The whole setting was beyond our wildest dreams. We had planned this vacation all year and now it was here. The long flight was worth it as we stepped off the plane, greeted by a smiling customs officer and the manager from the local bank. He told us that everything was set, and that his driver would escort us to the boat that would take us to our private island. At least it was ours for the next two weeks. The island belonged to an uncle of mine who had surprised me at our wedding with the offer. At the time, we had both just started new jobs, and it was not until now that we could take the time off.
What I figured would be a simple launch to take us a short distance turned out to be a 74 foot Hong Kong built copy of a Bertram Motor Cruiser. The driver carried our luggage and the Captain greeted us on the dock, introducing himself as Mike, and then introduced us to the crew, which turned out to be his wife, Dana and a daughter, who Mike said was the best damn engineer he knew off, Claire. Blushing the woman held out her hand to shake both of ours, telling us to pay no attention the 'old man' with a laugh in her voice. The two women made ready to cast off, as Mike led the two of us to the bridge. Once there he handed me an envelope, sealed with wax and bearing the address of a law office from Seattle. I recognized my Uncle Karl's handwriting, and asked Mike if he knew what this was all about, as I had talked to him a month ago. He nodded, but asked me to hold off any questions until they left port. Mystified, we followed his directions to the main cabin. I carried you over the threshold, telling you, "After all, this was the honeymoon we had not been able to take before."