usvi-on-line
Catamaran Trip Report - ScubaGirl, Kellyanna, CA Girl
-
California Girl
Catamaran Trip Report - ScubaGirl, Kellyanna, CA Girl
Our sailing trip through the U.S. and British Virgin Islands - April 25 - May 3, 2009
PART ONE
Saturday, 4/25
Now sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of an awesome trip that started from this tropic port...
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin’ gal...
The skipper, brave and sure...
Five forum friends set sail that day for a seven day tour!
Thus starts our amazing seven-day sailing adventure through the Virgin Islands! This is a very wordy and picture-heavy report. I don’t know any other way to do it, so apologies in advance! The very beginning and the very end will be more detailed than the middle, so hang in there!
Rick and I arrived on St. Thomas first on Saturday, April 25 at 1:15 pm. We got our luggage, claimed our rental car and settled down to wait for Sydney & Keith’s plane to arrive shortly thereafter. While I was waiting for Rick to get our bags, I heard a voice directed at me saying, “Forum!” It was Paula (pswlrw) who picked me out of the crowd! It was so cool to meet her there and it was great welcome to St. Thomas! I felt like we were old friends already!
As we waited for Syd & Keith on the bench across from the welcome rum stand, a man walked up to the stand and began to gather up 4 samples. His attempt was not well received by the lady behind the counter who said, “Put that down!” And he said, “They’re free, right?” and she said, “Yes, but you can’t do that. Only one.” He said, “But I have friends!” She said, “Put that down!” So he did, and walked away, a bit indignant. LOL! I wonder if he ever got his free rum? I wonder if he really had friends?
Sydney & Keith’s plane was on time and as we once again waited for luggage, another forum member, Bug, found us! She and her family were on their way home. So here I’ve met one forumite’s plane, whom I’m vacationing with, met another forumite also arriving for her vacation, said goodbye to another one whose vacation was ending, and looking forward to the arrival of another one later! All this and not yet out of the airport! This forum has an amazing presence!
Bags collected, it was off to CYOA in Frenchtown to be introduced to the Sarah Sue, our home for the next 7 days. The Sarah Sue is a 40ft catamaran and it’s really cool.
RICK ON THE CYOA DOCK
Mr. & Mrs. Captain Jay met us at the boat and we visited for a little while. Then while the guys got settled in with the “boat stuff”, Sydney & I went off to Redhook to Marina Market to get our groceries for the next 7 days. A daunting task, but Sydney is so accomplished at this, that it went very well! I have to say that Marina Market has one of the best meat counters I’ve seen anywhere. Georgous steaks! I will never bring meat from home again. The grocery bill at Marina Market was $461.00. On a side note, we supplemented with a few things in Soper’s Hole, but didn’t buy any groceries after that and we pretty much ate everything we bought, with only a few things left over (a jar of peanut butter and maybe some chips). I’d round out the food bill to be $500 for the week for everything, including liquor (but then again, we really aren’t big drinkers. Ok Kellee is. Ok, me too.)
Once the grocery shopping was done, we returned to the boat to stow everything, and Captain Jay & Deb were waiting for us. Jay had been going over things on the boat with Keith, but now we were all ready to have some dinner at Hook, Line & Sinker, which was only few steps from where the boat was moored. In the middle of dinner, Kellee texted that she was at the airport, right on time too, in spite of major issues getting there! Sydney & I left the table to go pick her up, and when we got back to the restaurant, they had taken our plates to re-warm our dinner for us!! How cool is that!? Kellee ordered up some dinner and we all ate conch and drank and laughed and had an excellent meal! I was now officially on “island time.”
Because the boats are chartered from noon Sunday to noon the following Sunday, and we all arrived on Saturday, we paid extra to be able to sleep aboard the Sarah Sue the first night. It didn’t cost any more than getting a hotel room for the first night, and we were able to get “moved-in” and provision the boat on Saturday afternoon. The beds were comfy enough - a 4” foam mattress on a wooden platform - and everyone had plenty of privacy.
There was a large salon with a long bench seat and a triangular table, a double sink, stove, and oven. There were plenty of glasses, dishes, silverware and pots n’ pans. We had a small fridge with a smaller freezer, but it all worked out just fine (to our surprise!). The only weird thing was that the cupboard with the dishes & silverware was behind the stove so you had to reach across the burners to get anything. That was fine if you weren’t cooking anything, but a little tricky if the burners were on.
