Terry Shuster and I have been corresponding for a few years over the Internet.  He and Kristin had been exploring charter boat ownership with Barefoot, and in February of this year, finally made it happen.  The boat purchase experience was documented in the March 1, 2003 article Charter Boat Ownership - Terry and Kristin’s Long Journey.

It took until July of this year for Terry and Kristin to finally make their way down to their new boat.  This report documents that first adventure.   Thanks Terry and Kristin - really looking forward to that first Rummer on your boat!  -  (Rob C.)

* * *

Hello Rob;

I hope your summer racing went well.

We are back from another trip to the islands.  This trip (during July/August) was certainly special.  We traveled on our own boat, we sailed from St. Vincent to Grenada and back, Kristin’s mother joined us in Grenada, and we happily proved to ourselves that our crew of 2 can handle 44 feet of Beneteau-island-fun without too much stress.  We were island hopping for most of a month and our time there was filled with the usual unforgettable moments and a few learning experiences.  Like most of our trips, there was complete sensory overload!  Anyway, here is an overview of our trip.

The Sailing Ship

Our ‘new’ boat was a huge success.  Last February, Kristin and I became Barefoot Yacht Charter-boat owners.  As we reported to you then, I went to the BVI during the winter and bought a Beneteau 445 targeted to Mary and Seth’s fleet of charter boats.  Kristin hadn’t seen the boat yet and so, until now, she had been relying entirely on my impressions to convince herself that the boat was in good condition and we hadn’t just thrown away a ton of money.  After a trouble-free flight down, I was a bit nervous that Kristin might find the boat a disappointment.   Some of that nervousness was probably because I couldn’t remember our Silk Pajamas very well myself.  I had only seen the boat for a couple of hours when it was sitting on land and that was several months ago with all the canvas and sails stowed.

We actually arrived in St. Vincent early, and luckily, Phyllis was at the airport.  We hurried over to Barefoot’s base because there were still a couple hours of light left, enough time to get to the boat and check it out.  One of Barefoot’s guys (Rondelle) was waiting for us and he whisked us off to Silk Pajamas.  We were really excited as our dinghy approached the boat. Hey, this was a great looking yacht!  I think she actually sparkled.  My confidence was returning.  I remembered your story of how excited you were seeing The Usual Suspects for the first time in the Blue Lagoon.

We went below and found an ice bucket with champagne, a note from the staff at Barefoot welcoming Kristin and me to her new baby, and some flowers.  It was incredible.  Over the past 3 years, we have become friends with some of the people at Barefoot.  This spring Kristin was teased by Seth after he took Silk Pajamas for a test sail and she hadn’t even been on her boat yet.  They had exchanged emails about the sailing performance of the boat and Seth and the others there knew this visit could be very special for Kristin. Climbing onto that gleaming boat and seeing the champagne and flowers was the best.  We will never forget that moment.  Kristin and I were so obviously delighted that Rondelle just sat there grinning.  He knew that he had helped us have a very special event and we were glad he was there.  Well, we polished off that champagne, so intoxicated with being new boat owners that the whole bottle of champagne only bumped us up a notch.  We went ashore to the Surfside restaurant at Barefoot’s base and had a couple of rummers and a roti before going back to our queen size double berth and a great first night on our boat.

Over the next four weeks, we sailed that boat to Grenada and back.  We were delighted with the sailing performance and the living space.  Seth had told us that he thought Silk Pajamas sailed well and we more than agreed.  We did break a few things on our trip convincing ourselves again that stuff happens.  I hope we can keep that in mind when others charter the boat.

The Mighty Crew

We had all relatives aboard on the way down to Grenada and all members of the crew were veterans of these and other islands from quite a few previous charters.  This bunch enjoys a good downwind sail and we thrive on those great island times like dinner at Mac’s, fresh bread from Walton Bob, snorkeling at the Cays, visiting with Boat Boys, and snooping in new harbors.  All of us were ready for a marvelous time on the inaugural owner-cruise of Silk Pajamas.  In addition to Kristin and me, the crew consisted of Kristin’s daughters Noelle (a college student at UC Santa Barbara) and Veronique (just a year away from college), and her father John (a fellow admirer of a great Rummer who currently lives in Arizona).

