Barefoot Yacht Charters St. Vincent: Never Again

[DoNotLieToMe]

The first lie relates to the location... "Blue Lagoon". Barefoot Yacht is outside of the protected harbor and waves roll over the reef and slam the boat around making loading and unloading dangerous. Laying away the provisions on board at the dock will test your stomach. The lies just get bigger from there which makes their website the largest amount of false advertising I've seen in one place. If something goes wrong you are on your own. We had a short in the windlass switch which caused the motor to switch on spontaneously and dump all the chain we had left (100+ feet) causing us to swing wildly in the harbor. We had a dinghy leak and no pump with the appropriate adapter for the type of valve required to inflate. The inverter was inoperable so charging cell phones, etc. was impossible. We made do... because we had to. The employees at Barefoot Yacht were incredibly rude and totally unhelpful. We were harbored in Bequia(Friendship Bay), Mustique(Brittania Bay), Mayreu(Salt Whistle Bay), and Canouan. Their answer was always "if only you were somwhere else (Admiralty Bay, Union Island, blah,blah,blah) we could get it corrected". They provided no assistance!

[bakerha51]

So other than the Charter Co. How was the trip? We plan to do that area in 2012.

[DoNotLieToMe]

it was fantastic... I really want to go back and explore farther south. Of course with a better, reputable charter co.

[knotnow]

Let me start with the fact that I know this company well. Both its office staff and the guys and gals that are part of their support crew have become friends. I have spent a lot of time at their base and have seen both very good charters and those with a consenting, know it all attitude.

I would like clarification on a couple of the OP concerns.

>>“Barefoot Yacht is outside of the protected harbor and waves roll over the reef and slam the boat around making loading and unloading dangerous.”

While technically correct, the trade winds generally are from the east making their docks in the lee of the reef. Not normally an issue. The dock crew is most always spot on assisting charters with loading and unloading of luggage and provisions. More so than I’ve seen anywhere else. If there is a swell there that you could experience a swell in just about any other westerly facing anchorage or lagoon.

>>”the windlass switch which caused the motor to switch on spontaneously and dump all the chain we had left (100+ feet) causing us to swing wildly in the harbor.”

I can’t see how with a proper snubber or bridle set one could pay out anymore effective scope. Seems worst case it might pile up on deck on a mono or between the hulls on a cat.

>>”The inverter was inoperable so charging cell phones, etc. was impossible.”

That really stinks and might have been a result of a prior charterer not adding that to the punch list. Either way that’s really unfortunate.

Repairs of any kind in the Grenadines can be a challenge. Especially in those neat little bays you mentioned. The area is pretty vast and with just a little cooperation and a quick divert maybe some of your concerns could have been taken care of.

Regards

Rick

[DoNotLieToMe]

as to the anchor: we had just set it 10 minutes prior and wanted to make sure we were holding before attaching the bridle
as to "quick divert": Friendship Bay is less than 2 miles over land to Admiralty Bay. They wanted me to sail 6+ miles around west cay(last 3 miles beating straight in) to Ad. Bay to basically deliver the boat to their chosen mechanic. A totally unreasonable request given the ease of travel over land versus water in this particular case

[sailingdog]

Well, if you are so unhappy with them, I hope you paid by credit card, since you could get some redress through your credit card company.