Enron Mail |
Glad to hear the rest of your trip went well.
The 'normal' sailing trip is a week but that's not cast in stone. In an effort to maximize days sailing and minimize days of vacation taken we usually fly down on a Saturday arriving in the afternoon or eve., pick up the boat on Sunday (you get the boat around noon) and bring it back the following Sunday (by noon), take a shower and head straight for the airport. Because of the way the flight schedules work it's usually not possible to leave after work on a Friday and make it all of the way down there. You could do a shorter trip, of course, but I never have. I've gone for longer (we did a 10 day one-way sail from St. Lucia down to the southern end of Grenada, stopping in Bequia and Mustique, among others, along the way) but that's a pretty long trip and certainly not necessary. Most of the charter fleets are based where there is plenty to do right in the area for a week. One of the reasons for aiming at Thanksgiving was to reduce the total number of vacation days spent. I get both Thurs & Fri off so I only have to spend 3 days to get a whole week - I understand the gov't may not be so generous. I haven't taken all of my days this year so I can always carry some over to 2001 if that works better for you guys. My views on when to go: January - March Very fun since you will be sick of winter, very popular so a lot more crowded (harder to find a place to anchor for the night and have to make arrangements farther ahead), everything is open for business, high season rates. April - May Less crowded (unless Easter or Spring breaks are late), shoulder season rates. June - August No crowds (you may have some anchorages to yourself), many places are closed for the season (think beach bars and meals on shore), low rates. September - October See June-August and add in highest risk of hurricanes (http://www.storm2000.com). My guess is that people who planned their trips to the BVI for this week aren't having much fun right now but they got GREAT deals and the Moorings will probably give them a refund. I've chartered during this period several times and had a blast. One time a tropical storm came through and we stayed on the boat in port - I still get mileage out of the stories. You just have to be willing to live with the risk that it may not go according to plan (not seriously dangerous, though - you're always within easy reach of the base - if a bad one threatens you just take the boat back and let them deal with it). November - December Hurricane threat drops dramatically. Crowds pick up around Christmas, everything opens up again, rates start to go up again. Bottom line: I love the trips so much it doesn't matter what time of year - just let me know what works best for you guys. Keep in mind that you do have to make arrangements at least 2 months in advance (more is better) to make sure you get flights and the boat that you want. One last thought - it is possible for the main group to pick up the boat on schedule and arrange to be near the airport on a later day in the trip to pick someone up. This is definitely suboptimal. You learn a lot about the boat and the sailing area from the briefings the charter company gives you at the start and it limits flexibility to have to be by the airport on a certain day when you might rather have the boat at the other end of the island chain or wherever. I'd rather put the whole thing off until we can all go at once but if it's the only way, at least it's an option. Mark
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