!!! Huge THANKS to entire CYOA staff for our recent charter !!!

I finally have a moment to reflect on our first U.S.V.I.-only charter having caught up on all house responsibilities and sleep.

The very first thing I wanted to do with this time is to publicly thank the fine folks at CYOA for all their efforts for our 2 crews.

From check-in to check-out everyone I engaged with was eager to help and went well above and beyond my expectations.

I highly recommend CYOA to anyone looking to charter out of STT....I know there are other charter options but I have not tried them yet...

U.S.V.I.-only was certainly a different trip than BVI or a combo., but we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Highlights included Leinster (hike to top is a must/across to Coral was tough but doable), Maho (of course), and Honeymoons (STJ and Water Island).

For the record I think the signature drink at Dingy's beach bar....maybe the paddlewhacker? tastes like sunscreen...you've been warned.

Thanks Captain Jay, M, K, K, and J, and the countless others working behind the scenes that I did not meet personally....you all are awesome!!!





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Paddlewhacker is the peanut butter Bushwacker. Their signature drink is the Creamy Dinghy - their version of a Painkiller. Your description sounds like a Painkiller! I like their QAC - Quiet Afternoon Cocktail.

And, yes, the CYOA crew are a great team. When we see one of their boats in Coral Bay they are not clueless. DYC and Moorings barenboats need a lot of mentoring. The Coral Bay Yacht Club is writing a Coral Bay Cruising Guide due to the huge increase in bareboats in Coral Harbor.

Cheers, RickG

If (only after things calm down a bit) we do the USVI again we would only go with CYOA. Our charter last month (not CYOA) was a sub-optimal experience.

Uh oh. We will be there in April on a Moorings cat, using up a credit from a cancelled 2020 BVI trip. Hopefully we won't be in need of too much 'mentoring'!

Common sense cures all. A Moorings 5000 cat hit our dinghy this afternoon in Coral Bay. I lost a little paint on the prop and they have a nice gouge in their port aft hull. Stay a boat's length from other boats and all is well.

I contacted the company that manages the Moorings fleet in the USVI and they were responsive - andbeyondyachtcharters.com.

Cheers, RickG

Sorry to hear about your dinghy, Rick. How frustrating. I'm starting to feel like sailing around the USVI in a Moorings cat is the equivalent of showing up in Maine with Mass or NY plates - lol. Oh well, tourists are the same the world over. Some are cool and respectful, others less so. We aspire to be the former when we visit the USVI. Looking forward to our trip!

Did you get the name of the Moorings cat? Was this a crewed boat? Currently only crewed 5000’s are in the USVI unless the Moorings brought it over for the owner.
G

We left the USVI a couple of weeks ago and were seeing Moorings 40 and 45 catamarans starting to show up in anchorages.

One of the best things about sailing the USVI pre-COVID, besides of course all the quiet anchorages and mooring fields, was NOT seeing Moorings boats.

"Common sense cures all. A Moorings 5000 cat hit our dinghy this afternoon in Coral Bay. I lost a little paint on the prop and they have a nice gouge in their port aft hull. Stay a boat's length from other boats and all is well."

What??? I thought all of those 5000 have a hired captain...

Curious as to the name as well.