St. Thomas provisioning

[Tigertail20]

Thanks for the advice, everyone. A couple of our party will be there early, so I'll ask them to check out/compare Pueblo and Gourmet Gallery.

Is there anything particular you'd recommend that we take with us rather than buy on the island? We're in San Juan for a few days before taking the puddlejumper to St. Thomas, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to pick up a few things and carry them with us.

Where do you clear BVI customs when arriving from the USVIs? And is there a local rum that stands out?

Tigertail

[camaraderie]

Tiger... there are two easy places to check into BVI from St. John...One is Sopers Hole on the west end of Tortola which has spectacular sunsets, and a nice Pussers bar and restaurant to enjoy sipping a Painkiller (you have to try one!!) while the sun goes down. This is also where one of the Ample Hampers is. I would opt for here if I were leaving St. John in the PM and looking to check into the BVI's around mid afternoon.
The other easy place is Jost VanDyke which is a wonderful little island with good swimming and a couple of harbors and several nice bars and restaurants. (Try Sidney's Peace and Love or Harris' Place for a great lobster dinner!) Excellent choice for a lace to arrive in the AM...enjoy the beaches and a quiet anchorage at night.
For customs...bring boat papers and passports...Dress neatly and act respectfully and customs will be a piece of cake and you'll get a wonderful certificate for suitable for framing as well!

Customs is also available in Road Town and Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor depending on your cruising plans but I have given you the two closest to St. John.

[FarCry]

Originally Posted by Tigertail20

Thanks for the advice, everyone. A couple of our party will be there early, so I'll ask them to check out/compare Pueblo and Gourmet Gallery.

Given extra time to shop I would suggest visiting the Food Center which is more on the eastern end on the island. It is not a large place but probably more typical to a stateside grocery store with clean floors and good lighting with a decent variety of goods. You should be able to find everything you need there from basics to fresh live Caribbean lobsters. It will be less expensive than Gormet Gallery but more than Peublo. The location is not as convenient but there is always a compromise.

Is there anything particular you'd recommend that we take with us rather than buy on the island? Female companionship We're in San Juan for a few days before taking the puddlejumper to St. Thomas, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to pick up a few things and carry them with us.

Where do you clear BVI customs when arriving from the USVIs? Cam answered perfectly. And is there a local rum that stands out?Cruzan is based out of St Croix and is very inexpensive and widely available.

Tigertail

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[Tigertail20]

Thanks for the restaurant and customs suggestions, Cam. I noticed the rum prices on the CYOA liquor list looked good - $6 for Cruzan dark! (1 liter, I assume.) I'll ask my friends to check out Food Center too.

Is there anything particular you'd recommend that we take with us rather than buy on the island? Female companionship

I think we've got that covered, FarCry - but it's still 4 months off so you never know!

[Tigertail20]

Just got back from our charter (June 10-15), so I wanted to post a follow-up on our experience. We had a great time and learned a lot. Pueblo turned out to have everything we wanted except for fresh fish. We used CYOA's beverage provisioning service for all our drinks from water to booze, and it was reasonably priced and much more convenient than lugging all that weight from a store.

The boat (a new-looking 2006 Lavezzi 40) was terrific for our party of 7, though it was HOT - I'd consider a boat with generator and AC next time. I imagine a generator would be nicer for charging the batteries as well, since we had to run the main engines 3 hours a day to keep up the too-small house bank. All the systems worked pretty well, though they occasionally suffered from the lack of electricity.

Getting ready to go from the dock took longer than expected. We arrived at 10:30 am - early for our official noon start - but didn't go off on our own until about 4:00 pm. There was a very picky inventory that took some time to complete, and then we waited a while for the briefing because they were short-handed. Our briefer was good but made what I considered to be a potentially serious mistake that I'll mention later.

The sailing was nice for the most part, though wind was on the light side. We got very little rain, had beautiful snorkels, and generally had a great time. We only anchored once, and spent the other 4 nights on moorings - much easier than anchoring! We didn't make it to the BVIs, but definitely will next time.