There were wraparound windows across the whole front of the salon, so if you preferred to be inside and out of the sun, you could still see where you were going. The salon was air conditioned, but we didn’t use it, in favor of letting the wind blow through. However, if you wanted to, you could ride along out of the sun and in cool comfort while enjoying a frosty beverage. Life is so tough sometimes.
Kellee had one of the forward sleeping cabins which is a little narrower at one end than the rear cabins due to the shape of the boat. On the other hand, her cabin had awesome storage, with a cabinet over her bed and one under, a small hanging closet and about 3 enclosed shelves. Sydney & Keith and Rick & I each had the rear cabins, at the opposite end of the boat from Kellee’s, and although they were wider, with plenty of room for two adults, they had a little less storage. We had a pretty big cupboard under the bed and a 3 “enclosed” shelves. No hanging closet, but we had plenty of hooks…4, I think. And hooks will do just fine! We also had a little shelf along the wall that ran the length of the bed where we could put stuff and it wouldn’t roll off. Each cabin had a small window that didn’t open and an upper hatch which did. The rear cabins also had another small window that opened over the bed so we got a good breeze through. All the cabins had little fans, but I found that I’d rather just sleep with the breeze blowing through or be hot rather than listen to that fan all night! You just have to be sure to close the ceiling hatch when it starts to rain. But even rain in the middle of the night isn’t so bad. It’s just another cool part of the whole experience!
Between the fore and aft cabins on each side of the boat there was a small head. And I do mean small!! I’d say about the same size as an airplane toilet. As you slid the door open and entered there was a Barbie-sized toilet on the right. On the left, there was a small sink & counter with a mirror and couple of shelves above on the side. Beneath that counter, was a little curtain held in place with Velcro, and behind the curtain was a small wastebasket. Newbie note: You don’t flush toilet paper or anything like that on a boat. Therefore, you have a box of ziplock sandwich-size bags on the counter and everything you use goes in one of those and is thrown away under the counter in that wastebasket. You dump the trash every chance you get. I really thought that if I had a problem with anything on a boat it would be that, but it was no problem at all. Really, very discreet!
Sunday, 4/26 - Jay and Deb showed up in the morning, and we walked over to the Frenchtown Deli for breakfast. I can’t remember what I had, however I have it on good authority that Kellee had eggs benedict. It was really good and I’d eat there again.
Jay and Deb jumped aboard and as Jay did the sail check with Keith, we were off toward St. John! How wonderful it was when that sweet island came into view!
KELLYANNA, SCUBA GIRL, MRS. CAPTAIN JAY, KEITH
ST. JOHN - MY ISLAND IN THE SUN!
We moored at Hawksnest and got into the water! Ahhhhh! Because of the algae bloom, the water was green and a little murky. Not good for snorkeling, but that’s ok, we were in the water at Hawksnest! We floated around on noodles, had some yummy drinks and soaked up St. John! Later on we headed back over to Redhook to pick up Jay for the Beach Bar gathering. The wind was blowing the right direction, and we didn’t have far to go, so Jay and Keith “got the sail stuff up”, as Kellee would say! It was fabulous!! Sailing toward St. John to meet up with our forum friends! Does it get better than that?
CAPTAIN JAY (Gettin' the sail stuff up!)
We moored at Caneel between Honeymoon & Saloman and took the tender over to Cruz Bay and tied up at that sweet little dock I look at on the webcam every day. “Yesss, I said to myself... I’m here. I’m standing on that very dock!" How come I never noticed the missing planks before?
CALIFORNIA GIRL, SCUBA GIRL, KELLYANNA
DEB (MRS. CAPTAIN JAY)
The party at the Beach Bar was just great! It’s still a bit of a blur in my head. So much happening in one day, so many Painkillers, so little time! I was thrilled to meet everyone, but didn’t talk to anyone long enough! All of us forum folk are such a great group!
As it started to grow dark, we climbed back into the tender and buzzed back over to Caneel. It was a little windy and the boat rocked me to sleep.
PART ONE
Saturday, 4/25
Now sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of an awesome trip that started from this tropic port...
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin’ gal...
The skipper, brave and sure...
Five forum friends set sail that day for a seven day tour!
Thus starts our amazing seven-day sailing adventure through the Virgin Islands! This is a very wordy and picture-heavy report. I don’t know any other way to do it, so apologies in advance! The very beginning and the very end will be more detailed than the middle, so hang in there!
