St. Croix - A futile attempt at astronomy on the water

Planning the Trip

My wife and I lured our son, Andy, and his fiance Melinda, on a February trip to the Caribbean where I was planning on trying out my newly built 8" dobsonian. February 2010 had brutal snows all up and down the east coast, but we managed to get out of D.C. even though Dulles airport was a crazy man's paradise. My telescope was packed in my checked luggage. We ended up in St. Croix pretty much on schedule, but our luggage ended up in Dallas, Texas!

Enjoying the Turquoise Water and Black Skies

So, we made the best of it, figuring we were better off snorkeling in the warm waters than slogging through the snows of D.C. And we were right. We actually had a great time, enjoyed the island, our kids, and even the night sky visually. We rented a nice house on the minimally inhabited east end of the island and discovered Point Udall at the very eastern tip of the island as a completly isolated spot, which would be a great spot to set up a telescope. The sky was really dark with great contrasting stars. Each day I would call the airline to see if our luggage had arrived on St. Croix. Each night the sky was beautifully clear and dark. Finally, the day before we were to go home, the luggage arrived. I assembled the telescope and hoped for one good night. But, along with the luggage came the clouds. So we got a few peeks through sucker holes. In the morning I disassembled the scope and packed our luggage for the flight home. So, what I learned was that the scope traveled well and it wasn't much trouble to assemble. Oh Well - better luck next time.