Check-in was pretty quick on our return, but here's where the briefer's mistake came into play. He noticed a nick on the transom and a loose section of rubrail next to it that he didn't remember from our check-out, and he and one of the CYOA bosses were whispering about it and giving us some suspicious glances. Considering they had my credit card number and a $600 cash deposit, I got a little nervous. We'd filled out a damage diagram (like a rental car) which noted all the little dings we found and even said "nick" with an arrow right to the spot in question, but they looked like they didn't believe me.

The briefer's mistake (and ours too, to be fair): At our check-out, we'd filled out the damage diagram by ourselves and the briefer didn't look over it with us. He'd also left it on the boat instead of taking it up to the office, and I began to think that maybe they were thinking we had dinged the boat and then marked the diagram after the fact. In the end they let it go, but not before some additional whispers and looks that made me feel uncomfortable.

The lesson for us is that we're going to be extra careful about this in the future. First, we'll make sure we fill out the diagram only in the presence of the briefer, and second, I really think either we or they should take digital pics of any dings and leave the memory card at the office for reference so there's absolutely no question about pre-existing damage.

Except for this little incident, I had a wonderful trip overall and would charter with CYOA again.

[FarCry]

It sounds like overall you had a good experience. Where were your stops?

[speciald]

Do they offer a basic package that includes toilet paper, paper towels, soap, etc.? I have found it worthwhile to get the basics and then buy food and drinks you want in the local stores.

[Tigertail20]

We really did have a good time, FarCry. Almost every bay had good snorkeling and beautiful scenery. Except for the first and last nights, our stops were fairly lonely bays within the park boundaries of St. John. We thought about staying one night at a marina at Red Hook and having some fun on shore, but it was so hot we decided to stay out where we could catch the breeze. 1st night - Christmas Cove on Great St. James island, nice spot, just a short trip from the CYOA docks since we left late (no moorings - had to wrestle with a balky windlass). 2nd - Did a quick snorkel at Caneel, then moved on to Hawksnest - lots of turtles. 3rd - Francis/Maho - very protected, beautiful beaches, swam with the sharks! (They were only 2 footers.) There were actually quite a few boats here, but plenty of open moorings. 4th - Great Lameshure. Had a nice hike, but Little Lameshure looked nicer when we walked past it, and even had a restroom. 5th - Honeymoon Bay, Water Island, just a short motor back to the charter docks the next morning. Had some great drinks at a tiny little beach bar, and there was a tiny beach grill with steaks, etc., but expensive. There was a photo shoot at a pavilion on the point. Glamor shots of some very attractive ladies that became even more interesting when they took off all their clothes!

Speciald, CYOA gave us a small starter package. If you buy their provisioning package, they add to the collection, but they don't offer a separate basic package so we bought what we needed at Pueblo.

One more thing - we didn't like having to pump the heads overboard every time we used them. Our briefer told us the government has been terribly lax about requiring pumpout stations and only the big-boat marinas have them. We thought it would have been a tiny bit better to hold the waste until we were out in deep water, but they wanted us to completely clear the holding tanks each time. Is that how all the charter companies do it?

[captainjay]

In full disclosure I was Tigertails briefer. I am glad you enjoyed your trip. As for the damage in question you are right that I should have gone over the scratch and dent with you prior to departure. The reason that I brought Nancy on board to look at it was simply to verify if it was something that she she knew about. The damage turned out to be relatively minor. I do beleive the damage was there when you rented the boat and ultimately that is why you weren't charged. As for the a/c thing, this time of year I would personally rather have a boat with a generator and A/C and not need it than the other way around. We do have another Lavezi wit gen and air. Hopefully you are planning a return trip and some time in the BVI's next time. If there is anything I can help you with don't hesitate to ask.
Jay

[Tigertail20]

Thanks, Jay, I appreciate your response and feel better now about our check-in. This was my first major charter so I had a bit of anxiety about the whole experience, but we did have a great time. And as I mentioned above, your briefing was good - the info regarding the systems and the sailing were right on the money and helped us avoid some frustration, I'm sure.

The heat wasn't terrible, but I'll definitely try to get a boat with AC if we go again at the same time. Unfortunately for this trip, they were all booked by the time I was ready to send in the deposit (February, I think). Need to book earlier next time.