Guest Pick-Up in Red Hook

With all the recent ferry mess, we've decided not to make our guests play ferry roulette. Instead we plan to go over to Red Hook to pick them up. Our plan is to check out at West End, motor or sail to Cruz Bay, check in, then motor over to Red Hook. Will the American Yacht Harbor marina let us pull up to one of their T-dock ends and hang there for an hour or so while we wait? Would our guests be able to walk down those docks, or are they fenced off? Is there another dock in that area which is better for this? We could grab a mooring ball in Muller Bay instead and dinghy in I suppose.

If you happened to be at the fuel dock topping off water or fuel, maybe buying some ice, and your guests just happened to walk down the dock at the same time and step onto the boat... :-). You could always call AYH and ask at 340-775-6454 or you could call Lattitude 18 on the other side of the bay 340-777-4552.

The fuel dock at AYH is fairly busy and hanging out for an hour or so probably isn't an option. Calling AYH is a good plan, they may have space on one of the other docks for a short stop. The docks are not fenced off at AYH. You might try Island Yachts and see if you can use one of their moorings for a short stay and pickup by dinghy. I don't know of any public moorings in Muller Bay.
One option is to stay on the mooring in STJ that you use for C&I, and have your guests take either the Charlotte Amalie -- STJ or Red Hook -- STJ Ferry and pick them up by dinghy in Cruz Bay, enjoying a little STJ beach time or some Cruz Bay strolling while you wait. Those Red Hook ferries are very reliable.
All of the plans would depend on communication - cell phone or VHF.

Although they are private we have grabbed a ball at Red Hook (Vessup), as long as it is a short wait and someone stays aboard, you should be fine.

You can also have them dropped at the National Park Dock on the other side of the cove from AYH. You could probably hang there for awhile if needed. As long as someone was on board to move if neccessary. I think the Caneel ferry uses that dock from time to time.

Is the ferry to Cruz Bay more reliable? You could pick them up there. Although it would add to your sail time, we've picked up and dropped off in Lindbergh many times. Stayed the night there 4 times. We have a monohull and it's never been rolly for us, maybe we've gotten lucky. It's a 5-10 minute walk from the airport to Lindbergh Bay.
Lann

Lindbergh is further than I wanted to go. May try the National Park dock or Latitude 18. We'll see what works best when we get there and then just call them. Thanks all!

Although further, Crown Bay is an excellent pick up spot. You can top off water and provisions, great laundry, and Tickles has pretty good food.

Personally I think I would grab a mooring ball of Honeymoon in STJ. Send the CAPT (that would be you) to meet the guest. Maybe stop at Tutu Mall and do a stock up on some more libations and call it a vacation.

Doing this will allow the CAPT to be relieved (for a minimum of 24 hours) of any dishes, clean up, or trash removal.

And if you have to wait for a late flight... the hotel across the parking lot has a nice bar on the water and you can see when the plane lands. Make it easy for everybody.

how is he getting from St.John to St.Thomas?

I thought the issue was mainly between transiting between USVI and BVI.

I have not seen anything about either the RH to Cruz Bay run or the car ferry. So I was recommending the ferry. Keep the stress factor low, especially if your guest are 1st timers to the VI. Just make their life easy and roll with it.

Island time and inconveniences begin when the wheels lower on a plane no matter what island. It is always good to see a known smiling face when you step off the plane. For those left onboard, Honeymoon is a great place to hang and easy walk or dinghy to Cruz Bay.

Exactly, trying to keep our newbie guests from any stress over the ferries. Also, it would allow us to spend our first night in Leinster Bay and let the kids visit the sugar mill ruins the next morning. Rather than take a ferry myself and then bring them back via ferry, I was thinking that after checking in at Cruz Bay and grabbing some lunch, it would be an easy motor over to Red Hook to pick them up.

By the way, any tips on great places for lunch in Cruz Bay?

I have always loved the Mahi Sandwiches at the Beach Bar. It is right on the water and lots of shade trees on the beach. Can be a nice place to hang. It is under new management so not sure if the menu is the same.

The Banana Tree is also serves a great lunch downtown. It is behind the Beach Bar upstairs overlooking the harbor. Here again a nice place to hang and just take it all in.

