Dinghy Rental

[airtan38]

Do you guys think that a 1/2 day is long enough for a dinghy rental?

[waterguy]

I don't but that is just me I like to take my time and lay around more then some Like to have lunch at one of the beaches spend a bunch of time at honeymoon and solomon.

[augie]

That's hard to answer. In November we made good use of a full day, and never even went to a beach - we just snorkeled at a number of places.

I've read posts from some folks that report that a half day was more than enough for them.

If you're unsure, start with a half day. If it's not too busy you may even be able to rent it for a half day with the option to stay out a full day, but I'm not sure about that, so you'd need to ask whomever is it you're renting from.

[alw1977]

For us it's enough. If it's your first time to St. John I'd opt for the full day.

[rpplano]

My wife would give it a big NO. We like to sample multiple beaches and tie up to a buoy to eat a picnic lunch. I don't rush anything while on island.

[Bigcheeze]

Do the Full day...the cost difference is negligable and by the time you check and out and go thru Island Time...best to go with the full day..and relax

[chicagoans]

I agree with doing the full day. We made Waterlemon our final destination (pretty common), stopping at several spots along the way to snorkel, relax, have lunch, etc. By the time we finished snorkeling at Waterlemon we pretty much had to race to get back near our full day ending time. Half day would have just been a tease.

It was our favorite day - we all loved it.

[CantWait4STJ]

Do we need to rent a dinghy ahead of time or something we can do once we arrive? We probably want to do a full-day. We're arriving on the 25th of March, but I have no idea which day we want to rent it for right now - hope it's not too late for this? Thanks

[chicagoans]

Hi CantWait: we rented our dinghy by calling the night before, and that was during peak/holiday season. I'd recommend calling ahead more than that, maybe calling once you're on island for a few days out. Or just call them now and see what they say about how booked they get during spring break time.

FWIW we rented through Calypso Charters. They have the console steering, which I like better than the rudder steering. (easier.) But lots of people like the other kind too.

[airtan38]

Can you beach the dinghys with the console? I heard that you could not.

[Bigcheeze]

Can you beach the dinghys with the console? I heard that you could not.

They tell you not to beach them...and they are heavy to get off the beach

[mahojim]

While we're talking about it, we're going to give in to enjoying a dinghy day, as well this upcoming trip.
Any suggestions regarding comfort issues? Don't mean to be a wuss about it.
Bring towels? How? Maybe a good time to invest in a Neet Sheet? (we're definately bringing a cooler w/grub & drinkys...) Was there any things that made you think to yourself, "Man! Next time we'll bring/do ...."
Just hoping for advice for a couple of dinghy newbies from you STJ gurus.
Thanks, and always
Smiles-
MJ

[chicagoans]

airtran: no, you can't beach the console types, at least not that I know of. We never beached anyway. Just tied up to mooring balls and swam/snorkeled in to the beach, or hung out in the water or boat. (I'm not a big fan of people driving up to a beach when there are people in the water.) You just have to keep your sense of humor about how ungraceful you'll feel hauling yourself back in!

Mahojim: there is some storage in the boats - limited - under the seats. We put our backpacks, towels, camera etc. in there. We also had a small styrofoam cooler in the boat. (Watch the lid! I think loria's blew off when we were boating.) We also had our snorkel gear, 2 kids + 2 adults, and 2 boogie boards! And of course life jackets. It was packed. In retrospect next time we'll skip the boogie boards. (Those were for the kids but they didn't use them much.)

Just remember that the boats are little and bounce alot on the waves. That's part of the fun, but it also means that stuff can go flying out.

[mark & susan]

We are renting two of the smaller ones from Noah's next week but I wanted to pass along information on the larger console types. As we had 5 I was trying to decide on size and # of dingy's.

I asked carefully if the larger ones could be beached and he told me that yes they could be beached - that it required pulling up the motor - but "that's what it is about".

If you are interested in one of the larger ones I would suggest you call Noah's...

[Muhaha]

While we're talking about it, we're going to give in to enjoying a dinghy day, as well this upcoming trip.
Any suggestions regarding comfort issues? Don't mean to be a wuss about it.
Bring towels? How? Maybe a good time to invest in a Neet Sheet? (we're definately bringing a cooler w/grub & drinkys...) Was there any things that made you think to yourself, "Man! Next time we'll bring/do ...."
Just hoping for advice for a couple of dinghy newbies from you STJ gurus.
Thanks, and always
Smiles-
MJ

Yeah - I would recommend to bring some towels to put on your legs and shoulders so you don't burn your skin. It's brutal all day on a dinghy without shade.