Chartering in St. Martin with a one and 4 year old.

[Mkronquist]

I spoke with a representative at Sunsail and while they do not have any type of gates for the back of the Leopard 44, they do offer the safety netting installed for $130. Thought this might be helpful information for other parents of small children looking into charters.

[FecklessDolphin]

We are going to St Martin in 6 days with our children, ages 3.5 and 5.5. I decided to get climbing harnesses from REI and will rig a jackline. Also we are bringing our own lifejackets. The kids have liked the Stohlquist Nemo which are open in the back and are not bad on not days. Our older one has outgrown the Nemo so we bought him a Stohlquist Escape and have already taken him to the pool with it (together with mask, snorkel and fins). We are bringing two lifejackets per kid so they have one to wear after swimming. We have a pull-pin alarm which we are going to rig on a trip line across the companionway at night just so if a kid decides to go on deck to pee off the boat or something like that, a 90dB alarm will sound. We are thinking of the first two nights at Grand Case to get the kids used to the boat and to do a couple swims off the boat just so that if someone does fall in at some point, it won't be their first time in the water. We are also going to practice some man overboard drills in the charter boat. Our kids have done many overnights with us on our own boat, a J/27 on a lake in Minnesota