TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Logistics advice - bareboat provisioning

Okay, so the rest of the crew has voted to self provision and not pre-order through Moorings and or Riteway. This is against my advice but what can I say, not like a lowly Captain can overrule the admiralty- unless by Mutiny! Huzzah! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duel.gif" alt="" />

So question is: We arrive in STT at 13:25.
what is the earliest we can expect to be at moorings to check in if we take the ferry from CA to RT?

what is the likelihood of being able to:
- check-in
- provision
- orientate ourselves with the boat
- conduct chart briefing

This in order to have an early start the following morning. A point of note: we have the cat for the whole day of our arrival and it is not considered a sleep aboard. (I am hoping this means that we can have the chart briefing that evening.)

Thoughts, advice appreciated.
Cheers!

You might find your goal a bit difficult. Depending on freey schedule you may get to Road Town by 5. There might be a late charter meeting, not sure when the last one is. We always provision the heavy items, gallon jugs of water, beer, run, any liquid. Good luck.

At a minimum have heavy items like water put on by the Moorings. If you land at STT and catch a 2:30 ferry you will get to the Moorings about 4:30 to 5 pm. That's if everything goes perfect and a 2:30 is even operating. More likely you will end up on a 4:30 ferry and arrive at the Moorings around 6:30. If that's the case boat and chart briefing will be the next day.
G

I think they may have a late chart briefing - Times should be listed in the paperwork you received I think. Even if they don't have one, you might be able to have them take care of it for you depending on how busy it is.

After a long day of travel though, everything else will be much easier if you just order the provisions online. I think you'd enjoy yourselves much more if you took care of putting stuff away, the briefing, getting accustomed to the boat and maybe relaxing by the pool..etc with a drink. Going grocery shopping would be the last thing I'd want to deal with.

What I think you will find is that you really could have just done the sleep aboard. It sounds like at best you might only get there 1 to 1.5 hours before you'd have been able to board with a sleep aboard. And this won't impact your ability to do the chart briefing - if you are at the docks by 5, you might be able to get the boat briefing in though.

If the rest of the crew want to do the self provisioning... let them. You can relax by the pool, while the silly ones go shopping. Seems simple enough!

Like I said preaching to the choir here! I am totally for less shopping and more pool time/drinking <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

Good idea on at least getting the heavy items provisioned. Is the Rite way within walking distance from moorings? doesn't look too far on the map. Also, are the TICO wine and French Deli shop any good for selection and pricing? If we are going to self provision parts of our supplies want to pick stores that are close by.

PS. The reason that we got the boat the whole day of arrival was that it was cheaper to do 7 days opposed to 6 days and a sleep aboard due to a sale that was held by moorings. would have liked to have gotten 7 full days plus a sleep aboard but that was not in the cards for first trip.

TICO and the French Deli are both excellent choices for provisions. There's also another wine/liqour store just up the hill from Riteway as well as the bulk store next door to them. All walkable and depending on how many crew are going to be humping provisions, might work.
But as was asked.....why?? The only beer I would want to see after travelling all day is a frosty one on my hand, not a flat of warm cans up on my shoulder as I march back to the dock. C'mon Cappy, time to play the 'rock, paper RANK' card.

I can fully understand people wanting to do the provisioning in person. However, I always order the heavy stuff in advance:water, drinks of all types. It's about a 10 minute walk to Riteway and then they can choose the best of what is available that day from the shelves and make their choices appropriately. It is also interesting to some people to see other stores and how they work compared to the usual at home. Unless shopping at home is always done online then, of course they want to see the goods before buying! Most likely a taxi will be required for the return trip if catering for more than four people. Riteway is open until fairly late, 10pm??, but check.

LOL! love it!

Just did the exact same flight. Called Dolphin Water Taxi - arranged picked up at airport, expedited C&I at West End and was on boat in a little over 2 hours from airport exist. Provisioned most items in advance and was waiting on boat. A few crew ran to Riteway for the rest. Got there just before 5 and convinced them to do boat briefing right away (any later and that would have been left to the morning). If you are doing a Sunday to Sunday it can get busy on turn around days, but other days you can do most things teh next morning and be off sailing by 10:30 or 11. There are ALWAYS things that come up the next day (usually something I noticed was working on the boat over the night sleep aboard). If you have chartered before you can request to skip the chart briefing. I often only have 5 or 6 days so I try and get it all done quickly but if you have the time, chill and just dont stress. Once you sipping something cold at the mooring it all fades away anyway.

