This is MY trip report. I am not an English Major. LOL
Date of sail: Aug 23 – August 27th
Charter Company: The Moorings Charter
Yacht: HIGH STANDARD / 433PC Moorings (Exclusive Category)
Crew: Hired a Captain only
Let me first say, The Moorings was a great group of people.
Many THANKS to the young lady(Precious) at the check-in desk and my Captain (Winston).
I was on this forum every day/night reading for two weeks and took everyone advice into consideration.
Well, since I hired a Captain, The Moorings stated, I was not responsible for the return condition of the boat. Only if I set the kitchen/salon on fire while cooking or clog the toilets.
My Captain (Winston) born and raise there, have over 20 years’ experience in the industry.
When he stepped on the boat he had a checklist and was not leaving until EVERYTHING was to his satisfactory. (Example: a screw was missing from one of the plugs, 1 screw, he said, No it needs to be fixed, the orange blow horn (I thought was a toy, LOL) did not blowing properly, he had them to replace it. The Moorings had three people on my boat at the Beck-and-Call of the Captain. I WAS IMPRESSED!!!...
No major issues, but he took EVERYTHING serious. He stated, he was the captain and he was responsible for our safety, keeping himself alive and returning the boat in good condition.
The Moorings staff had my boat SPOTLESS, not even a fingerprint on the chrome. Bathrooms look new.
Honestly at one time I thought he was being too anal, but he stopped and explained why certain things had to be perfect and why screws can’t be missing from anything, and why all the hatches had to be air tight…he taught us what to do in case something happens to him while on the boat. He checked toilets, water pressure, water temp, showers, all the circuit breakers, lights, AC, generators, refrig, freezer. He unplugged from shore power and checked out everything, it was information overload. I didn’t think you could overload engineers(myself and husband) with formation. The only thing we didn’t physically check was the engines, however he showed us how to get to the engines. He did check all the digital gauges for the engines.
Our departure was scheduled for noon, we were pulling out at 1:20 with a Yacht that was exceptionally clean, safe and all the screws, bells, whistles, etc. LOL. Having Winston made my trip stress free. I start drinking..Cheers to the Captain,
I'M FREE.
Since we only had a 4 day charter we worked on the itinerary so we could see as much as possible.
Day 1 – Headed to Virgin Gorda- The Baths, Leverick Bay, Saba Rock – spent the night in V.G
Day 2 – Headed to Anegada, toured the island, had dinner at Anegada Reef Hotel Restaurant on the beach and bedded down for the night. (Flamingos of course was on the other side of the pond.)
Day 3 - Headed to Jost Van Dyke - White Bay, hanging on the beach, drinking at Soggy Dollar. Then went to the next bay to have dinner at Foxy’s and bed-down for the night.
Day 4- Due to a lot of the places closed; we cruised around and received a good history lesson of each island, did some snorkeling, visited the caves and went to Willy Ts.
Day 5- Road Town to spend the night on the boat. Had to catch a 7am Ferry to STT.
Pros:
Will use The Moorings and Cpt. Winston again.
I think low season is probably better. Less chaos. Personal attention is exceptional good.
Boat was in GREAT condition and exceptionally clean.
Plush towels and nice linens.
Hiring their Captain, (although they categorized it as bareboat), made it stress free.
The refrig and freeze stay cold the entire trip.
We had no mechanic problems.
Cons:
Returning the 433PC Mooring.
Low season- a lot of places are closed, but it also had to do a lot with post Irma and Maria.
FYI: I spend $388 (96 gallons at $4.03 per gallon) to refuel the boat, however we did cruise around a lot and some days had strong headwinds. We ran the AC every night from sundown til 11am the next day.
