Our moorings experiences, many very good over 35 years, but things changed when TUI took over.

What we liked about the moorings in the BVI, was several positives . After all the travel, arriving at the Moorings Base, checking in with them, getting our room at the mariner inn at the marina,
and getting out of our travel clothes and into board shorts, and swim suit. Just Erica and I. Then to the pool and swimming and treating ourselves to the poolside bar PAINKILLERS., and then
a fabulous classy dinner at Charleys. Named after Charley Carry, the originator of the moorings.

Chartering with the Moorings and Sunsail was fantastic.

Notice the word WAS.


The NOT SO GOOD and down right unacceptable: This was sad for us. Actually is still is a not good feeling in our hearts .

LAST MOORINGS BVI SAILING VACATION:.

Our last bare boat with the moorings, about a 35 ft. Beneteau, ( monohull ) since we absolutely love and enjoy sailing, and do very little motoring. Usual BVI fuel usage for Two weeks. Only
used 7 to 8 gals of fuel for the whole 2 weeks of sailing, Mostly to charge the batteries and pick up and drop off moorings.

We generally do a very thorough pre sailing inspection. ( before the staff pre sail / systems briefer arrives for the check out )

At that time on our personal inspection, , I found in good sized rip and tear at the luff of the mainsail, above the tack, but below the reefing cringle. When the staff , boat systems pre sail briefer , came on board, i pointed out the
the rip along the luff of the main sail of their Moorings boat.

The briefer had no idea that the main was ripped. Hmmmm, what about the dock staff that is supposed to inspect the vessel. What about the post sailing check in staff, what about the previous charterer
noting it and advising the moorings staff ?
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What else might be wrong ? We would soon find out.

We went thru the pre sail briefing and the Moorings briefer said he would report the main sail problem to the MOORING's SAIL LOFT.

No one showed up, so I walked up the docks to the sail loft , and three guys were sitting around, not doing much of anything except talking. I asked them if they had been advised that our particular Mooring boat
had a good sized hole in the luff the the main, and our briefer requested that the Mooring Sail Loft, replace the main. NOPE.... they just shook their heads. Never notified, knew nothing.

Well, we are not going to sit in the docks for several hours or days, especially when paying the higher prices for a Moorings boat. I told them not to worry, I would take care of it, and we would be off sailing.

I went back to the boat, showers were beginning the winds were up in the 15 to 20 mph range, I double reefed the main , and the second reef cringle, that was like a new tack, and well above the tear in the main, the new foot was
tight and flat, . No pressure at all on the fall of the sail or that rip. . We left the double reef in for the whole trip. Winds came up to the 20's. Fantastic sailing passages for the whole two weeks. Good stuff !
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That is not the only problem.

We motored out of Whickhams Cay, and the Moorings Base, out into Road Harbor to haul up the main. The sail looked great. We had already activated the AUTO PILOT, the weather was low clouds, rain, and low visibility.
You could not see any of the other islands. The heading on the auto pilot was set for Norman Island, and the Bight. With auto pilot we had hauled up and stowed fenders, and removed dock lines , coiled and stowed
them as well as raised the main. We were on our way to the Willy T. Party time lay about 1.5 hours off our bow. Rain or no rain.

OR DID THE WILLY T LIE AHEAD !

I noticed , from the land marks and buoys in Road Harbor that our heading was off. Looking at the auto pilot and comparing it to the ship's compass, the headings were off by 45 plus degrees. I went below and
grabbed my personal hand bearing compass to compare the auto pilot and the binnacle compass. The ships compass was correct. Off came the out pilot, and we used coastal navigation, and
dead reckoning, and paper chart, to sail to Norman, which we could not see. Eventually, a couple of hundred yards to starbord, Pelican Island loomed out of the low vis, and we were on course.
We would pick up oUr mooring, once we could see it thru the rain and very low vis. All went well.

For those who trust and are totally dependent on electronics, and trusting the auto pilot, things could have turned out quite differently, and that would may have been a very bad outcome out in the Caribbean sea,


Several other systems problems occuRred, but we handled them, and our two weeks of sailing and BVI fun were outstanding. We never shook out the reef, until returning to the moorings base at end of the charter.
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But , the story is not over, and the following is what caused this to be our very last booking of any type of vessel with the mooringS.

THE FINAL CURTAIN FOR THE MOORINGS.

Back in the Moorings slip, we waiting for the staff to de brief us , and write up any descrepancies. I had a list of 16 squawks.

The staff arrived with a log in sheet, and clip board. I had those 16 squawks printed out for them. We sat in the cockpit of the Beneteau, and I explained the torn main, the
non functioning auto pilot, and 14 additional problems. Each time I told the briefer , on each squawk, their pen went to the paper, and hesitated, and did not write
down, one single of those problems that needed to be addressed before the next charter. Zip, Zero. I left my printed out sheet on the top of the chart table.
Who knows if it was ever looked at, or just tossed by the after charter cleaning staff.

For our next trip, we sailed with Sunsail and no problem, the following year, we were going to book with sunsail again. Their prices were very high,, in all categories.

So, That was it , for TUI, the moorings, and sunsail.
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I called CONCH CHARTERS.....Told them about experienced of 30 plus years with the moorings and sunsail, world wide, and 14 previous BVI trips with Moorings / Sunsail.
The Conch rep Immediately QUOTED a $ 1200.00 discount , plus an additional $ 500.00 discount, ( early booking and maybe experience,? ) Whoa ! And that was a Jeanneau 36i, for the usual two weeks.

Point being, our very first, ever, bare boat international sailing vacation was 35 plus years ago in the BVI with the moorings when it was owned by the Carry familty, who originated
the bare boat moorings co, in the BVI. So, our association with the moorings, world wide, has been many, many decades. We were totally loyal.

Well, in came TUI and we still hung in there. But, we noticed a change is staff and attitude. And after our last experiences, we sadly bid good bye ,

We have found Conch, and this next may, we will be sailing a 36i, and this will be our 3 rd BVI trip with them. Family run , good well maintained boats, super friendly, efficient, and professional.

The OP, wanted to know about how people felt about the Moorings.... well, after sailing with them, for over 35 plus years, the above is the reason that we
are no longer there. I also know that TUI is no longer involved, but I do not know if the new big corporate owner has changed procedures and attitudes that TUI practiced.

Therefore, we are going with Conch, a family operated bareboat BVI charter co, with lower prices, well maintained boats, and friendly, knowledgeable, happy, and professional staff

We also now, book a hotel on Tortola and get in our welcome pool swims and arrival pain killers.