Our family of 4 chartered a 2003 Belize 43 3/2 catamaran from CYOA in Frenchtown, St Thomas for 10 days. Here's my kinda of wordy update.

Some general comments:

CYOA was great. I have to admit that I had some trepidation about CYOA along the way. After chartering with Moorings, Footloose and Sunsail, CYOA seemed a bit of stickler for processes and paperwork. And a $600 cash deposit? However, having chartered with them, I now echo all the happy folks who say they had a great charter with CYOA. They were extremely helpful, friendly and efficient. It's the only charter we've had where everything on the boat worked and everything happened on time. (They even readjusted things to meet our schedule and told us several times we were on vacation, not to worry!) From our experience, and those we talked to, CYOA takes really good personal care of the boats in their care and their customers. Special thanks to Jan for all her patience and help!

Customs wasn't too much of a pain. We worried about starting out in the USVI and going through customs in the BVI and the US. Turned out not to be much of a hassle. I did, however, end up really confused in the BVI customs office. I am one of those chatty people. But after reading others' comments here, I decided I should be serious and terse. That didn't work so well. The BVI customs agent was all about joking and it took us a bit to get on the same page. It took me a bit to realize he was joking!

Kid/adult ratio. I stand by all my previous comments about kids and chartering. I think taking them once they are 4 or 5 years old works great. Just make sure to take twice as many snacks (and sodas) as you planned and stop at lots of beaches. However, I'd add a something to think about. In addition to thinking of the kid/adult ratio, I'd also consider the kid/sailor ratio and the personality of the kids involved. Most kids naturally want to help out and it takes someone to help them help. As you consider what that ratio of sailor/adults to kids should be, you should also consider your kid's personality. Will they have great fun counting all the hatches and making sure they don't miss any as they close them? Or will they dog half of one hatch and then run up to make sure they don't miss anything? Will they believe you that they might get rope burn or lose a finger if they randomly play with lines to taut sails? Or do they need to experiment a bit on their own first? (And be carefully watched.) While both personality and age play a role, I found this to be more personality than age related.

Boat was great. It sailed easy with two of us, although it would have been nice to have another adult so we could have had more help to help the kids help out. It was much more boat than we needed - it's a long story. Part of it was the boat we originally chartered was sold, so CYOA upgraded us! The owners' cabin/suite was *huge* with more storage than I have ever had on a boat. Galley was really well laid out - in particular we were enamored with the trash can of all things. It was a hole in the counter with a bag attached below with a rubber band. Lots of good ventilation. (We also had a generator which we ran a couple of times a day to keep the fridge/freezer cold and recharge all of our devices. We did not use our AC but should have used it the night it poured on Norman Island. We got rather warm with all the hatches closed - Frank and I spent most of the night opening and closing them as the showers came and went.)

Day 1: Left our home in Colorado at 5am. Flew from Denver to Miami to STT. Arrived in STT sometime after 10pm. Rented an Avis rental car (they stayed open late for us since our flight was delayed), found CYOA, back tracked a bit to a convenience store to buy some drinks and snacks, found our boat waiting for us with the lights and AC on. Had a beer, explored our boat, unpacked all of our stuff (we bring a lot of our own food, fishing gear, snorkeling gear and kids life jackets), found most of the stuff on the extensive CYOA checklist and then crashed.

Day 2: Woke up an hour late due to some phone and time zone confusions. Rushed to get things done - ended up shopping at Pueblo Supermarket and Gourmet Gallery. Wasn't a big fan of Pueblo (our pasta had bugs in it ...) but it got the job done. Gourmet Grocery was very nice but I wouldn't want to do all my provisioning there. Frank remarked on the huge (and only) capers from Pueblo. I found 5 different types of capers to choose from at Gourmet Gallery. As I know nothing about capers, and we already had a jar of huge ones, I settled for buying several different types of expensive olives instead. The wine was sorted by region and you could find a $250 bottle right next to a $15 bottle. Really wanted box wine but couldn't find it anywhere. Did an emergency run to Radio Shack to get the thingie to connect our ipod to the radio - turns out it was black Friday ... Returned the Avis car to the sea plane dock, a short two minute walk away from CYOA - we would definitely rent a car again. CYOA kindly rescheduled our checkout for a few hours later (as they had originally suggested.) The checkout was very extensive. Carl made sure we knew where everything on the checklist was, walked us through everything, went out with us and had us put up the sails and tack af few times. This was rather nerve racking as we sail every 2 years and it usually takes a day or so to settle into a routine where we aren't yelling at each other. But all worked out well and they sent out a boat to pick up Carl and we sailed to Christmas Cove.

Day 3: Woke up to screams of delight from our 5 year old who discovered sting rays in the water (while snorkeling with Frank.) We also discovered his fins didn't float and Frank managed to dive down to retrieve them under our mooring. 11 year old - normally a sleep in kind of guy - asked to be woken up in the future so that he wouldn't miss any sting rays. Sailed over to Leinster. Snorkeled the under water trail (our 11 year old's favorite snorkel of the whole trip) and hung out at the beach. Saw lots of tarpon at night.

