I am sorry for the lack of posts these past few weeks. Jon, Isaac and I have been quite busy lately! Isaac (our third crew member) arrived in Grenada on October 25th which was the day after we got back in the water once we had finished our yard period. Upon his arrival, we welcomed him with a few local beers and then had to get ready for our departure to BVI on October 27th. We departed from Grenada around noon on the 27th and decided to make our first stop in Bequia (about 68 miles). This was the first time all of us had sailed the boat together and we are happy to report everything went smoothly!
The following morning we departed for St. Marteen. This leg of the sail was about 48 hours straight. We worked in shifts, 4 hours on, 8 hours off! Jon absolutely loves running through the night, whereas I would rather be able to see where we are headed haha! I think we only came across 3 other boats in the whole 48 hours…lets just say, time passes by slowly. We arrived in St. Marteen at 4am on October 30th. As soon as we had dropped the anchor we were promptly boarded by the coast guard. Of course we passed all tests with flying colors BUT we were extremely tired by that point so we could have done without the safety check :-).
We spent two days in St. Marteen provisioning and doing maintenance. Jon showed us around a few of the local hot spots (he lived in St. Marteen for about 1 year) and we were able to meet up with a few other crews that were on their way to BVI as well. We left St. Marteen on November 1st and made it to St. John within 10 hours! We were so happy to be back in our home away from home! We had a few days of prepping for the upcoming BVI boat show, but it was also nice to relax and meet up with some friends from last season.
The BVI boat show started on November 7th and went until November 10th. The boat show consists of around 75 catamarans (ranging in different sizes), trying to sell a vacation on their specific boat to the charter brokers in the industry. This was the first charter boat show that Jon, Isaac and I had ever attended. It was a great opportunity for all of us to meet with many different brokers and establish a good connection and relationship for the future.
Throughout the boat show, I served two lunches to a group of 8 brokers (16 brokers total). One lunch was on the first day of the show and the other lunch was on the last day of the show. I must say I was quite nervous for both. I had to serve an appetizer, main, and dessert in one hour! Thankfully, both lunches were extremely successful and tasty! We received amazing feedback from all of the brokers that attended. Being prepped and organized was the key!
The first lunch I served was tuna tartare for the appetizer, Caribbean jerk tacos with fresh mango avocado salsa for the main, and chocolate mousse for the dessert. The second lunch was quite special! We started with asparagus, carrot and red pepper wrapped in prosciutto, the main was a spin off of a Maine lobster roll, and then dessert was vanilla panna-cotta with a blueberry drizzle. It made us feel like we were back home!
Once the boat show came to an end, we celebrated with several other crews and then headed to Soggy Dollar to meet up with some of our favorite charter guests from last season! It was great seeing Todd, Jeanette, Kristen and Cullen once again! This time we got to share a few painkillers with them ;-). We hope to have them charter with us again in the future!
Currently, we are moored off of honeymoon beach in St. John. We pick up our first charter on November 19th and are excited to get the season underway! It is a 7 day charter that consists of 7 guests. This charter will run through Thanksgiving. We will definitely be thinking of all of our loved ones back home! Have a safe and cheery holiday!
Kait and Jon