I'll chime in with another provision the bulk stuff suggestion. Water jugs, beer, liquor are all heavy in quantity. If you do it through the Moorings it will be unpacked and put away for you when you get on the boat.

Grab an already chilled beer and send the shoppers to Riteway to sort through meat, produce, fruit and other items you might need to eyeball. Pull rank on this issue and they will thank you later.

We had the same plan 2 years ago. No problem with the ferry and taxis or the check in at the Mariner Inn at about 6 pm, but there was no chart briefing that evening. The next morning, being a Saturday, was bedlam at the Moorings docks. We ended up leaving the dock at about 2 pm. You may have a leg up, since you will already be on board, but don't count on it. Best advice I can give is to relax, you're on vacation.

First time to this Base? Not knowing the locality makes it a little harder, but you are doing the right thing by trying to get insight.

Get the crew to get the menu "set", not srictly by what but by every ingredient in the meals.
Divide list into provisions taken with you: Spices, light and compact, hard to get, essential. Suggest these go with you...

Considering taking meats from States: Several threads address vac-pack, frozen, dry ice and packing options(carry on vs checked).

Computerize printed list with check off when packed is essential, otherwise you are on the hook wondering where Walmart isolated.

Printed list with division of contents to crew (Grocery separated in "departments, Alcohol ).


Know what likes/dislikes entire crew has in case substitutions necessary.

(A Detailed packing list for new travelers can help to reduce overpacking, allowing space for provisioning items.) I find this helps having essential items while reducing overpacking.

Don't bother to bring meat unless there's some cut (like a bravette[sp?] or mock tender) or variety ( like a grass-fed organic steer named "Lunk" that you raised just for the purpose of eating him on a boat) that you won't be able to find. It's a waste of valuable baggage space.

(That said, we have a REALLY hard time finding bone-in chicken breasts!)

bone-in?. you settin' a hook in them ?

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Laugh.gif" alt="" /> No, they're just better for grilling than boneless, skinless, flavorless chicken breasts. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the input.

We are chartering mid week flying in on Wed. So hopefully there will be a little more flexibility. Not the end of the world if we had to do the chart briefing in the morning but was hoping to get off the slip before 10. First time charterer so definitely want to attend this!

ALso - ability to bring in Meats is a non-starter as we can't bring in fresh produce or meats from Canada into the states.

Provisioning will also be made easier as we will be eating all of our dinners on shore! Too good of an opportunity to be travelling without kids and we are taking advantage of the 50% cost savings only paying for 2!

Cheers!

I will say, even if you are set to go by 3pm... the chances of getting a brief are slim to none <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />
Follow Chriskals advice, have a few cold drinks by the pool so the kids can swim... let the shoppers go to Riteway (less than a 1/4 mile). Hell... if you get bored or aren't happy with the first wave of shoppers... take a walk yourself later... that is what we ended up doing.

It takes a few charters to realize... they have a plan for you... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I'm mixed on the provisioning thing. We normally have the heavy items delivered. But the last one was somewhat of a fail. we ordered 25 GALLONS of water and only 6 showed, at 6 pm. it was a S-show to get the missing order. We ordered a case of Heine's only to get those stupid small cans. Previously we ordered 20 gallons of water, only to have them delivered in 1 liter bottles.

IDKW, but the "green mountain" water makes me sick. So I specify Nikini. they subbed out for Green and I had to return it.

It is hard to be detailed with your order.

To close the thread, just heard from Moorings. Chart briefing at 19:00 hours and we have reserved our courtesy skipper who will show between 08:00 and 08:30 the next morning. I have requested Jimmy Hodge as per recommendation by Member on this thread but no guarantees. Hopefully we will be able to get off the dock soon after the skipper's arrival. All good news!

As per provisioning, I have convinced the rest of the crew that it would be prudent to get as much bulk provisioning done before hand (Beer, Beer more Beer oh and some water <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />) and we can get fresh produce from the Rite way and some deli meets and cheese From French Deli and wine/spirits from TICO.

Thanks all for the tips and input. much appreciated. looking forward to letting you all know how it goes.

Cheers!