Rick and I arrived on St. Thomas first on Saturday, April 25 at 1:15 pm. We got our luggage, claimed our rental car and settled down to wait for Sydney & Keith’s plane to arrive shortly thereafter. While I was waiting for Rick to get our bags, I heard a voice directed at me saying, “Forum!” It was Paula (pswlrw) who picked me out of the crowd! It was so cool to meet her there and it was great welcome to St. Thomas! I felt like we were old friends already!
As we waited for Syd & Keith on the bench across from the welcome rum stand, a man walked up to the stand and began to gather up 4 samples. His attempt was not well received by the lady behind the counter who said, “Put that down!” And he said, “They’re free, right?” and she said, “Yes, but you can’t do that. Only one.” He said, “But I have friends!” She said, “Put that down!” So he did, and walked away, a bit indignant. LOL! I wonder if he ever got his free rum? I wonder if he really had friends?
Sydney & Keith’s plane was on time and as we once again waited for luggage, another forum member, Bug, found us! She and her family were on their way home. So here I’ve met one forumite’s plane, whom I’m vacationing with, met another forumite also arriving for her vacation, said goodbye to another one whose vacation was ending, and looking forward to the arrival of another one later! All this and not yet out of the airport! This forum has an amazing presence!
Bags collected, it was off to CYOA in Frenchtown to be introduced to the Sarah Sue, our home for the next 7 days. The Sarah Sue is a 40ft catamaran and it’s really cool.
RICK ON THE CYOA DOCK
Mr. & Mrs. Captain Jay met us at the boat and we visited for a little while. Then while the guys got settled in with the “boat stuff”, Sydney & I went off to Redhook to Marina Market to get our groceries for the next 7 days. A daunting task, but Sydney is so accomplished at this, that it went very well! I have to say that Marina Market has one of the best meat counters I’ve seen anywhere. Georgous steaks! I will never bring meat from home again. The grocery bill at Marina Market was $461.00. On a side note, we supplemented with a few things in Soper’s Hole, but didn’t buy any groceries after that and we pretty much ate everything we bought, with only a few things left over (a jar of peanut butter and maybe some chips). I’d round out the food bill to be $500 for the week for everything, including liquor (but then again, we really aren’t big drinkers. Ok Kellee is. Ok, me too.)
Once the grocery shopping was done, we returned to the boat to stow everything, and Captain Jay & Deb were waiting for us. Jay had been going over things on the boat with Keith, but now we were all ready to have some dinner at Hook, Line & Sinker, which was only few steps from where the boat was moored. In the middle of dinner, Kellee texted that she was at the airport, right on time too, in spite of major issues getting there! Sydney & I left the table to go pick her up, and when we got back to the restaurant, they had taken our plates to re-warm our dinner for us!! How cool is that!? Kellee ordered up some dinner and we all ate conch and drank and laughed and had an excellent meal! I was now officially on “island time.”
Because the boats are chartered from noon Sunday to noon the following Sunday, and we all arrived on Saturday, we paid extra to be able to sleep aboard the Sarah Sue the first night. It didn’t cost any more than getting a hotel room for the first night, and we were able to get “moved-in” and provision the boat on Saturday afternoon. The beds were comfy enough - a 4” foam mattress on a wooden platform - and everyone had plenty of privacy.
There was a large salon with a long bench seat and a triangular table, a double sink, stove, and oven. There were plenty of glasses, dishes, silverware and pots n’ pans. We had a small fridge with a smaller freezer, but it all worked out just fine (to our surprise!). The only weird thing was that the cupboard with the dishes & silverware was behind the stove so you had to reach across the burners to get anything. That was fine if you weren’t cooking anything, but a little tricky if the burners were on.
There were wraparound windows across the whole front of the salon, so if you preferred to be inside and out of the sun, you could still see where you were going. The salon was air conditioned, but we didn’t use it, in favor of letting the wind blow through. However, if you wanted to, you could ride along out of the sun and in cool comfort while enjoying a frosty beverage. Life is so tough sometimes.
