As warm, moist breezes drifted in off the Caribbean, President Clinton settled into seaside solitude with his vacation reading: two books with Irish themes and a government report on gulf war illness.

On the first full day of a four-day Virgin Islands retreat, the first family - Clinton, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter, Chelsea - stayed out of public view Thursday in a private villa called the Sand Dollar.

“They are relaxing and enjoying themselves,” said deputy White House press secretary Mary Ellen Glynn.

Although golf is a near-constant ambition for a vacationing Clinton, he didn’t play Thursday. Glynn said Clinton’s vacation reading included “The Greening of the White House” by Irish author Conor O’Clery and “Irish Lace” by Andrew Greeley.

Clinton also was reading a report prepared for him by the commission on gulf war illness.