Not easy at all to pick one photograph from all the ones we received.
In fact we had a big job whittling the entries down to 20 finalists as this year the standard was so high, but after much toooing and frooooing we settled on this image.
I suppose the mixture of sun, sand, blue waters, hammock and the fella obviously charged with the stressful job of 'Keep an eye on the boat' pretty much sums it up.
Here is the response from the Lucky Winner:
Dear Virgin Traders Staff -
We can't tell you how excited we were to get the news that we had been selected as the 2006 photo contest winners. We obviously knew that we were up against some stiff competition -- some of the shots looked like picture postcards.
While I hate to admit it, all I did was submit the picture for consideration. The shot was actually taken by Joanne - my bride of 42 years.
As noted in the caption, I had the stressful job of keeping an eye on the VT 56' Horizon in the background. Joanne was good enough to keep me supplied with Red Stripe from the Soggy Dollar Bar while taking pictures. Yes - that is actually me in the hammock. After all - being Captain has some privileges!!
As you know - this will be our 7th time returning to the BVI and 5th time to the Virgin Traders docks. Once we found the promised land of the BVI's several years ago we actually started chartering bareboat with one of your competitors headquartered out of St. Thomas. After 2 disappointing charters with them, we turned to Virgin Traders on the basis of some very strong recommendations. Once we landed on your docks we've never looked back.
We've chartered both the 48' and 56' Horizons over the past several years.
Without exception, the boats have been meticulously maintained and the professionalism and friendly personalities of your staff certainly sets the example for others to follow.
Whenever the sleet, snow or rain is flying up north, all we have to do is go online to check www.virgintraders.com and it instantly brings us back to paradise. Note that our screensaver is a shot of Deadman's Bay off Peter Island.
We've already booked our flights for mid October and the bags are almost packed as well. Thanks again - and just keep doing what you do best!!
With our most sincere appreciation.
Jim & Joanne Jadul
There were a large number of truly excellent images any one of which we could have selected but our hearty congratulations go to Jim Jadul of Boston MA up there in the frozen north and we look forward to seeing him and his family down here again soon.
Our thanks go to all of you that sent your photographs in, the response was stunning this year. Most of the images you sent we have posted to this website.
We will most definitely repeat this again next year so please continue to 'snap away'.
Jim Jadul, well done and thankyou.