Twenty five visits -- but probably not a twenty sixth.

Repeat visitor Edward Holub said this was how he felt this week as he enjoyed his vacation at the Palm Reef Hotel -- which is set to close next month.

"Bermuda is important to me. It has been for 25 visits,'' he told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The 78-year-old Pennsylvania resident -- he has a second home in Maryland -- first visited the Island with his wife of 54 years, Jane, in 1981.

"She loves the place as much as I do. We principally come back because of the people and this hotel. They have made us feel like we are coming home whenever we visit.'' News that Palm Reef would close on November 18 after eight years of operation surfaced last week. General manager and co-owner Bridget Marshall said she hoped the move would not be permanent and that the hotel would either be sold or reopened.

It was forced to close as it had failed to meet Fire Service requirements that all hotels with three-storey areas needed sprinklers in those areas. mrs.

Marshall said Palm Reef could not afford the costly equipment.

Mr. Holub said the news "breaks my heart''.

"I feel really sad about it. This may be my last trip.'' Mr. Holub was invited by former college buddy Conrad Englehardt who owned the hotel when it was the Inverurie.

Mr. Englehardt started inviting fellow Cornell University graduates from the Class of '42 to visit the Island at reduced rates during the off-season months in 1971.

Mr. Holub said he wished he had started visiting when he was first invited but was so busy with his job at Union Carbide Corporation that he was unable to accept the invitation.

It took a severe illness and his wife opening his mail to get him to make the first trip.

"I was in hospital with internal bleeding when my wife saw Conrad's invitation. She asked me what it was about and I said `All right, since I am getting well, we'll go'.'' When the Inverurie later became the Palm Reef, the Holubs continued to visit.

"We still love the place,'' said Mr. Holub.

"When Bridget Marshall took over, she continued the great treatment,'' he explained.

Since his first visit, continued Mr. Holub, the Island had appeared to become more crowded but "the people are still great''.

Mr. Holub said he had visited other locations around the world but "the people there are just not the same as here''.

"That is the Island's biggest asset, the people and their politeness. When we are coming back to this place I always write in my diary: `It's just like coming home'.

"When you are sitting in the hotel dining room on the water's edge at night, there is no other place like it on the Island.'' And Mr. Holub singled out the crews on the Government ferry boats for their kindness.

"You cannot find nicer people anywhere in this world,'' he said.

HOME SWEET HOME -- This painting by Winslow Homer realised a record for the artist at Christie's June auction in New York. The American Paintings sale was partly organized by art expert Paul Provost. (Photo: Christie's New York)