Headed Down to Live in the US Virgin Islands

[dougdee]

Hi folks,

My name is Doug and a friend of mine and myself are planning to move down to the Us Virgin Islands to live on a catamaran. I have searched the threads as much as time permits me and I haven't found a few things I was wondering about.

One question I was wondering is do any of you grow vegetables or greens onboard? I would imagine the salt air would hinder certain types of growing. Any direction on this topic would certainly be appreciated.

Also, during hurricane season, do people sail out of the storm paths and still charter their boats? The boat we were looking at was docked in Trinidad as to avoid hurricane season and we were curious if charters could be done from there .. or a similar place.

I have tons of questions but don't want to over do my first post .... thanks in advance for any feedback.

Wish you all smooth sailing,

Doug

[bonnelaine]

no wish you smooth sailing life is good heading to the virgin islands wqhile i look forward to the next canadiann clipper .

know nothing about growing greens on board certainly i would think you could grow herbs .
fair winds
let us know how your trip is going
greg

[Vasco]

We have a little herb garden but take it down below in rough weather. The salt air really is bad for it and if any spray gets on it you can forget about it. Last year we had 2 types of parsley, basil and cilantro and hot peppers. The pepper crop was really poor, we got three or four small ones. The same type of pepper plants at home this summer had about a hundred.

[CSY Man]

The Virgin Islands comes in many different flavors and no size fits all:

St. Thomas is a busy tourist machine and should best be avoided unless ya like rush hour traffic and too many impatient people in one place.

St. Croix is the twice the size with the same 50,000 population and a bit more relaxed, but ya can still get robbed and raped if ya are not careful.

St. John is much more relaxed as there is no airport there and a lot less tourists and temptations.
Also less jobs and money.
(Compare it to Iowa vs. New York)

The British and Spanish Virgin Islands are also relaxed and friendly.

If ya wanne get busy and pay off the boat, go to St. Thomas.
If ya want to relax and do nothing, go the St. John.
In between, go to St. Croix.

They are all expensive islands, don't plan on outfitting the boat down there, much cheaper in Florida.

[dougdee]

I appreciate the help folks ....

Greg, I'll certainly keep you posted on how things are going.

Rick, good to know something 'can' survive at least ... if not a bumper crop.

CSY Man, nicely written and all makes sense. Good summation of the Islands...(at least as far as I can tell... lol).

BTW- We haven't settled on a boat yet. Probably headed to the boat show in Feb. If anyone has a boat for sale or knows of one, please post. Not sure exactly on what to spend. Found out the difference between financing a house and a boat real quick. We were thinking about the Liahona (if your are from the US VI or the BVI you may know the boat) ... but it was a little more than we could afford with the way financing is.

Thinking about a 38-52 ft Cat priced around 200 - 300k.

Thanks again,

Doug

[sundowner]

Doug,
Did you ever settle on a boat? If so, what kind & how big? What did you find out about insurance, etc. I've been thinking about making a similiar transition from land to water. What other "gotchas" , "realities" or "things to think about" have you run across?

[jackiepitts]

If you want to try to grow herbs etc you should pick up a book named "Sailing the Farm" by Ken Neumeyer. It is a survival guide to homesteading on the ocean and he has some pretty interesting ideas.
Good luck!
Jackie