There are lots of places downtown, but these two are in the heart of downtown area. Near the dinghy dock if you are coming over from Caneel or Honeymoon.

As for meeting your guest, if the ferry between RH and Cruz Bay has issues also, motoring over makes sense, but what I was suggesting is let one person be greeter and the rest can play in STJ for the half the day. It also saves any newbies a lot of stress on what now if there is a smiling face at the airport that understands the cab routine.

Enjoy your vacation and say hello to the turtles in Leinster Bay, and I hope there is a Starfish Party going on for the kids. It is so amazing to see that many starfish in one place.

If there's concern over the newbies getting a cab I would recommend setting up a private taxi in advance. I can personally recommend Rachel - 340-771-2986. There is no better smiling face to have awaiting your arrival. She'll meet them at the airport and whisk them to whatever destination you want. Cost is not much more than a shared cab and so worth the $'s. I can't think of a better way for them to be welcomed.

I'll also second the recommendation for Beach Bar lunch in Cruz Bay. For something a bit more upscale Waterfront Bistro (also in Wharfside Village) has been good for us in the past.
Chip

AHY is a good spot to do a pick up, just be mindfull that it is a business and not a day dock. Don't pull up until your guests are on the dock. If your over on STJ have your guests call you once they are in the taxi, then head over to Red Hook. It's not an ideal basin to mill about in, lots of traffic. Tip the fuel guys a 20 spot and you'll be fine.

As mentioned, it is far easier having your guests jump on the STJ ferry and then meeting them with your dingy at the ferry dock in Cruz Bay. If something gets screwed up or delayed you have plenty of watering holes to waste time at. The ride around Lind point can get a bit sloppy so grab a couple of garbage bags and use them to protect luggage.

I have dropped many a guest off at Molly Malone's in AYH. Seems like a lot of charters use that dock to meet their guests.

Just back. We used the park service dock with no problems. Had a short wait on a ball outside the harbor until our guests called to say they were 15 minutes out, then went in for a quick tie up, pick up and off. Very crowded harbor!!!

Glad it worked out. Hope you're having a great trip!

Did you check out at Sopers and in at Cruz bay and how did that go?
At the park dock, did you dinghy in or boat?
Then, did you have to check out of St. Thomas or just back in at Sopers (how did that go, there would be a dozen of us or so).
If we do the pickup it won't be until late in the afternoon, I wonder if we'll get checked back into BVI that day at Sopers?

I'm not SeaSeaRider but I can answer a couple of your questions:

[color:"red"]Then, did you have to check out of St. Thomas or just back in at Sopers (how did that go, there would be a dozen of us or so).[/color]

[color:"black"][color:"purple"]No need to check out of USVI only back into BVI.[/color][/color]


[color:"red"]If we do the pickup it won't be until late in the afternoon, I wonder if we'll get checked back into BVI that day at Sopers?[/color]

[color:"black"][color:"purple"]If it's very late in the day you may want to plan an overnight on the north shore of St. John. Perhaps Maho or Leinstar. Both nice anchorages with $15 moorings. Then proceed to BVI next morning.[/color][/color]

Hopefully SeaSeaRider will chime in on your other questions. I can say that I've seen boats pull up to the park dock not just dinghies.

Chip

Chip is correct. You check in and out at the same time in Cruz Bay St. John, no need to return there to check out. Our pick-up was around 2:30 PM so we opted to just motor back to St. John and spend the night in Leinster Bay, snorkel Waterlemon Cay and then visit the sugar mill ruins. We checked back into the BVI at Sopers the next morning.

Yes, we did check out at Sopers before going over. If you try to do it without checking out/in, I think your guests will have a problem checking into the BVI. The agents will ask how they arrived, then want to know why the boat didn't check out/back in. Best to stay legal and do it the right way. It was actually a piece of cake both ways. Checking in at St. John was super easy. Pick up a ball by Lind Point and dinghy around to Cruz Bay. There's a really good small grocery store in Cruz Bay for reprovisioning and lots of places to have lunch. At the park dock in Red Hook, we took the big boat in and tied up. We stayed on the mooring ball until our friends were about 15 minutes out, then headed in. Everything worked out great. I highly recommend it for picking up a lot of crew in STT rather than having them ferry over.