This is more of a highlights report than a detailed report of our recent trip. Got really into 'island time' on this trip and can't say I could reconstruct the exact dates of where we were and what we did if I tried.

We expanded on a pattern we discovered last year: Started with 6 days at Secret Harbour in the USVI followed by 14 days of bareboat sailing with The Moorings.

This was our twelfth bareboat charter with The Moorings, this time on a Moorings 403 (Beneteau Oceanis 393 I believe). It was our second trip to getting-to-not-be-a Secret Harbour.

Cape Air
We had FF tickets to San Juan and based partly upon TTOL recommendations, decided to try Cape Air for the puddle jump portion. It worked out a bit cheaper to keep it as an open jaw (fly home from EIS instead of STT).

I can't begin to say enough good things about Cape Air. Other that a gate area in San Juan that is a bit crowded (no fault of Cape Air's), it was a phenomenal experience. Planes were on time, no lines since the planes are so small, and the personnel were exceptional.

I originally booked the Cape Air flights early in 2004 after I figured they had established their summer schedule. Soon after booking they eliminated some more flights, including my 2 perfect connection flights. The San Juan to St. Thomas flight was rescheduled to one that increased our layover in SJU by an hour, but the EIS to SJU flight was going to force a 4 hour layover in SJU before our Delta departure. 4 hours in San Juan airport is too much torture for anyone, so I cried a bit on the shoulder of the reservation person who called me with the bad news. She said that she would put in a request for a special flight to be added since there were 4 (half the capacity of a Cape Air Cessna) people in our party.

Two months before takeoff they called and confirmed a special flight had been added. We were the only 4 people on the plane. This return flight was the highlight of our travel. We got out of EIS on time and when we arrived in SJU, were escorted through the 'flight crew' line in immigration. The person who escorted us helped us claim our bags in customs, and after we cleared customs, helped us get them onto our Delta flight. There apparently was a problem with the conveyor belt that takes baggage from the AA baggage system to Delta, so he took the bags on a cart to another screening station and assured us that they would get on the plane. When we arrived in Houston many hours later, after a hellish experience making a connection with Delta in Atlanta, they were all there. I didn't get his name but he and everyone else I dealt with at Cape Air will make me use them any chance I have in the future. As evidenced by 12 trips with The Moorings, if you treat me right, I'm a very loyal customer.

Moorings Service
I saw a post about some service issues others had with The Moorings, including some references to disgruntled employees. I don't wish to dredge up all of those arguments but based upon my experience, the staff is as helpful as always and, with the exception of a dock person who chewed out our Bobby's delivery person, I didn't see one instance of bad attitude. I did have occasion to observe how others requested help from the dock staff, and reacted to instructions from them in cases such as bringing the boat into the slip, so I can see how others may have issues. As I told one couple from England who came in when we did and wanted their boat turned in the slip (to plug in the shore A/C), just ask them nicely to do it when they have a chance and you'll find they do it almost immediately. A friendly tone and "pleases and thank-yous" go a long way!.

Had an ok chart briefing and a pretty unsatisfactory boat briefing. This is the 2nd year I've had a poor boat briefing which is partly my fault. Invariably the first question asked is "have you been here before" and when I respond "yes this is my twelfth trip", I seem to get the short version of the boat checkout. I prefer to have the long, perhaps boring, version since there are many systems that might be a bit different and I also may not have understood the systems in prior years anyway.

One big negative <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> about The Moorings this time: They didn't have any Carib in the bar. I'm not sure if this was due to the strike, a decision to stop stocking it, or both.

The Boat

Originally there were only going to be the 4 of us: Me, my wife, 17 year old son, and 9 year old son, so we went with a 403. Moorings has a big gap in their Tortola monohull fleet between 39 and 47 feet which they really need to fill. This boat was tight when we had 4. For the first week of the charter we had 5 on board which wasn't comfortable at all. Sailboats are compromises and the 403 had a lot of them, especially those that were made to add shore power A/C. The duct work and 2 compressors took away many of the storage nooks and crannies so we were constantly hauling duffle bags on and off the beds and salon sofa and never really got all of the food stored.

Nice sailing boat, once I finally got it balanced. Winds were pretty brisk during the sail and the first couple of days I couldn't seem to depower the main enough. However once I powered up the jib, things leveled off nicely. Sailed most of the time with a reef in the main. Did a nice run one day on jib only since seas were a bit rolly, the wind a bit shifty, and didn't feel up to gybing the main. Made 5-6 knots (GPS) which was fine since we weren't in a rush. Most days we were making 7-8 knots with a reefed main and I guess 15-20 knots wind.

Refrigeration was incredible. Based upon several charters with mechanical refrigerators, we still tend to put a bag or two of ice to keep things cold. However this just wastes space in these electrical units which will freeze just about anything if you put it in the bottom of the cold side.

Berths are too short. I'm 6'6" and the forward berth was about 3-4 inches shorter than me. Made for some stiff legs in the morning. Kept hitting my head on a slope in the salon and got tired of turning sideways thru doors and having to keep my head bent in the forward cabin.

Shore A/C worked very well but both times we used it after sailing for a few days, we had to get a mechanic to come get the compressors working. It appears that a filter gets clogged with gunk from the bilge and needs to be cleaned before trying to use it. Both times Moorings had a mechanic on board fixing the problem within 30 minutes of our request.

Water tanks were tough to fill. I thought we were topped off when we first left but apparently there was a bunch of air in the tanks so we ran dry within 3 days. Filled up, or so I thought, at Leverick Bay on our way to Anegada, but ran out after 3 days up there. I was able to get the tanks filled during our mid-week Moorings stop and made it for 6 days and still had half a tank or so left.

The Gadgets

I splurged on a new GPS this year, Garmin 276C which I had preloaded with Walker's Waypoints. This quickly replaced the on-board RayMarine chart plotter as my navigation device of choice. The on-board plotter lost its settings when powered off and was nowhere near as flexible and easy to use as the Garmin. Visibility, even without backlighting, was good in bright sunlight, and I never came close to running down the battery. I attached it to the grab bar in front of the wheel using a SnapIt! which was another TTOL recommendation.

I brought a 300 watt inverter but wasn't able to use it unless the engine was running. The boat's refrigeration seemed to pull the house battery voltage too low for my inverter when the diesel wasn't running. I could charge the cellphone and GPS units ok, but my laptop would draw too much current.

Rented a cell modem from Renport but have to say I was disappointed in the coverage area. I couldn't pick up a signal at Cooper without being on deck, and got no signal at all at Anegada or Marina Cay. In all cases I had good strong cell phone signals so I don't understand the problem. Supposedly the network speed will be increased but I'd be happy with 19.2k if it would just work everywhere.

Bobby's

We used Bobby's for provisioning for the first time. Our trip was split into 2 parts (we always take a laundry and on-shore day in Road Town during the middle) so we had 2 deliveries from them. Food quality was good, deliveries were within an hour of specified time, and the person doing the delivery was helpful and good natured. Their Cane Garden Bay store is pretty incredible. We may plan future provisioning around the fact that we can now get a good selection of reasonably priced goods at CGB.


Ok, enough of the preliminaries, onto Part 2 for the trip....