The 3+ Week Tour

We wanted to be in Grenada to meet Kristin’s mother in a few days so we had little time to waste on the way down-island.  Our first port was Admiralty Bay and the crew was ready to go ashore before the anchor line was completely wet.  We had lunchtime beer and roti at The Green Boley, a hike around town, and a great dinner at Mac’s Pizzeria.  After a star-filled night in the Bay, we had our only trouble of the trip.  We couldn’t start the engine.  Peter (ex-Fixman) who works for the Bequia Marina tested the battery and found it had lost the capacity to give up amps.  The battery still read 12+ volts at rest but when we put a load on it, the voltage dropped and the problem surfaced.  It had been a slowly developing problem and we are glad it happened to us and not a charterer.  Anyway, we got a new battery at the local chandlery and we were off to the Tobago Cays by late morning.  

The end of our very pleasant sail was punctuated by that magnificent glowing water at the Tobago Cays.  We anchored right in the middle of it and went for a snorkel.  It was great to be back.  The next morning all eyes were on the horizon waiting for Walton Bob to show up with warm fresh bread.  Walton is normally the first guy there in the morning and rumor has it he makes his sister get up in the early morning hours to bake this bread.  We flagged him down and Walton not only remembered everyone on board but also recognized the T-shirt John was wearing as one he had sold us the year before.  We visited for a short time, promising to see him again soon, and had a fresh-bread feeding frenzy.  Yes, it was great to be back in the Cays.  

We headed over to Clifton harbor.  We got food, water, rum, and checked out at customs and immigration so we could head to Carriacou in the morning.  Our lunchtime-rummers at the West Indies Restaurant rank with the best we have ever had.  We tied up to the dock at the Anchorage Yacht Club for the night and the dinner there was as good as we remembered from the year before. T he waitress even recognized us.  We were feeling ‘at home’.

After an easy sail to Carriacou, we paused at Hillsborough to check in, and then continued over to Tyrrel Bay to anchor right in front of the Twilight Restaurant and Bar.  Very soon, Troy came over to ask if we would like to have dinner at the Twilight, and, remembering that this restaurant is a favorite of yours, we made our reservations and settled in for a great time in Tyrrel Bay.  Our dinner was excellent.  However, the Rummers were ‘mild’ so I hinted to Troy that experienced Rummer drinkers like John and me might be able to handle a livelier concoction.  Troy tried to pickle us with the second round.  While in Carriacou, we did the whole island taxi tour, visited the Carriacou Yacht Club and used their internet service, and we toured those somewhat eerie mangroves.  We snooped, we relaxed, we walked, and a fantastic time was had by all.

By this time Kristin’s mother had been alone at the True Blue Resort for a couple of days so we thought we would point ourselves toward Grenada in the morning.  The crew was nervous because of reports of volcanic activity at Kick ‘em Jenny, but we took off anyway and had a delightful sail past Isle de Ronde and the Sisters, and then down the coast of Grenada and over to True Blue Bay.  The final upwind, up-current sail to True Blue Bay was lively and decorated with a few ‘good-hearted’ comments by winch-grinders John, Veronique and Kristin about the possibility of me having an ancestor named Bligh.  Later, helms-woman Noelle wondered why she hadn’t done much of this fun winch grinding and tacking-stuff in our earlier trips.  Isn’t it great when they become adults!  After our uphill sail, we entered True Blue Bay and grabbed a mooring ball.

Grenada was fabulous.  We managed to do a white-knuckled whole-island taxi tour that included a monkey at Grand Etang, Concord Falls, the nutmeg factory in Gouyave, lunch at Helvellyn, the chocolate factory, an attempt by our thrill-seeking driver to reach launch speed and take off with us in his cab from Pearl’s airport, and more.  There were too many highlights on that tour to list them all.  Our driver, Dexter, knew everything worth knowing about Grenada and even the smallest details regarding the history of the US invasion of Grenada.  During our stay in Grenada, we also had lunch at La Sagesse, and we made a day of it in St. George’s.  Our tour of St. George’s included pumpkin soup at The Nutmeg, buying underwear at the market, T shirts and other stuff from several shops, and the hot but obligatory hike up to the fort.  In between all of this were dinners at the True Blue Restaurant and the Rendezvous Beach Resort (new managers are Peter and Michelle), and a few moments with Reuben the colorful taxi driver at True Blue Bay.  We tried to do it all in the few days we had.  We were exhausted.

Eventually, all good things end and other good things start.  We watched from the deck of Silk Pajamas as Kristin’s daughters and parents flew off, then we motored over to Prickly Bay for a few days of rest and relaxation.  We had originally planned to have friends fly in to Grenada to do the trip north with us, but they were forced to cancel due to family issues, so there were just two of us for the rest of the trip.  Hmm, two people on a 44 foot yacht for almost 3 weeks, not too bad.  During our days in Prickly Bay, we managed to do some boat work, we got to know a California cruiser anchored near us, and found out why sailors really like this Bay. After a few days, we headed north to Carriacou.  Our extra time in Grenada  meant we had missed the Carriacou Regatta but it was worth it.

