Just thought I would post a quick overview of a charter we did the last two weeks of June from Antigua to St. Martin. Rather than a chronological report I'll just summarize certain aspects of the trip.

The Basics - After years of chartering in the BVIs, USVIs and SVIs, we decided it was time to expand our horizons a bit. We figured the next step was the Leeward Islands but couldn't decide on which one so why not take a tour of them all? We ended up committing to a one-way charter from Antigua to St. Martin. I figured this would pretty much guarantee a beam to broad reach every day and we wouldn't have to make any passages into the wind. The crew was myself, my wife, my son (age 14) and my two daughters (ages 10 and 8). What we discovered is that chartering in the Leewards is pretty different than in the Virgin Islands. The sailing is more exposed to the wind and swell with much longer passages between islands. When making a passage we were sometimes out of sight of land and there were no other boats within sight either. While the islands are all welcoming to boaters, it is not like the BVIs where there are beach bars and restaurants at every anchorage. We often cooked and ate on the boat out of necessity and we had to be a bit more careful with our food and beverage rations. We saw very few other charter boats and the majority of boats were cruisers. Anchorages are more exposed and you have to do your due diligence before deciding where to stay for the night. There are more hazards to keep an eye out for and the charter companies seem to be more open to letting you decide where and where not to take the boat. All-in-all, I found it to be a great adventure and it was a nice challenge and change of pace from the BVIs. We also had some great family time as we were without electronics and other forms of communication for much of the trip.

The Boat - We were on a new Lagoon 400 S2 owners version from Dream Yacht Charters. This was our first time on an owners version and we loved the space in the owners hull. I also liked that the other hull had only one head for the two rooms versus trying to cram one head in for each stateroom. Overall the boat was great. The impeller did go out on the generator and that was a bit of a struggle to get fixed, but we were only without it for a couple days. I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the boat. We regularly cruised at 8 knots and our peak speeds were up above 10 knots. I saw 11 knots a couple times when we were coming off some of the bigger swells. Winds were almost always 15-20 knots and either on the beam or off the starboard stern. We reefed once, but otherwise had full sails the entire trip. The boat was outfitted only with its white sails, though it had a powerful square top main. It did have a halyard rigged for a large overlapping sail, but the sail wasn't on the boat. The only thing I wasn't impressed with was the cabinet material which was a laminate. It was already delaming in places and the boat was only a few months old. I would probably replace all of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts with some sort of marine grade wood if it was my boat.

Islands - We loved Barbuda where we were one of four boats anchored on our first night and then the only boat on our second night. It was probably the nicest beach we've ever seen and it was our own private 14 mile pristine sand beach while we were there. St. Barths was great as well. Totally different than any other Caribbean islands we've been to. Gustavia was very busy and very French with great shopping and restaurant options and scooters and small cars zipping all around. In contrast to that, Columbier Bay around the corner and only a couple miles away was nice and peaceful with some of the best snorkeling of the trip and another great sand beach. St. Martin was busy with a lot of stores and restaurants. Nevis was nice as was St. Kitts. On all of the islands aside from St. Barths it seemed that they got nicer as you moved away from the main cities. Unfortunately we didn't get to explore the interior of the islands a whole lot as we had to make our way from Antigua to St. Martin in two weeks.

People - We did the Frigate bird tour with George Jefferies in Barbuda which was very interesting. Mr. Jefferies is a great guide and very passionate about the birds and his island. I would recommend his services to anyone who visits Barbuda. We also met a great couple from Louisiana named Ricky and Robyn Wright. They helped us with a spare impeller for our generator when it went out and we had an enjoyable lunch on Nevis chatting with them. After saying our goodbyes I found out that their daughter was one of the souls lost in the Tasman Sea on the S/V Nina in 2013. Was a bit surreal as I was glued to the story and keeping up on all the news as it was happening. Ricky and Robyn are one couple I'd love to keep in touch with and follow their journeys.

