It's been a little over a month since our trip and I thought I might as well post a review of the Moorings 4600 that we chartered.

We had previously chartered a 4700 a year earlier and were very happy with it. I knew going into this boat that the layout was different and storage would be different. My only concern was the 12 scuba tanks we'd be renting. I knew the rest of our gear wouldn't be a problem.

Our charter was 10 days with my wife and I arriving the first day, 1 friend day 2, 2 friends day 3 and everyone else the 4th day.

Wednesday, our first day we arrived and took a cab to the Moorings base. We checked in and were told the boat wasn't ready yet. We left our bags in their briefing room and went off to get the scuba gear we reserved with Last Stop Sports and also get our phone from Renport.

After getting all our gear squared away, we had lunch and then checked in and were able to get on the boat. We didn't need the chart briefing but since we had never been on the 4600 before, wanted the boat briefing. They scheduled this for us at 7:30am the next morning.

Once we hopped on board, both my wife and I must have been smiling ear to ear. The boat is simply amazing. It felt much roomier than the 4700 and had lots of little cool things, like electric toilets, screens/sunshades on hatches that were a bit fancier than the 4700 and just an excellent layout. We checked the provisions which were already on board and put away the dry goods and beverages. We checked the boat over and got some more sheets, towels..etc. We then just relaxed and went to bed at a decent hour since we were tired from the days travels and prep.

Next morning, I was up an about around 6:30am and our briefer arrived right on time at 7:30. The only thing we hand't done anything with yet was the scuba tanks since I wasn't sure where or how to secure the racks. She told us that was something Last Stop Sports should do and we should have them take care of it. So after the briefing we walked over and had them do it. They set it up great and we got on our way around 10am.

We had an awesome week with only two boat issues. I came in a little fast on one mooring ball and my friend had hooked the ball so when I went over it, the hook got caught and bent. Trying to unbend it caused it to snap. That same day, the transom shower head decided to fall apart. We got in touch with service and told them where we'd be spending the night and our first stop the next morning (Soper's hole to fill up scuba tanks) and they said either spot was fine and we should call in the morning. So we did that and they met us at Soper's hole. They arrived and left in under 15 minutes - Talk about fast and efficient! I was also surprised at the end of the charter that we were not charged for the boat hook.

The rest of the week was great with no boat issues. Our last full day I slipped getting on our boat from the dive boat and my hand caught some of the rigging in such a way to give me a nice cut. At first I thought I'd need stiches but didn't. That night we stayed at Trellis Bay and left between 7 and 8 the next morning to go back to the moorings base.

We got back to the base and hung out for a bit since we had the boat until noon and while part of our group needed to go, two members were staying the night and 3 of us were leaving on a 6pm flight. We did the check out which was painless and made use of the pool for a little while before cleaning up and heading to the airport.

All in all, a fabulous week and one we hope to repeat very soon.

Perhaps in another post I'll put up a trip report detailing our days

In summary, I would definetely recommend the Moorings 4600 (or Sunsail 464). It's an awesome boat that easily held our group of 9. The port bow cabin can hold 3 people. There's a double and single that are connected. Probably good for parents and child. The starboard bow is a double and then a single meant for crew (my brother-in-law stayed there). It has its own sink and head (manual, no fancy stuff for the crew). The other cabins were all double. Plenty of storage for clothes and everything else. Long term storage is available underneath the berths too.

The boat is expensive, but we used owners time saving us over 25% and with 9 people I think the total (with food, moorings..etc) ended up being about $1300-1400 a person (only thing not included in that price was the airfare). We only had 1 dinner on shore, the rest of our excursions were drinks and some apps here and there. Not bad for 10 days in paradise.