I've always chartered with the Moorings before. This will be our first bareboat in St. Martin.

Deciding between Dream Yacht Charters and Sunsail.

Any recommendations or advice with either (condition of boats, base facilities, getting in/out of harbor, etc...)? Thanks!

Just curious why you aren't including The Moorings for the charter.

Our fourth charter with The Moorings is coming up in June and we've had nothing but good experiences with them. I looked at DYC and Sunsail but they just didn't give me the same amount of confidence as I have gotten with The Moorings.

To be clear, Sunsail and The Moorings are run out of the same base and same office in SXM. The people are great either way. I just felt that the Sunsail boats had a little less amenities and tended to nickel and dime you for things like fuel and start time, which ended up evening out the overall cost difference between the two.

With DYC, their base is inside the lagoon so you have to take into account bridge opening times and the times you can get on the boat and have to be off the boat. This effectively cuts the first and last day off of your charter (at least that's how it seemed to work out from my analysis - ymmv).

I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you might have on The Moorings at SXM.

All the best in whatever you choose!

Tom

I looked at the Moorings. I have typically chartered the 4800 model, which they have plenty of in SXM.

Sunsail (who I know is a sister company) has the 454 that we wanted to try. It is my understanding the 454 has a water maker on board and the 4800 does not. That was the main reason for using Sunsail vs Moorings.

DYC claims they do their chart briefing at 8:30 am, which allows you to get out for the 10:00 bridge opening for outbound vessels. Have to be be back prompt on your return date, however, for bridge opening for inbound vessels.

I know Moorings includes fuel in their quote and Sunsail you pay by the day. How did start times differ for you?

Thanks for the help!

To make an 8:30 briefing, you have to get in the previous day and stay *somewhere*. I prefer to do evening starts which are less than the price of a full day (barely...).

It's been a while since I looked at DYC. My recollection was that they only did briefings later in the afternoon and therefore you would miss the bridge opening, requiring a night at the dock - at full price. A chart briefing at 8:30 am sounds hard to believe to me but I have no idea. Every chart/boat briefing I've ever had has been *very* roughly scheduled and virtually never on time. Getting through the bridge at 10:00 after an "8:30" meeting seems risky.

On the return, given you have to leave time to get through the bridge, debrief, and get to the airport, they indicated that I might have to come back the night before. All that is dependent on your flight time of course so it may not matter to you. For me, it was just a bunch of unknowns that I didn't want to deal with.

I also thought that Sunsail made you stay the first night at the dock. Maybe not explicitly but due to the fact that the briefings are later in the day. I could be wrong about that though.

I have no direct experience with either Sunsail or DYC so I'm not trying to convince you not to go with them - just offering data points/things to check. I was mainly just curious why you didn't include The Moorings in your list originally. I see that you wanted a particular boat so that makes sense.

I'm sure you will enjoy whichever you choose.

Tom

Also, interesting thread on DYC over in the BVI forum.

I saw that... quite the videos!

I would imagine if DYC did not get the vast majority of charter boats out in time for the bridge opening in the morning, you would see that in reviews.

Still haven't booked yet...