Dining - I am a wannabe amateur foodie and love finding good places to eat. Though we did cook quite a bit on our boat, we also enjoyed some great meals out. Our first nice meal was actually in Puerto Rico at the El San Juan. My wife and I ate at Meat Market Miami which is a steak house with a few other locations in the states. We had dinner there once before so we knew what to expect and it did not disappoint. The next day my son and I had dinner in Old San Juan at Barrachina. They are supposedly the inventors of the Pina Colada and though I'm not much of a Pina Colada fan I figured I should try one. It was good, though it was a little bit of a letdown seeing them pour it out of what was essentially a slurpee machine. Once on the boat we had several more nice dining experiences. We had a great meal in the outside dining room of Nonsuch Bay Resort in Antigua, overlooking the anchorage. I was pleased to be able to keep an eye on our boat, anchored just a couple hundred feet upwind of a giant breakwall, while we ate. A few days later, after spending pretty much an entire day dealing with the generator impeller repair we splurged on a meal at the Nevis Four Seasons. Everything was truly excellent and the resort setting was very beautiful and peaceful. Of course the service left nothing to be desired. At St. Kitts, my wife and myself enjoyed a great dinner at Serendipity overlooking the city of Basseterre and Basseterre Bay while the kids dined on pizza in the boat at the marina. We had another splurge night at L'Isola on St. Barths. Great Italian food in a very nice setting (we were completely under dressed but they didn't seem to mind). Also, we had crepes and cappuccino the next morning at a little crepe restaurant (I forgot the name) which was excellent. As a matter of fact, we are considering opening a crepe cart here near our house if we can perfect the recipes. We found a couple really good grocery stores while in St. Barths as well. One was an American epicurian food store that was amazingly expensive so we didn't buy anything there. However, the main grocery store there had a superb selection of just about anything you might want in a very clean and nice environment. The produce actually was nicer than what we can get here at our house in the states. Prices were reasonable and we were happy to stock up there. We bought some steaks, potatoes and corn on the cob and a nice bottle of wine there for one of the best meals of the trip - a BBQ on the boat at Columbier Bay the next day. We enjoyed the French bakeries of St. Martin during our final days of the trip. Croissants, pastries, more crepes, and more cappuccinos were the norm there. One of our last meals was at Le Shambala in Grande Case. I enjoyed my meal, but it was a bit fruify for the rest of the family. Grande Case was really cool and I wish we would have explored the entire street before deciding on a restaurant - there are many great options and I think we could have found something a bit more upbeat and enjoyable for the entire family. However, I can't fault the restaurant as everything was good.

Significant Things - Before coming on this trip my anchoring experience was very limited and right off the bat my skills were tested. We anchored at English Harbour on our first night out in the bay just to the right as you enter. As we were eating dinner across the Harbour a storm rolled in. It started to rain, followed by lightning and thunder and the wind kicked up to probably 40 knots. I stood out in the rain on the edge of the dock watching our boat dance around on the anchor and bob in the swell ready to jump in the dinghy if I saw it dragging. However, the storm eventually passed and when we got back to the boat it was exactly where we had left it. After that little storm I became much more comfortable anchoring and I actually now look forward to getting off the beaten path and dropping the hook a bit more on our next charters. We also had to tie up to a dock stern-to in Marina Fort Louis towards the end of our trip with a mooring ball securing our bow (Med-moor I guess). I had never done this before and it didn't go as smooth as I had hoped. They placed us between two other boats with a crosswind and we ended up against the downwind sailboat next to us which belonged to an very nice older French couple. We had the fenders out and no damage was done - except to my ego - and it was a good learning experience. As a matter of fact, I seemed to be the only person who was really stressed out about the situation. Once all was said and done I gave the French couple a bottle of Sauternes I was saving, which they seemed appreciative of. I don't think I'll be sailing in Europe until I am able to get some more Med-mooring practice under my belt. One other funny thing that happened. On our last day we had to return the boat to a marina on the French side of Simpson Lagoon in St. Martin. We figured we'd just go through the last bridge opening of the day, but luckily we got to the bridge earlier and decided to go through the 2:30 opening. We called the charter company to let them know we would be coming through and they told us that we actually couldn't go through the French side with a catamaran (I think we would have been fine but I didn't want to take the chance of damaging the boat). We ended up motoring around to the Dutch side to go through the 5:00 opening of the wider Dutch bridge and then the 5:15 opening of the causeway bridge. We got there about an hour early so I took the dinghy in to try to find someone to pay. Everything was closed up and I couldn't find anyone so I returned to the boat and we decided to just go through and not pay. The timing of it all was a bit stressful, and I was waiting for the harbour patrol to come and arrest me for not paying, but we made it through both bridges where we met an agent from the charter company to take our boat through the shallows of the French side of Simpson Lagoon. It was both a relief to not have to manage that myself, but also a bit depressing to realize that our charter had come to an end. They always end too quickly.

That's about it. Feel free to comment or ask questions. Sorry I don't have any pics to post. We are terrible at taking pictures of our trips. I'll see if I can find one or two that I can pull off my phone and to post.

Matt