We first came to St. John with friends in 1988, rented a house in Coral Bay, and fell in love with the island way of life. After about 10 more trips, we started looking seriously for a parcel of land, and decided to check out the Upper Carolina ridge lot that we hoped would give us a "down island" view, cool evening breezes, and the magic of those special clouds that reflect all the colors of the sunset.

Pulling ourselves up from the road with a rope and climbing a tree on the lot (which was a jungle with a thousand razor sharp plants, prickers and some well-used donkey paths) we thought we could see some of Sir Francis Drake Channel and, with a great leap of faith, we signed the contract and started the search for a builder to bring our dreams to life. We wanted a house that would hopefully withstand hurricane-force winds (having witnessed the post-Hugo destruction firsthand) yet not look like a concrete bunker - in fact we hoped it would resemble an Italian villa. We put our trust in Force Ten, a new construction method from Australia consisting of computer-designed meter-wide panels, that bolt together to form a wind and earthquake resistant structure.

After some delays, three hurricanes, lots of bills, and much patience, our house is finished. When sitting on the upper patio, overlooking the view and sipping a rum and coke, it's still hard for us to believe that it's finally completed, and ready to enjoy.