THE BOAT: 2014 Lagoon 45 catamaran (“Cruisin’ Rhumb”) (CR) from SailCaribe in Fajardo, PR. 3 cabin owners version. This is an amazing boat! It looked brand-new inside and out. Almost every piece of equipment was an upgrade; 13 kW generator, 2 stainless steel refrigerators, huge freezer, separate ice maker, water maker that actually made 9 gallons per hour on DC. We did not have to stop once for water on this trip. B&G electronics up and down, electric chain counter, electric winches, 12 foot Center Console RIB with a 40hp Yamaha, electric winch for the dinghy davits, flat screen TV that recessed remotely, and the list goes on.


THE CREW: Skipper, Admiral, 24-year-old son (co-captain) and GF, 19-year-old daughter.

This was an incredibly easy boat to sail with all lines at the helm station, color-coded reef and traveler lines, and a custom coach roof that gave great sun protection and had excellent visibility.

THE CHARTER COMPANY: SailCaribe is a relatively small, but definitely first-class outfit. Everything from reservations to check out and chart briefings were friendly and painless. They also arranged transport from San Juan to the charter base by van with a stop that Ralph's Food Warehouse for provisioning.

DAY ONE: We spent the night before aboard to get to know the boat and square away the galley before the briefing at 0900 the next morning. We are off the dock by 1100 heading SE for Vieques. Winds were 15-20 kts. Did 8kts on a beam reach until we cleared the long reef off the west end of Vieques. Now the real test, how will she sail to wind? We are able to make good headway at 45° off the wind, but she really liked 60-90° a lot better. So whole lotta tacks later, we were approaching Esperanza on Vieques’s south shore. I was anxious to try the anchor windless with the electronic chain counter, but I had heard from our briefing that they were now some decent (as and regularly maintained) moorings managed by Chase 787-435-3324, who lives on a sailing cat in the bay, for $25 a night. The crew was eager to go ashore and Boy did this dinghy fly! The only two choices to land the dinghy were a pair of sorry-looking docks used mostly by local fisherman. It was then that we got our first dose of "Sharkey.", the local self appointed harbormaster. As we were locking up the dinghy, he came running down the dock screaming in Spanish. What I could make out was that he was very unhappy that we had tied our boat to "his” dock and threatened to cut the chain if we stayed even a minute longer. Curiously, once he calmed down, he said we could tie up on the other side of the dock “no problemo” (note, there were no other boats on the dock).

After that rather inauspicious beginning, went looking for a place for dinner. The strip of seaside restaurants and bars along the Malecon were hopping, with endless parade of cars, trucks, riders on horseback, and pedestrians all out for a good time. We had a nice dinner at Bili”s serving mostly seafood. Back at the boat, a nice easterly breeze kept the bugs away.

DAY TWO: Our plan was to go ashore and rent a jeep for the day to explore the island. However, getting the crew up and moving was near impossible after all the traveling in the past 2 days. Plan B was to dinghy over to Sun Bay and check out the beach. Beautiful beach, incredible water.

We made an early dinner of tacos aboard then went to Abe’s in Esperanza for the BioBay tour. We jumped in their van for a short hop over to Mosquito Bay where they kept their kayaks. Abe’s was very organized and in a short time we were in the water. There was no moon that night and when the sun set it got dark pretty fast. At first, the bioluminescence was hardly noticeable, but before long it lit up, amazing! It is hard to describe as words do not do it justice, but think acid trip! Everyone agreed that this was an incredible experience, well, worth a trip!

DAY THREE: This was the longest and hardest day of the trip. We wanted to get to Christmas Cove in the USVI, a 37 nm voyage. We left our mooring at 0630 heading due east into 20kt winds and 5 foot seas mostly motoring until we passed Punta Este on the eastern most tip on Vieques. A tough 4 hour slog. We finally raised the sails and had a nice close to beam reach all the way to Christmas Cove. There were quite a few boats in the cove, but we were able to get one of the remaining free moorings. I dove on the mooring and it seemed to be in fair condition. Snorkeling is good near the center of the cove by Fish Cay; we spotted turtles, rays, lots of reef fish and octopus. The kids took the dinghy over to Red Hook for some goodies and returned to a nice dinner of sausage and linguini with fresh garlic bread. There were no leftovers.

DAY FOUR: Okay, I admit it, the reason we pushed so hard to get to Christmas Cove from Vieques was the pizza boat, PIZZA- PI.com. This is the real deal. You call your order in on the VHF and take the dinghy over when the pie is ready. This was by far the best pizza I have ever had in the Caribbean and equal to many in New York and Boston. After this delicious lunch, we left our mooring and headed for the south shore of St. John. Our destination was Great Lameshur Bay. Despite the head wind, we made reasonable time and before long we were approaching very dramatic scenery of Great Lameshur Bay. We had the entire bay to ourselves with the pick of any of the National Parks Service moorings. Our plan was to tie the dinghy at the ranger dock in the bay and then walk to the main road by Salt Pond to get the bus to Coral Harbor. Bad idea. According to our map of St. John this did not look particularly difficult, but the road leading from Great Lameshur Bay to the paved road was in terrible condition and very steep. Skinny legs would have to wait another day.

DAY FIVE: Lameshur Bay. We were not going to let the difficult road prevent us from seeing more of St. John. Once fortified by a filling frittata, we hiked to Salt Pond and took the bus to Cruz Bay to rent a Jeep. We drove back to Salt Pond and took the 1.5 mile hike out to Ram’s Head. It was a bit rough in spots but eventually we reached the head and were treated to a magnificent view and restorative breeze. After cleaning up at the boat, we drove into Coral Harbor to have dinner at Skinny Legs. While their burgers are justifiably famous, I did not understand why they are proud of the fact that they do not serve French fries, but instead potato chips. Seriously? The restaurant closed promptly at 2100 and there didn’t seem to be much night life in town so we returned to the boat.

DAY SIX: Lameshur Bay. Beach day! We loaded up the jeep and headed to the north shore of St. John. The roads on this end of the island are horrendous! We spent a few hours at Maho Bay, always a favorite. What happened to the Eco Camp? We used to love going to their open-air restaurant way up on the hill but certainly worth the climb, but no longer. We next stopped at Trunk Bay to use the fresh water showers (free after 1530) then on to Cruz Bay for happy hour at the Rum Hut. We dropped the laundry off and it was done by the time we went to dinner at De’ Coal Pot. The servers were very friendly and the chicken roti was great. Back to Lameshur by jeep. What a day!

DAY SEVEN: Up early to return the jeep and bus back to Salt Pond. If I never hike the road from Salt