Day 4: Snorkeled the underwater trail again. Lots of huge starfish. Motored over to Soper's Hole. Grabbed a mooring ball and I took our paperwork and passports over the customs office. Quick painless process except for the trying to be too serious part. Dinghed everybody in to land, bought ice creams for the kids and ice for the coolers. Got out of there quick as it was hot! Went over to the Bight on Norman. Got a bucket of bushwackers at Pirate's. (Turns out they can't make virgin bushwackers - too much of the flavor depends on different types of alcohol, so the kids got virgin daiquiris.) Let the kids play on the beach. Snorkeled at Treasure Point. Kids didn't find the treasure so we concluded we'd have to go back again.

Day 5: Sailed around the south side of Norman to try fishing out there. Caught some bonito and Spanish mackerel. Caught a mooring ball at the Wreck of the Rhone and 11 year old and I went snorkeling. (5yo fell asleep during our fishing expedition and we very unwisely moved him to his bunk. He got very sea sick. Luckily he hit the head before he got sick. Frank very generously cleaned it up but then felt rather ill himself.) 11yo was not nearly as impressed with seeing an underwater shipwreck as I expected. Decided to postpone our planned expedition of Salt Island and headed to Cooper. Enjoyed a drink at the Beach Club while the kids played on the beach. Dinner on the boat.

Day 6: Dinghed over to Salt Island to see the salt pond. Was really rough pulling the dinghy into shore and getting it back out again. We all decided it wasn't quite worth the trip. Sailed to the Dogs. Couldn't find a mooring ball. Tried to anchor but couldn't find a coral free spot to anchor. Motored to Marina Cay. Let the kids play and snorkel off the beach. Had some great conch fritters. The mooring field was really crowded but it turned out to be one of the best nights of sleep with a great consistent breeze all night.

Day 7: Debated heading to Anegada but the winds were light and out of the NE though so we decided to change plans. Tried the Dogs again. Had to motor around a few times before a mooring ball came free. Snorkeled and then headed over to Leverick Bay in North Sound. Rented a car and went to see the Copper Mine ruins and the Baths. Had a great time driving on the left on the narrow, steep roads. Seriously, I had a great time. Note that you drive half way across the island before you actually fill out the rental paperwork. The rental car cost the same as a cab would have cost one way for the 4 of us. Checked out the copper mine ruins, had lunch at the Top of the Baths, did the trail through the rocks, let the kids play on the beach ... Back to Leverick and let the kids play in the pool. Picked up a few provisions at the store. Commented on (and chatted with) all the Dominicans working there. They told us the BVI is too quiet for them.

Day 8: Let the kids play in the pool again at Leverick. Motored over to BEYC. Snorkeled their underwater trail with the cannons. 5yo and I saw one big giant spotted ray and then he decided he'd had enough snorkeling (water was pretty rough and I think it looked really open and unprotected to him - he asked a lot of questions about what we'd do if our dinghy sank) so we sat in the dinghy to wait for the others to be done. Had a drink at Saba Rock - had a great time chatting with a group from Arizona while the kids checked out the tarpons. Saba feeds the tarpons - they let both the kids dangle a long strip of fish skin to try to "catch" a tarpon.

Day 9: Sailed to Monkey Point. Snorkeled. Motored to Great Harbor. Caught a lot of fish on the way. Kept a beautiful dorado. (It was almost too beautiful to keep but it turned out to also be delicious.) Got a mooring ball in Great Harbor and then dinged over to White Bay. Could not believe the number of boats in White Bay. More than 30. While it's still a great place, it's much changed. Had the barbecue buffet at Foxy's - you get two plates and you can fill them once. Frank and our 11yo managed to put more food on their plates than I would have thought possible. (Kid's meal was cheaper and they just got one plate.)

Day 10: Sailed to Caneel Bay. Dinghed over to Cruz Bay and went through US Customs & Immigration. Very easy process. (Tied the dinghy up at the parks service dock.) Bought another giant avocado as we'd finished all of ours and then had a great burger at Jack's. Everyone we talked to on St John was super friendly and helpful. Waitress didn't know anything about bareboating which made us think not many bareboaters came through there. We were even more sure of this when the bar at Caneel Bay gave us a free bag of ice. Let the kids play at the beach at Caneel Bay - beautiful beach. Motored over to Christmas Cove.

Day 11: Motored back to Charlotte Amalie. (I didn't remember how far it was or we would have sailed.) Filled our fuel tank at Yacht Harbor Grande - Frank did a great job of pulling us up to the dock in 30 knot winds. Crossed over to CYOA and they met us on a mooring ball and checked out the sails. They then docked us. Check out was quick and efficient. We took showers and had a great brunch at Hook, Line and Sinker and hung out for a few hours before heading to the airport for our 4:35pm flight. (Flight was delayed. Connecting flight was delayed even more. Got home at 2:15am.)


A few more comments:
* The week after Thanksgiving is much quieter than the week of Thanksgiving.
* Many more Europeans than we've seen before.
* Many more Dominicans working in the BVI than we've seen before.
* I don't think I'd leave from St Thomas (and plan on seeing the BVI) with less than 10 days.
* We had all our dinners but one on the boat and I highly recommend that with kids. We did have a few lunches and quite a few happy hour drinks with conch fritters ashore.
* I took a blank notebook and we all journaled - either with words or pictures - several times during the trip. It's a great memory now and I'm working on how to get it online.
* Not much homework got done. Kids didn't sleep enough. Didn't bring enough books for our 11yo. Great time was had by all.
* Letting the kids watch movies on tablets in the evening was a nice way to unwind a couple of times during the week. Long sails were a great way to get the 5yo to take a nap.