14 Day Sailing Charter 5/23 - 6/6 - depart/return SXM - sail to St. Barths, Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia and il Fourchue.
The Cloud reference comes from Chris Doyle's Cruising Guide that describes Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia (and a couple of others) as islands that Brush the clouds due to their mountain heights.

Intro:
This year's trip preparation was very different than '08 for 2 big reasons - unlike St. Vincent & the Grenadines where there was a steady flow of TTOLers sharing their info - the route I chose only had a few (still helpful) TTOL members and due to family matters on the wrong coast, the trip was on again/ off again several times. Nevertheless, it came together in the end.

Part 1 will take care of the basics:
Flights:
Coast to Coast - I stopped doing red eyes several years ago especially when I'm sailing. So I flew to the east coast 2 days before my flight to SXM. My crew lives in the Charlotte, NC area so that was the destination. Since USAir still dominates (a shame) that airport, I decided to go non-stop from SFO vs rolling the dice with AA (my preference) thru Dallas or Chicago on one of their few daily flights. Since I have reduced my flight expectations to just arriving Alive in one piece, the early am flights out & back were uneventful if you do not count the middle seat passengers on both flights who were more bothersome than a 2 yr old on a sugar high.
SXM Flights - Slightly different story - USAir again
5/21 Outbound - "Things were going TOO good" - we got to the airport early, NO lines at Int'l check-in, a pound or two over did not matter in luggage, NO one else at security line, plenty of time to enjoy coffee/tea at new int'l departure terminal wing. Boarded early, empty middle seat. That's when I shouldda figured we were doomed <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

The ability of airline companies to shoot themselves in the foot & head is just amazing. Why would you board a plane (especially an aging 757 that had definitely seen better days) before the pilots had completed their external inspection / basic checkout?
The pilot announces that there is a "mechanical" problem that cannot be fixed and we have to switch planes. He states that the ground crew will come aboard & explain what will happen next. Then things got worse because that never happened - we all got off the plane and just stood at the gate staring at the staff who never said a word or gave any meaningful information to the 180+ people unless you got on a line to ask while they were scrambling because the "new" (not really) 757 was configured differently (more 1st class - and less coach)that eliminated about 20 seats in total.
I'll skip the rest of the joyful 1.5+ hours of mystery but will add that the Captain shared (off to the side) that the fuselage had a large crack in it <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> - so hats off to the pilots for catching it but the inability to communicate & effectively deal with the situation by the gate staff was awful.
So in the end there were a few happy people who got into 1st class seats and some very unhappy campers who were spread all over the plane by the computer and including the ones placed into those empty middle seats. OFF we went into one of the bumpiest flights from beginning to end I've had in a long time.......are we there yet?
6/6 Return flight - middle seat was empty - on time - but shocked back into "civilization" with 5 clueless teenage girls who should not have been traveling anywhere without their parents and a younger girl who thought the back of my seat was a playground.

SXM Customs & Immigration - my 1st time visiting since new airport - pretty quick Immigration with about 6 booths & 2 agents in each booth.....less than 15 mins. Baggage was already there - NO Customs.

Rental Car
I used a TTOL sponsor = AAA......flawless - picked up via sign in arrival area - he dashed for car - loaded luggage - stopped at office - swiped credit card - got paperwork - 5 mins we were off........car worked great - it was a Nissan Almera (sentra-ish) - and Alain was flexible enough to arrange return at the marina.

Hotel:
Another winner - Les Balcons d'Oyster Pond - it is a small bungalow type place that overlooks the Captain Oliver / Sunsail / Moorings Marina at Oyster Pond. We stayed two nights - clean, reasonable, great deck/view and very comfortable.

Charter Company
Because my plans were on again and off again - finding the right boat & company was a BIG challenge - I had used Sunsail the last 5 trips (all different bases) with "incidents" on the last two.....but started with them first, then contacted Moorings, Horizon and Dream Yacht. Very long story short = boat choices/availability/price/arrangements - I ended up with Moorings and a very new Beneteau 43.3 monohull. I wanted a 40+' boat because of the long hop I needed to make to Nevis - it worked out great. More on sailing later.

Provisioning
We like handling ourselves vs ordering planned meals from charter company. We have done a combo = heavy items like water, etc from company & do rest ourselves. This time we did a combo from the past = packing/bringing a bunch, shopping & having the rest delivered. We used Grand Marche at Bush road. Worked well, we got everything we needed and the Grand Marche folks were great to work with.

Weather - Be Careful what you ask for <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
Before we left, many reports in the SXM section complained about the mixed weather and the reports in the SE USA, PR, BVI, etc were all very mixed. The plane ride confirmed things were not great even at 35k'.....so we were a little concerned. Even the 1st couple of days, it was not great - lots of clouds, weak wind, some showers. But once the trip got going & we sailed further , the weather got better & better = clear skies, strong sun + moon. More importantly, the winds got better and better - mid teens to low 20s kts on our trip to Nevis on 5/26....and things kinda stayed that way most days = mid teens...which also made some of the anchorages a bit interesting....but on our trip back from Statia on 6/4 it started in the high teens and jumped into lo 20s fast then with regular gusts of mid 20s.....yeeehaa <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" /> felt like SF Bay except for the seas that came with it 3-6'++ seas plus swells.....reflecting the multiple fronts that were passing thru both the windward & leeward islands late last week. Spirited sailing to say the least and it was great.

Planning:
I used the tried and true that has worked for me.
TTOL members Jeannius, BonjourSunshine and Bow provided helpful hints and info. A very special thanks to Bow who took time out of his very busy schedule to provide very detailed & many personal comments since his voyage touched many of the same places. Truly appreciated & used them too.
I used the internet to hit weather, Tourism depts of the islands, forums, etc>
I also relied heavily on Chris Doyle's Leeward Islands cruising guide that I purchased from fellow TTOLer & classified advertiser "Frank" since mine was outdated. So even though my time was compressed the old methodology helped get me up to speed.
I also picked up Navigation charts from my local (and will ship anywhere) navigation store Waypoints where the owner always has her personal tips to add based on her cruising and one that I'll point out later when we get to St. Barths.

Ok, I'll stop here.........just wanted to get that stuff out of the way & get warmed up for the sailing & island visits. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />