2004 Puerto Rico Trip

Troop 1, Bronxville, 2004 Puerto Rico Trip
Christmas Camp at Camp Guajataka,
Puerto Rico Council, BSA
December 26,2004 to December 30,2004

Troop 1 is organizing a trip to Puerto Rico this winter during the Christmas break.  Both Scouts and Adults are welcome to attend.  We will limit the total size of the group to 40 people.  Group inclusion is on a first come, first served basis, based on date of your deposit.
 

The plan is to leave from a New York airport on Dec 26, 2004. Preferably, we will fly to the airport at Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on the western end of the Island. This airport is closer to the camp, and hopefully we can get tickets at a reasonable rate to this airport.  Otherwise we will fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico. San Juan is a longer drive to the camp, but the airfare price may justify the driving time.  You may need to arrange your own transportation to/from the airport in New York because we are trying to hold down costs.  Details will be worked out about ride sharing as the trip nears.

Camp Guajataka is located in the Central Highlands of Puerto Rico between the municipalities of San Sebastián, Lares and Camuy. The camp is on the western end of the island, about a 100-mile drive from San Juan.  It's about 340 acres in size, and borders Lake Guajataka on it's south and west sides. The camp is 11 miles south of the main road (Route 2) near the Atlantic Ocean. The facilities are really nice.  The camp is mainly flat, similar to Yawgoog: there is electricity, all the campsites have flush toilets, and there are steel roofed huts.  There is a large pool, a really nice COPE course, and a full water front facility. They will be running merit badge classes the week that we are there.

The camp fee is $65 per person, which includes on site programs and meals. Meals are served in a large mess hall.

Transportation to and from the Airport in Puerto Rico is estimated at about $100 per van load of about 15 persons.  This would be about $8 per person each way, $16 round trip, assuming we have a full van.  If not, it will be a little more per person.  We will also have to tip the driver something.

The flight costs seem to be about $400 to $450 a person.

• Mr. Nachman found the cheapest flights-$250/person- at Spirit Airlines, but the available flight times, itinerary and layovers would make the flights undesirable.
• American Airlines will give us a price at about $460.00/person if we book now. This would be a non-stop to San Juan.

• The cheapest airline with a non-stop flight to Puerto Rico appears to be JetBlue.  I have spoken to the group sales person but they can’t give me a specific quote yet because they only book 8 months in advance.  The group sales person at JetBlue airlines suggests the flight would be about $375 but wouldn’t guarantee it. When flights open up, they will need a 50% deposit immediately, and the rest in some time after that.

  One thing is clear, we need to start collecting money now, so that when flights are available we can book the airline tickets immediately.

Totaling the costs:

The cost of the trip will be about $500.00 to $550.00 and we will refund any leftover money equally to everyone that attends.  We will collect an initial fee to purchase the tickets. 

To reserve your space on the trip we will need a deposit of $250/person so that when air tickets become available we can book your seat.  We also need to reserve the spaces at the camp pretty soon. 

Cancellations are always a touchy point; here is the policy on canceling:

• If you decide to cancel I can’t guarantee any refunds of the airfare costs once I book the airline tickets. These will be non-refundable airline tickets.
• I don’t know the camp’s policy on refunding deposits for people that cancel a reservation.  I will only refund cancellations when the money is transferable to another camper or the camp refunds the fee to the troop.  There will be no refunds should the person decide to leave the camp early.

Please make checks in the amount of $250/person payable to “Boy Scout Troop 1”.
Please write the boy's name in the memo section of the check. 
(e.g., deposit for Peter Lenahan, PR trip)

You can hand in the application at a troop meeting or mail the application and check to:

Peter Lenahan
25 Sylvan Avenue
Tuckahoe, NY 10707
779-1085

Photos of the camp are located at:
   http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=2bsj0nll.89xynhc9&x=1&y=4kdim3