Hey everyone,

Long time reader, first time poster. Thanks to everyone for all of their insight. This site becomes somewhat of an addiction leading up to a trip.

This will be my 6th trip to the BVI, but first with friends rather than just family. My family has always been content with snorkeling only, but this trip includes a friend who is a seasoned diver and is insistent on bringing his own dive gear. He is the only one who is trained to dive and will be the only one diving the entire trip. We have chartered a Sunsail 444 and will have 10 people aboard, so space is already a concern. A few questions:

1) On the 444, how much storage is available in the stern to accommodate the gear (the size of oversized rolling luggage)?

2) Will this be miserable for the rest of the crew? I already told him that he won't be able to run off with the dinghy and leave 9 others stranded with no way to get to shore.

Has anyone experienced this before? I offered the option of DiveBVI's "Rendezvous Diving" where they pick you up at the specified anchorage, but haven't gotten much traction with it. With such a large crew I don't want any reason for anyone to have anything less than a spectacular time.

May 31st can't come fast enough!