This is a recount of our trip last July where my wife and I chartered a boat from The Moorings. It's long - synopsis: We had adventures and we had a blast.

All the Way to the End of the World

Tom

Argh! Sorry, this was me and I (again) didn't realize that I was not logged in.

Tom

very representative of those places. Have been at least 4 times.
- The "cant sail unless the outboard is on the big boat" rule is obnoxious, especially for just a couple . renting a cat with the transom mounted hoist system solves that.

- why its unsafe at night on OB surprises me , as many south carolina beaches in summer have people on the beach long past dark (say at hilton head in front of the hotels)

- odd no one have ever put up even a small dingy dock on O Beach. what u did with the dingy was smart (bow into the waves), but you risk running over and cutting up the person at the bow- we have had lots of problems with that situation even with 2 couples and a "paid" helper from the beach and during the day. first few waves are very sharp. one solution is to go to the club o end and go in there, few waves. we do that.
- taking a dingy across the bay at night - I dont do that.
- the boat briefing overload on your brain, I got a headache the first time
- this summer the boat briefer said we HAD to do customs check in if we went on the dutch side, so guess what? we did not do any dutch side places, they are slowly making it too hard. its possibly about money. you dont go thru customs if u drive your rental car from one side to the other , why do you have to do it with your rental boat??

great write up

Thanks for the feedback,

-- Not totally sure about how unsafe the beach is at night - heard both opinions. I suspect it's less safe than SC in front of hotels at the very least.

-- Yeah, a cat with a davit would be easier and we have considered it for next time but it's overkill (and +$1K) for a couple, (and it's a cat...) so next time, I'm just leaving the motor on the dink and taking my chances.

-- I suspect a dock on OB would quickly get pounded into oblivion. I had the same thought of going to the watersports area of Club O next time but wasn't sure if they would frown on that. I asked around and people seemed to think they wouldn't care (I know the whole beach is public access but still...). Good to know that you have done that. The only problem is that it doesn't seem like I can get very close to that end to anchor which makes for a long-ish dink ride to that end. Frustrating that there is no solution if I want to be at Ile Pinel either. Agreed, dinking across the bay at night is not smart.

Tom

have docked the dingy 2 or 3 times at club O, one time the beach chair guys found me and asked me to move it down to where their watersports rental hut is, 2nd time they ignored it beached near the water sports hut, 3rd time (these are 5 years apart) this june they wanted me to anchor it on one of their dingy buoys infront of the hut - I did not want to do that for some reason and we beached it and someone stayed with it.
They were nice in all three cases.
But hee hee you never know when a deranged pack of wild nudies will charge out from behind the restaurant all likkered up and charge you and rob you!!!!

Great read Tom. You have a talent for story telling.
We are planning a charter out of St. Martin for the first time this August.

Thanks. Glad you liked it. I'm sure you will enjoy your charter.

Tom

Great trip report!!

We are chartering in May with SunSail - a one way to the BVIs. Plan on spending about 8-9 days St. Martin & area, then on to BVIs.

Thanks, loved it! Somewhere new? Sounds like a learning experience. Cool!

Cheers, RickG