Budget sail?

[Cantwait]

My husband and I are taking our 3 kids this summer and it's a splurge for us. I'd love to get them out on the water for a short sail, but 60-80 pp is not within our budget. I'm not optimistic, but is there a less expensive option?

[Coconuts]

Cantwait: Sixty bucks all-in will get you an hour on a Hobie-Cat at Cinnamon Bay. No advance planning required, and a lot of fun! If you don't know how to sail, Kendall and the folks there will be happy to show you, and their Hobie Cats are really very simple and easy to sail. Five would be pushing things, depending on the age of your children, but you can always sail back into Cinnamon Bay and change crews. We have a sailing trimaran kayak that we have taken on extended, inter-island sails, but we still grab a Hobie Cat at Cinnamon from time to time because it is so easy to pull off. You can sail out to the St. John side of Whistling Cay, and in to Maho and Francis Bays. We were sailing one of Cinnamon's Hobie Cats out by the customs house on Whistling Cay a few weeks ago, when a mega-yacht (Archimedes) went right past us as it pulled into Maho Bay for a few nights. I have a photo of the nearby yacht at home, but for the moment, here are two other photos from that sail:

Customs House on Whistling Cay

Rainbow over Mary Point

Edit: Here is the photo I took while sailing past Archimedes:

Sailing past Archimedes

As Ratty once said: " If you believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing, half so worth doing as - simply messing around in boats!"

All the best,

Kevin

[Cantwait]

Thanks for this info! We will definitely do this!

[NJsurfsup]

Hi Coconuts,
My Dad loves to sail and I already planned to take them to Cinnamon for this reason but was not sure how far they let you sail, so you answered that.
Another question is do they have pricing for 1/2 day or full day rentals better than hrly rate? And can you confirm they take credit cards? My son rented a kite board with lesson and they basically let him have it most of the day but i cannot remember if we pd. Cash or CC.

[Coconuts]

NJSU: One hour is the shortest rental that Cinnamon Bay Watersports allows; not sure if they do full days (they probably do), but they definitely will do half days. Their phone number is 800-539-9998 (340-776-6330); ask for Kendall, and he will give you the full run down. They do accept credit cards.

All the best,

Kevin

[NJsurfsup]

Thanks Kevin.