Charter - Martinique to Tobago Cays Experience

[AKMark]

We just came off an awesome 2 week charter from Martinique to Tobago Cays and back. Before we selected a charter outfit, I was looking for reviews (good or bad) and couldn't find very many, so I offer this up to anyone shopping for a charter boat in the Windwards.

We ended up using Regis Guillemot out of Le Marin, Martinique and I can give them a very high recommendation. Although there was a little bit of a language barrier, they were very professional, responsive and the boat was in great shape. We will, for sure, rent from them again. We have used The Moorings (and other outfits) before and I'm glad we looked at alternatives. In addition to having better customer service than we experienced from The Moorings in Greece last year, the cost was less than half for a comparable vessel.

Embarrassing note: the day we checked out, as I paid the balance of the boat rental, my credit card was declined. I knew bloody well it was because the charge was coming from outside the US and that's why I had called the CC company a week beforehand to warn them and they said "no problem". Now it was a Sunday so the bank was closed and Monday was a holiday (MLK). We were in a pickle and I was shocked when Regis Guillemot told us to go ahead with the charter and to call them on Tuesday when the bank was straightened out.

So they let us sail off with their $1/2 million dollar boat, a declined credit card and a handshake. I was very thankful since it would have put a big dent in our schedule if we had to wait in the harbor until Tuesday.

We had some pretty strong winds (38+ knts) and seas, but it was an incredible trip. Attached photo is from our anchorage in Tobago Cays, and approaching the Pitons, St. Lucia. Details are in our blog, which is linked in my signature line.

[colemj]

Did the Tobago Cays outlaw monohulls?

[AKMark]

Originally Posted by colemj

Did the Tobago Cays outlaw monohulls?

Ha! There were a few there, but clearly the minority. We felt like we were on a cover photo from Multihulls magazine.

There was one mono there that was gorgeous. It had totally blown by us on the run down, like we were standing still. When we got closer to it anchored in Tobago Cays, we finally realized how big it was. Turns out it was a Swan 100 (!). Don't feel so bad now about it blowing by us.