st vincent to grenada sailing charters

are there any moorings/sunsail offices in the st vincent area?
I thougth there was one in st vincent and maybe years ago in canouan? (sp)

Sunsail did/do have an office in St Vincent. I've heard it is either closing/has already closed.

St Vincent and Grenada aren't far apart. You can easily start in Grenada, head north through the Grenadines and up to Bequia and then head back to Grenada in a week.

Moorings has a base at Marigot Bay, St. Lucia, and a subbase at Canoaun (mid-way between St. Lucia and Grenada). I recently returned from a 12-day one-way charter with Moorings from St. Lucia to Grenada. Great trip! I also understand the the St. Vincent Sunsail base at Blue Lagoon is shutting down this summer. Sunsail & Moorings are owned/operated by the same parent company.

what is the return fee/one way surcharge approximately? st Lucia to Grenada?

Use my boat, or at least some of my owners time.... It's based in st. Lucia. Pm me for details. I thought I'd use it all but will have a few weeks available this year.

P.M me with details, I might have someone interested.

We chartered a Moorings 50.5 Beneteau monohull and, as I recall, the return fee was $700--really not bad when divided among the four parties making up our crew!

Moorings canouan base is also closed. There will just be the st Lucia base and Grenada base moving forward as far as I'm aware.

maybe they will get lots of one way charters, the water between St vincent and bequia we found very "swelly" is that a word? and rough, would be nice to do it only once , maybe st lucia to grenada is the plan.

Just an observation from many times thru.

You bet the North Bequia Channel can get a wee bit interesting.
Especially if you pick a time when there is an opposing tide to the N.W. flowing current add a little wind and you have a washing machine on agitation cycle. The trip south from St. Lucia towards the headlands of St. Vincent can be equally interesting. As you approach the N. end of St. Vincent you can get winds that will suddenly lay you on your side.
There is no perfect answer once you leave the shelter of Drake Lake.

I think a lot of the charters are already booked one way. Just makes sense if you are only doing a week, although we started and ended in St. Lucia and went as far as the Tobago Cays and that worked great. I think many others are also booked for two weeks making starting and ending at the same place more reasonable.

On our recent charter from St Lucia to Grenada in late May & early June, the Moorings Canouan base was still open. We were able to exchange linens, refill water tanks, and have some needed repairs addressed. Also, we observed another party initiating their charter at that base. My impression was that the base is intended to be primarily a service center for Moorings and Sunsail boats in transit between St. Lucia and Grenada.

Mooring website and newest brochure both list Canouan as an active base.

I'll have to check then as the last time I asked I was told that would be closing as well. Would be great if that remains though.

As of today (7-AUG-2013) neither Moorings nor Sunsail list Canouan in their Caribbean destinations.

The Canouan airport was extended to 5900 feet but somehow failed to get and hold the certifications they needed for 737 service. That doomed the Moorings base and much of the hoped for tourism business at the failed $200M Raffles Resort and elsewhere. Without direct jet service from the US you cannot compete anymore.

The current between St. Vincent and Bequia is fierce.
We had to head-up about 30 degrees above our desired course to make it across while headed south (we actually sailed east of Bequia during our southbound leg).

Conventional wisdom when returning from Bequia to St. Vincent is to short-tack north in the lee of Bequia until you get to the northern-most tip, and then dash across, again holding well east of your desired course.

We didn't do this and the current really got it's claws into us.

If the tide is running with the current try to locate the towers on the S. End of St. Vincent from the headlands of Bequia. Keep those towers off the port bow until you're past the center of the channel and you can most time easily make the east side of Young Island,