Looking for Caribbean Charter Ideas

[simfr]

I am planning a charter in Jan and looking for some ideas I may not have thought of. We will be taking our two kids with us (the older is 5 and has chartered with us before) and flying out of Ohio. First mate has two requests:

1) Somewhere easy to get to since we will have both kids
2) Dinner ashore in the evenings

Flights are actually the toughest part from this neck of the woods but the usual spots are easy (St Thomas, San Juan, St Martin etc).

The obvious answer is BVI's but we have chartered there and St Martin several times now.

I have considered going back to St Martin but going down to St Kitts/Nevis. I have also heard quite a bit about the spanish virgins but I am not sure my wife would be up for the upwind trip back. Is there a way to charter out of Puerto Rico and go to the spanish virgins from there?

Open to any thoughts of other options you may have. Flights to St Lucia don't look too bad either.

We will have another couple joining us that has sailed with us before -- (I will have a good pair of hands to help)

[Hud3]

St Maarten to Nevis is usually a close reach, with a broad reach going back. There are plenty of good restaurant choices here, several right on the beach. Between the two islands, you can spend three days enjoying the sightseeing and beaches. Stop at St Barths on your way back, and with what you'll do on St Martin/Maarten, you've put together a nice week of chartering, with a couple of ocean daysails thrown in.

St. Lucia is a nice destination, also. Rodney Bay, Marigot Bay and Soufriere (The Pitons) are the three anchorages there. Then you can easily sail up to Martinique for a change of pace.

Let me know if I can help with any info about Nevis and St. Kitts.

[kchmelik]

Hi there,
I'll preface this by saying I'm no experienced sailor by any stretch of the imagination but I have gone on so far 2 caribbean bareboat charters with friends. First was St Martin/Anguilla/St Barts and the second was the Grenadines. First trip was great (tho we got bumped to a cat at the last minute) and St Barts is beautiful - BUT, the Grenadines is amazing. We started in Grenada which I don't think I'd do again b/c you have to sail the entire length up the island to get to the other locations. But, if you start in Canouan you're in easy reach and easy sails of great spots. Bequia was amazing, Mustique was spectacular, Tobago Cays - best snorkeling to date. It's much less tourist-y than other places - which I loved - but it's still easy to get good food/drinks/dining etc. Maybe sly to St Lucia and sail south? Anyway, that's my 2 cents. We're headed to Guadaloupe next month to explore the nearby islands for 10 days. If anyone has any suggestions on sailing in this area - let me know! We're not sure whether to sail South to Dominica/Martinique etc or north to Nevis and maybe Antigua/Barbuda. The captain is looking into the options and ease of sail... we'll have two newbie couples with us.
Anyway - have a great trip - you can't go wrong in the Caribbean really!

[Maverick]

Grenadines is the top; South of Cariacou is even better. Grenada is amazing. Guadeloupe and its archipelago (les saintes, marie galante and petite terre) are gorgeous..... The whole caribbean is a gem. Enjoy..
Are you looking for bareboat charter or crewed?

[sailingaway221]

I have heard amazing stories of Guadeloupe and the French islands and reserves around there.... but have not gone there in my boat yet..... might be interesting!

[maytrix]

In addition to the above ideas, what about the USVI? You mention BVI, but many people chartering in the BVI don't visit the USVI. You've got St. Thomas, St. John and even St. Croix (if the charter company allows it - I know Moorings does).

[simfr]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. The grenadines would be very nice but getting there with two kids for a one week trip would be tough.

HUD3,
The St Martin to Nevis sounds like it might be perfect. We could hit some of our favorites from St Martin/St Barts and something new with the stop in Nevis. Any suggestions you would have are greatly appreciated. The kids will be happiest on a beach. My wife will be happiest if someone else is cooking and cleaning up dinner. I will be on a boat and happy regardless.

For St Lucia, I was having trouble finding many charter companies. Do you have any suggestions? Are the conditions around St Lucia fair enough for a couple of kids? The flights there are a bit tougher than St Martin but still feasible.

Thanks again.

[simfr]

Maverick,

Looking for bareboat.

thanks

[Troubadour52993]

I chartered Sunsail out of Martinique and we cruised Martinique and St Lucia. Flights into Martinique are not easy, it seemed almost easier to fly to St Lucia and then take a ferry to Martinique. The two airports on St Lucia are on opposite sides of the island and it was $$ to take a van (8 of us with luggage)

I also chartered SVI out of Puerto Rico, Puerto Del Rey on the east coast with Sun Yachts, I think they're absorbed into Sunsail now. We spent most of our time around Culebra and Culebrita. Never made it to Vieques so I want to stop there on my next trip through.

Only thing about the SVI trip is there wasn't a marina we could pull into to refill water tanks, take hollywood showers, etc. The Martinique/St Lucia trip was better in that regard, but we had to deal with boat boys once we got south of Rodney Bay.