Kellee had one of the forward sleeping cabins which is a little narrower at one end than the rear cabins due to the shape of the boat. On the other hand, her cabin had awesome storage, with a cabinet over her bed and one under, a small hanging closet and about 3 enclosed shelves. Sydney & Keith and Rick & I each had the rear cabins, at the opposite end of the boat from Kellee’s, and although they were wider, with plenty of room for two adults, they had a little less storage. We had a pretty big cupboard under the bed and a 3 “enclosed” shelves. No hanging closet, but we had plenty of hooks…4, I think. And hooks will do just fine! We also had a little shelf along the wall that ran the length of the bed where we could put stuff and it wouldn’t roll off. Each cabin had a small window that didn’t open and an upper hatch which did. The rear cabins also had another small window that opened over the bed so we got a good breeze through. All the cabins had little fans, but I found that I’d rather just sleep with the breeze blowing through or be hot rather than listen to that fan all night! You just have to be sure to close the ceiling hatch when it starts to rain. But even rain in the middle of the night isn’t so bad. It’s just another cool part of the whole experience!
Between the fore and aft cabins on each side of the boat there was a small head. And I do mean small!! I’d say about the same size as an airplane toilet. As you slid the door open and entered there was a Barbie-sized toilet on the right. On the left, there was a small sink & counter with a mirror and couple of shelves above on the side. Beneath that counter, was a little curtain held in place with Velcro, and behind the curtain was a small wastebasket. Newbie note: You don’t flush toilet paper or anything like that on a boat. Therefore, you have a box of ziplock sandwich-size bags on the counter and everything you use goes in one of those and is thrown away under the counter in that wastebasket. You dump the trash every chance you get. I really thought that if I had a problem with anything on a boat it would be that, but it was no problem at all. Really, very discreet!
Sunday, 4/26 - Jay and Deb showed up in the morning, and we walked over to the Frenchtown Deli for breakfast. I can’t remember what I had, however I have it on good authority that Kellee had eggs benedict. It was really good and I’d eat there again.
Jay and Deb jumped aboard and as Jay did the sail check with Keith, we were off toward St. John! How wonderful it was when that sweet island came into view!
KELLYANNA, SCUBA GIRL, MRS. CAPTAIN JAY, KEITH
ST. JOHN - MY ISLAND IN THE SUN!
We moored at Hawksnest and got into the water! Ahhhhh! Because of the algae bloom, the water was green and a little murky. Not good for snorkeling, but that’s ok, we were in the water at Hawksnest! We floated around on noodles, had some yummy drinks and soaked up St. John! Later on we headed back over to Redhook to pick up Jay for the Beach Bar gathering. The wind was blowing the right direction, and we didn’t have far to go, so Jay and Keith “got the sail stuff up”, as Kellee would say! It was fabulous!! Sailing toward St. John to meet up with our forum friends! Does it get better than that?
CAPTAIN JAY (Gettin' the sail stuff up!)
We moored at Caneel between Honeymoon & Saloman and took the tender over to Cruz Bay and tied up at that sweet little dock I look at on the webcam every day. “Yesss, I said to myself... I’m here. I’m standing on that very dock!" How come I never noticed the missing planks before?
CALIFORNIA GIRL, SCUBA GIRL, KELLYANNA
DEB (MRS. CAPTAIN JAY)
The party at the Beach Bar was just great! It’s still a bit of a blur in my head. So much happening in one day, so many Painkillers, so little time! I was thrilled to meet everyone, but didn’t talk to anyone long enough! All of us forum folk are such a great group!
As it started to grow dark, we climbed back into the tender and buzzed back over to Caneel. It was a little windy and the boat rocked me to sleep.
-
Xislandgirl
- Posts: 4163
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
- Location: Slightly left of center
-
California Girl
Don't skip a word! Loving it so far!
Trip report 2009
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Trip report 2008
So good, so good, so good!
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Trip report 2008
So good, so good, so good!
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
-
designbyroe
- Posts: 1348
- Joined: Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:27 pm
- Location: Chilaxin on White Bay at least in my mind
-
NoWorriesMom
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Boulder, Colorado
-
Boston Mike
- Posts: 974
- Joined: Sat Dec 27, 2008 5:41 am
- Location: Boston, MA.
-
cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
-
California Girl
Rosi, I'll be posting costs somewhere in this report (maybe at the end?), but with everything split, it really didn't cost any more than a villa & a rental car for a week. Of course we had the advantage of having our own captain, so we didn't have to hire a crew. Sydney & Keith were responsible for booking the boat, that's a question for her. Or maybe even Captain Jay could answer it. I think it mostly depends on what KIND of boat you want to rent. Sydney told me that a monohull is less expensive than a cat. That's all I know right now. 
-
California Girl
-
cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
