Sailors Go On Vacation
By November, a bunch of sailing friends were already looking forward to warm weather. So, the discussion started — Who wants to go on vacation? Where should we go? Who’s in?
Discussion started out with trying to organize a sailboat charter in the Caribbean over New Year’s. However, we were never able to get the right group of people together at the same time for the right vacation budget. If you haven’t chartered a boat before, make sure you know who you are going to charter with. You will know them better than you ever imagined by the time the charter is over. Previously, I’ve had great chartering experiences with both Sunsail and The Moorings for racing and cruising charters. Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten is a great experience, but more about that later.
When the charter didn’t come together, discussions got tabled for a while. Then the subject came back up as a land based vacation that involved a lot of fun, warm weather, water, and beach time. However, we still had to get a group of people to the same place at the same time for a reasonable price. From this experience, I’ve learned that Travelocity and Expedia will advertise flights as available — and then take away the availability when you get further into the registration process, or greatly increase (almost double) the advertised price of the ticket. Believe me, it’s really frustrating to type in information for multiple travellers just to find out that the tickets you thought you were booking aren’t a possibility.
Anyhow, we had success, and fun is on the way. We were able to get six people to agree that the location should be Vieques (an island between Puerto Rico & the BVIs). Tourist information boasts of beautiful beaches, a large bioluminescent bay, fun hikes to sites like an old sugar mill and a black sand beach. Homeaway.com helped us to find a house to rent. It’s supposed to be right on the beach, and the pictures look beautiful.
However, the web sites and tourist information also tell you that if you see that the gas station has gas, and no line, you should definitely stop and buy gas because it’s only delivered on certain days. We have heard horror stories about how unreliable the ferry is. So, options are being explored for flights from San Jan, taking a car to Cieba for a cheaper flight to the island, or taking a car to the ferry dock and taking our chances about reliability. We are also told that different items are delivered to the farmer’s market each day. So, you need to get there early.
One thing is for sure — it will be an adventure. There will be lots of snorkeling and time spent on the water. Hopefully, lots of sailing will be included in that time. Stay tuned and I’ll post about the fun we have and recommendatons (or the opposite) for this warm weather vacation once we’re back.