[Lucky Larry]

Under a full disclosure, I'll say up front that this is where my boat is in charter. Take a look at Puerto Rico Yacht Charters - Bareboat Sailing & Catamaran Charters Spanish Virgin Islands. They are an easy van ride from the San Juan airport with a stop at Sam's or a Super WalMart for provisioning on the way. The Spanish Virgins are awesome. Especially if you're not looking for the bar scene every night (with the kids). Do a search for SailCaribe on Reviews of Hotels, Flights and Vacation Rentals - TripAdvisor and you'll see that these guys take great care of their customers.
P.s. We don't get any more or less if our boat does not go out so I don't consider this as an advertisement. We really enjoy working with them.

LuckyLarry

[bstreep]

Just being honest - with "kids and dinner ashore", charter out of St Thomas. You can spend weeks hopping around the USVI. Culebra and/or St Croix is also a possibility.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by simfr

...HUD3,
The St Martin to Nevis sounds like it might be perfect. We could hit some of our favorites from St Martin/St Barts and something new with the stop in Nevis. Any suggestions you would have are greatly appreciated. The kids will be happiest on a beach. My wife will be happiest if someone else is cooking and cleaning up dinner. I will be on a boat and happy regardless...

For planning purposes, it's 61 nm from Great Bay/Philipsburg to the Pinneys Beach anchorage in Nevis, and 50 nm from Nevis to St Barths. The Trades are usually pretty reliable that time of year, so you can count on a brisk sail.

Pick up a government mooring buoy at the south end of Pinneys Beach, and dinghy to the pier at Charlestown to clear in. Pinneys Beach is 3 miles of sandy beach with gentle waves (if the northerly swells aren't running). There are four beach bar/restaurants nearby on the beach. They all serve pretty darn good food (one of the chefs once worked at at 4 star restaurant). Free WiFi is available at one or more of them. A little further north are three more upscale restaurants that can be reached by dinghy if you to get off the beach. A taxi will take you to other areas of the island, where you'll find some very elegant plantation inns with very good restaurants--Montpelier, The Hermitage, Golden Rock, and Nisbet Plantation.

Things to do...You can sit on the verandah at Double Deuce restaurant with a cold beer, surfing the Internet on your laptop while watching the kids play on the beach and frolic in the Caribbean. Build a bonfire on the beach at night. Take a four hour taxi tour of the island, stopping for lobster salad sandwiches and a glorious view of Redonda and Montserrat off in the distance. Walk into Charlestown to visit the Hamilton Museum and see some interesting Caribbean architecture. Hike up to the ruins of Mountravers, an old sugar plantation great house. Sail over to Majors Bay on St Kitts southeast peninsula to walk the beach and snorkel the rocky points.

If you want to see St Kitts, take the 45 minute ferry ride to Basseterre and hire a taxi for a guided tour of Romney Plantation's garden and the batik factory, see the beautifully restored fort at Brimstone Hill, have an authentic West Indies buffet lunch at Rawlins Plantation, see the artwork at Kate Spencer's studio, stop at the Black Rock lava flow, do a drive-through at elegant Ottley's Plantation, and end up back at The Circus in Basseterre for a little stroll around the town before heading back on the 4 pm ferry to Nevis.

Here's a link to a Nevis tourism blog, and a photo of three of the beach bar/restaurants on Pinneys Beach to whet your appetite! Nevis Island, West Indies - The "Non-Tourist-Trap" Tourism Guide To Nevis, West Indies

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by simfr

...For St Lucia, I was having trouble finding many charter companies. Do you have any suggestions? Are the conditions around St Lucia fair enough for a couple of kids? The flights there are a bit tougher than St Martin but still feasible...

You probably discovered that there's a Moorings charter base in Marigot Bay. There may be some smaller outfits, as well, but since we were cruising in our own boat, I never really paid much attention.

You mentioned that the kids like the beach. In St. Lucia there's a nice beach in the NE corner of Rodney Bay near Pigeon Island, at the Hilton Jalousie Plantation resort between the two Pitons near Soufriere, and there's a little bay where the day-sail "cattlemarans" take their customers for the beach and snorkeling--I think it's called Anse Cochon.

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by maytrix

In addition to the above ideas, what about the USVI? You mention BVI, but many people chartering in the BVI don't visit the USVI. You've got St. Thomas, St. John and even St. Croix (if the charter company allows it - I know Moorings does).

For ease of access by air the U.S. Virgins are great. Fly and charter out of St. Thomas and then do a clockwise loop of St Thomas/St John for a short week of chartering.
- - Or another favorite of mine is to sail to St. Croix - beam reach then up to Viegues and do the south shore. Then from Green Beach up to Fajardo area. Then east down the line of islands to Culebra. From there it is an easy 15nm or less back to St Thomas. All of the loop is off the wind except for the last 15 nm back to St. Thomas. Excellent restaurants and on-shore facilities and tours are available at each place. At least a ten day charter would work best but you could squeeze it into one week if you want to do more sailing then touring.

[simfr]

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions/ideas. I appreciate everyone's time. Here in Ohio it is time to start making plans to put the boats away for the winter. For me, that means looking south. I am sure we will have a wonderful time regardless of where we go. Time to change websites and book our airfare and charter!