Light winds required us to mostly motor-sail up the coast of Grenada and over to Carriacou.  When we got to Tyrrel Bay, we saw what seemed like a hundred boats, all crew probably recovering from the regatta parties.  We decided to head over to Hillsborough and there we anchored for a couple nights.  We visited Sandy Island (found very good snorkeling off of the eastern point) and one of our nights here was capped by a green flash.  Although we had no schedule, we found Hillsborough lacking so decided to leave Carriacou and head to Union Island.

Another reefed-down uphill sail brought us to Clifton Harbor again.  Lazy, we grabbed a mooring ball and settled in.  We had never really thought of Clifton as a destination but we managed to blow 3 days of our time with more lunch at the West Indies restaurant, more fine dinners at the Yacht Club, a less-than-fine dinner at Lambi’s, roaming the village, and drinking rummers with cruisers at the small island bar out on the reef that was recently constructed by an enterprising man named Janti.  A visit with Janti should be considered a must on a visit to Clifton; he is an interesting man.  However, Janti’s bar currently lacks a restroom so when you want to pee, you have to climb around back. From there you have a clear view all the way to Palm Island.

Several fantastic days at the Tobago Cays followed Clifton.  Having a few days to spend in the Cays during slow season meant we had time to relax and could sit and visit for hours with Walton, Sydney and the guys.  We spent a fine evening on the beach and snorkeled with cruisers we met in Clifton and in Prickly Bay.  We also had a great time doing little but eating, drinking, swimming and watching the sun come up and go down.  We had brought a real hammock down with us and that bit of gear got plenty of use by the skipper.  The Tobago Cays were at their best for us with great weather and only a few boats in this late season.

Time was running out on us so we sailed up to Bequia for another visit.  Several more days in Admiralty Bay allowed us to walk the town, hike the beaches, have lunch with a great view at Coco’s, negotiate with the Rastafarians at the vegetable market, spend an afternoon with whistling Willie, and catch a green flash in between the rainbows.  We met Bob, another new Barefoot owner, and eventually pounded our way back to the Blue Lagoon through rough seas left over after a tropical wave.  Our last couple of days at the Blue Lagoon were filled with fun.  We visited with the people at Barefoot, and got even better acquainted with our boat.   We were going to hate leaving these islands, again.

Our last morning we were up early.  Phyllis was taking us to the airport at 7:15 so of course it started to rain fairly hard at 7.  Eventually, we could wait no more for completely dry air so we closed up Silk Pajamas, jumped in the dinghy, and raced over to Barefoot’s dock.  As Kristin was getting out of the dinghy, dressed for the airport and with backpack on her back, the slippery dinghy released her foot and she went for one last, unplanned, head under, swim.  With the door open on the taxi and Barefoot’s showers occupied, Kristin searched for a place to change and then we headed to the airport with Kristin dripping salt water.  Even the airport security guards laughed when she arrived with dripping hair and told them why.  Maybe these islands really didn’t want us to leave.  Kristin said she had two thoughts as she tumbled into the drink;  Oh No! and Gees this water is warm.  We arrived in Trinidad with what we thought was plenty of time to catch an 11:30 American Airlines flight to Miami.  We walked up to the AA counter and were told that our flight out was closed.  Closed?  It wouldn’t leave for another 40+ minutes!  We ended up spending a rather lousy night in Trinidad that included an educational tour of Port of Spain.  What we saw of the city was abundant evidence of street crime, and a fairly hostile environment.  Our tour guide/taxi driver repeatedly warned us that we shouldn’t walk anywhere within the city.  The other places we toured didn’t look very inviting either.  We hustled to the airport at 5 AM the next day to get on any flight out.  We ended up flying out at about 7:30 AM to San Juan, then to Orlando, and then home to LAX.

