 8th in the world!

The boys and me this past Christmas.

I live with my wife, dog and cat in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  I’m going to turn 56 this year (wow, that’s starting to sound old!).  I’m not doing much of anything other than traveling, exercising, photography and eating my wife’s great cooking!  I am an experienced sailor having raced my J120 and J105 in SoCal with both Wes and Geoff and am also ASA bareboat certified and a PADI certified diver.

But, what getting there early will do is: 1. Allow Jenny and Wes to start the water-based portion of their scuba training on Friday and hopefully finish on Saturday. They are taking the PADI on-line course before their arrival. 2. Allow Geoff and me to make a couple dives on Friday and all four of us can go on a boat dive on Saturday…Geoff and I will just have our own guide. 3. Get us all settled at a beach-front hotel so we can relax a bit before getting on our bareboat Sunsail 38′ catamaran charter on Sunday at 6 pm. 4. Allow us to have five full days and one half day on the sailboat without interrupting it for scuba training. Since the time the kids can dedicate to this break is limited it sounds like good justification to me for flying all night.  Since I have over 5 million miles flying all over the place for the past 30 years, I’ve had my share of red eyes, including with minor league hockey teams (no showers before flying!) and it will bring back fond memories.  And, as lifetime Platinum on American Airlines I will get an aisle exit row.  The rest of the kids are spread out all over the plane. Stick with us.  This blog promises to be interesting assuming we can get internet access somewhere in our travels.  Each of the kids have promised to write entries and be honest about how the trip is going.