I thought I'd throw this out to anyone who might comment on a basic ROUNDTRIP sailplan aboard a 42' sailing Cat out of Marin, Martinique (southern Martinique). We are looking at a 16 night charter sail trip late June through early July. I'm an experienced (35+ yr) sailor with over 5k ocean miles including many multi-day offshore trips. 2 families of 3 each (6 total) aboard with 3 of the 4 adults having pretty solid sailing experience. I like having a "general" plan subject to all changes due to weather and general desires. Still, I like having a general plan.

So, here's the basic plan concept:

2 days/nights on southern end of Martinique after checking out boat.
Approx 4-5 days cruising down west coast of St Lucia.
Overnight sail out of southern end of St Lucia to Bequia (bypassing St Vincent to east)
Around 5 days cruising Grenadines (probably northern rather than southern islands/anchorages)
Transit up to St Vincent and spend 2 days
Overnite sail north (past St Lucia to east) onto Martinique
2 nights in Martinique before returning boat to charter base in Marin.

So someone might ask a few questions about the basic plan. Why skip over islands (St Vincent) just to then go to them on return (northern) trip back. Good question - we want to see the mountainous northern Windwards but do want to visit the low lying Grenadines - we think we'll have done this after St Lucia so skip over St V. with the option (plan) to return for a stopover on way back. We want to make certain we have enough time in the Grenadines in case weather changes our plans for return. And to be clear, we won't do the trip this way if weather is an issue and I'm used to weather planning.

As for the overnites - my wife and I love/understand them and the other family aboards wants the experience as well. We love experiencing overnites but even in good weather (the only way we'll do them) they can be a bit exhausting. They also allow us to jump around for longer trips (like this one) without sacrificing the days. Ultimately these will be a crew decision. We've got 2 overnites of approx 60-70 miles which is the distance we like that time of year (long days/short nights) spaced a week apart - we like that plan. Yes, its a charter and we've sailed charters (and many other sailboats) overnite - we have the experience, particular gear, and training to handle them. Don't worry about typical charter requirements - I have that one handled.

We've taken a quick look at C&I regs/ports of entry and it all looks reasonably doable without killing the trip with time spent in offices. (needs some more research tho)

We are looking for sportier, longer sails than typical in Leeward (Guadeloupe thru USVI) which we've done many times, and getting away from overly populated cruising grounds though a couple of nights in places like Rodney Bay, St Lucia and elsewhere isn't going to kill us - in fact, we like that in moderation - just not day after day.

We will need to figure out our safe "hole up" spots/options - I'll confirm those are always within reasonable shooting distance.

We also want to see/visit a high degree of varying landscapes - we think this trip/sailplan offers that.

Thanks for any thoughts - pro/con/other - that anyone might offer.

Best,

Kevin

We chartered an Astrea 42 in January during the Christmas winds. We could not keep the grill lit. Certainly due in a large part to the winds but even when we had it going it did not seam to put out much heat. We are looking to charter again next January and plan to cook on board quite a bit. Has any one had experience with the Astrea built in grills? good or bad. We like the boat but neither the oven broiler or the BBQ grill produced enough heat.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4728403002

Lots of friends on cruises right now, hopefully all stay healthy.

Wrt Noro, if you are sick stay in your room and tell the ship so they can handle it properly. Dont wander the boat.

Any world wide sailors out there?

Please see CaptT's post in the World Wide Forum at the bottom of the page.
He is looking for advice regarding chartering in Greece

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/217259.html#Post217259

Thanks

Good evening. I'm looking for 14 days of owners time aboard a mid 40's catamaran in Bahamas or Caribbean final 2 weeks of this June 2020 (approx June 22 - July 6). We'd prefer St Martin or further down island but could also do USVI or BVI. We are ready to commit and looking to book immediately! We do have another option for a 40' cat but would prefer to be a bit larger so tossing this out to this group and a few others.

It would need to be 4 cabin (4 adults/2 children aboard), not 3 cabin (owners version) with genset and AC and no more than 6 yrs old. (FYI, this is low season points for all charter cos.) For what its worth, I'm an experienced captain with over 5k ocean miles under my belt and 30 yrs of chartering/delivery experience. Thanks for the consideration!

Kevin (Please feel free to contact me at kevinlontz@gmail.com or cell 770-329-1915.)

Daily Herald story

Kind of a neat thing, for those who drink Heineken.

For those traveling outbound through the STT airport be aware there are some delays happening during the busiest travel times.
This is likely to extend beyond today.

"VIRGIN ISLANDS PORT AUTHORITY

⚠️Travel Alert⚠️

Cyril E. King Airport Terminal (CEKA)

St. Thomas, USVI



Please arrive as early as possible for your flights departing from CEKA today. U.S. Customs and Border Protection screening has been temporarily relocated to Gate 1 in the terminal. Longer wait times are expected, particularly during the hours of 12 noon until 5 p.m. Airport staff will be directing passengers to the Customs checkpoint. VIPA appreciates your patience and apologizes for the temporary inconvenience.

I wish we were going to be on island for Valentine's Day. I know exactly the print I would buy at Roland Richardson Gallery and Museum on Feb. 14th! Laura and Roland are having a 22nd Anniversary celebration for their gallery from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Marigot. The wisdom and beauty of color that flows in and out of that gallery are priceless.

hello to everybody!

this is a bike trip into ruins of abandoned village at Greece since 1980.
its kind of sad video.

I use Dji Ronin sc gimbal and Tamron 28 75 lens..

i think you like it

here is the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zExi43Fms4

ORION 9

It's our 5th Anniversary and we are staying a week at Sugar Beach. I rented a Jeep for the whole week and know we want to go deep sea fishing for a day and go to the mud baths.

We have been to the Pardisis in Playa Del Carmen where we stayed at the hotel mostly, and our honeymoon was in Aruba (and we drove the jeep all around the island).

So no problem with getting out and about. I plan on snorkeling at the hotel a lot (sorta why I picked it).

Otherwise, what should we do?

I wouldn't mind a sailboat trip, and we like drinking and eating.

When you open a thread from the index, you have the option of selecting "all", to see all of the posts on that thread. Is there a way to do that when using the "previous thread" option? It's kind of a pain to have to scroll through all the pages to see the one new post that you haven't yet seen....