The Very Good, The Less-Than-Good, and the Lousy

Virtually all of this trip was incredibly good.  We are delighted with our boat and the condition in which we found it, and we thoroughly enjoyed these islands and the people, again.  We renewed our friendship with Sydney, receiving a promise that he would cook us a great vegetarian dinner when we return.  We had lunch with Walton and got to know Janti over at Clifton.  We met and shared rummers with several cruisers including the crews of Te Natura, Lilje, and Dinah.  We lunched with, and drank with Barefooter Bob (of The Nelly Fox), and afterwards agreed it would be fun to sail together, perhaps next year.  Our social life was delightful.  We also got to know the workers at Barefoot better.  Several came over to spend a few minutes with us on the boat in the Blue Lagoon and some expressed delight that we had bought that boat and were now part of Barefoot.  It is clear that the men who work at Barefoot take pride in their jobs and in the company they work for.  We also had a beer or two with Seth and, well, we really hated to leave.  We now feel even closer to these islands and think of them as a second home.

In addition to the islands and islanders, this cruise was special and rewarding in some other ways.  In particular, Kristin’s mother Laura, notorious for her aversion to boats and oceans, came to the islands and I think, had a dandy time.  You know how great it is when a new visitor is converted to an ‘ilon’ woman.

Also great was our handling of a 44 foot boat.  I don’t think a bigger boat would have been better so from the perspective of an owner thinking ahead to some more island time, this boat seems just right.

Under the category of ‘less than good’ but not too bad, we have the passage to Grenada and back.  Grenada is wonderful, but the trip necessary to get to the south end and then back again to Carriacou requires the better part of two days.  It’s not a bad sail but even when you are there for 4 weeks, that 2 days seems like a lot.  I do think Grenada is well worth the visit.  However, next time, we will plan to stop there on our flight to or from St. Vincent and spend a couple of nights at a good hotel rather than doing the round trip in the boat.  It’s no wonder that The Moorings moved it’s base to Canouan; that move saves their boats and charterers a couple of days of travel time getting to the best sailing and those wonderful Grenadine anchorages.

It is also unfortunate that the islanders weren’t doing very well financially.  Everywhere we went, people told us it had been a tough year in de ilons.  Hopefully next year people will start traveling and spending again.

Our night at Lambi’s was also less than great.  The food was mediocre, the waiters and waitresses were surly, and we and others there were treated as a herd.  We may try it again because the music was good, but I think a much better night can be had at the Anchorage Yacht Club.

Hillsborough also does not get a thumbs up.  When we first checked in, the town seemed interesting.  We looked forward to a couple of days here and had planned a lunch or dinner at several spots that had caught our eye.  However, this was the only place we went in these islands where we actually felt unwelcome.  During our two day visit, nobody we met in Hillsborough had the ready smile and friendly welcome that we normally find in these islanders.  We checked with someone we knew a bit in Clifton and she agreed; nobody smiles in Hillsborough.  I now know at least one of the reasons that Tyrrel Bay will be packed when there are no sailboats overnight in Hillsborough.

As for the trip home, well, in the future we will avoid Trinidad and only fly through those islands where we want to be stranded by a connection that shorted.

What We Missed

Even with 4 weeks in the islands we missed stuff.  I still can’t believe we didn’t get over to Mayreau and I would have loved a few more days in Tyrrel Bay.  We didn’t get to Mustique and we didn’t do much of the hiking we originally planned.  Even worse, we haven’t yet seen much of St. Vincent.  The guys at Barefoot encouraged us to visit Vermont, in the mountains of St. Vincent, but we just didn’t get there.  Hey, that’s what next time is for!

Sensory Overload

Mostly, that’s what these trips are, sensory overload.  I think we get addicted to the almost constant intense sensory input on an island trip.  We leave the Blue Lagoon and have a marvelous sail to Admiralty Bay.  Each place we visit in Bequia is special.  Then, we wallow in the blue-green spectacle of the Tobago Cays, snorkeling with parrot fish while surrounded by exquisite beauty.  We go to Grenada and as soon as we are finished having lunch at Helvellyn, we are whizzing off to a chocolate factory, then on to the beauty at Prickly Bay, followed by dinner on the water’s edge as we watch yet another great sunset.  The people are normally warm and welcoming, almost everyplace we go in the islands is special in some way.  The truly great stuff is far more abundant than the mediocre and it comes at us in a rush.  When we got home, Kristin’s father said he wished he had the time to go back and savor each day.  On these trips, it all happens so fast we never really catch our breath.  The truly lucky among us are those that get hooked.  That’s why we write and read trip reports, it’s part of our fix.

Well Rob, that’s about it. W e already miss the islands and islanders and we are planning two trips for next year.  I hope you have yet another spectacular time on your next trip down to the islands.  After reading your reports for several years, we have begun to think of you as the master orchestrator of island trips.  Maybe the best orchestrators are those that are smart enough to just let it happen.

All the best,
Terry (with input from the crew of Silk Pajamas)