I’m dating myself with this title. For those of you not familiar with The Life of Riley follow the link. Suffice it to say that the Life of Riley is the easy life. Everyone is working hard except Riley, he’s in the hammock while the lawn is being mowed by the neighbor kid.

Isn’t that how it is for a charter boat captain? Sun, fun, beautiful people, libations and adoration?

Nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to The Life of the Charter Boat Captain.

Caribbean Charter Boat Captains Work Hard 24/7!

A charter captain runs a business every day!

One of the most amazing professions that I have experienced is being a Charter Boat Captain. When you even think about what it might be like, there is a scene in your mind of non-stop fun, warm tropical breezes, and crystal clear turquoise water. What you are dreaming about is actually the experience that your charter captain is delivering to you, not the 24 work he/she does everyday. It is non-stop hard work to create an unforgettable Caribbean experience for each of their clients. Ask Captain Hollywood of Treazzures to share with you some of his behind the scene stories as a long time charter boat captain. They love the Caribbean sailing life, because if they didn’t there would be a much easier way to make a living.

Here is a very short list of the tasks required of a charter boat captain in the Caribbean:

• Keep the yacht in tip-top shape at all times, including all engine and equipment maintenance.
• Clean, scrub, varnish, polish, laundry, provision shopping, menu planning – everyday!
• Take 100% responsibility of the lives of your guests 24/7, responsible for a $1 - $3 million dollar yacht, all of the boat “toys” including the dingy/tender.
• Have a positive and humorous attitude everyday!
• Service above self. ( You would not believe the work that goes on behind the scenes during a charter vacation that creates an unforgettable experience for the guests; from making and changing the beds everyday, to keeping clean linens in stock.)
• The provisioning required for a week’s charter is unbelievable. Have you ever thought about where all of it is stored on the yacht? – food, drinks, cases of wine and liquor, produce and fruit, dairy supplies, and on and on.
• A weeks charter typically starts at noon on Saturday and the guests are delivered back to the home port at noon the following Saturday. Imagine twenty back to back charter weeks!!! The turn around work to clean, polish, laundry, re-provisioning a charter yacht is only accomplished with lots of sweat, teamwork, and a very high level of experience.

So, are you still thinking that the life a charter captain is all fun and games? They are masters at creating an unforgettable experience for you when you are on-charter. Captain Johnny and his chef, Kelly, of Double Feature are two other teams that will have stories to tell you of the life they love.

When you are arranging your gratuity payment at the end of your amazing vacation, remember that 20% of your charter cost is typical because they brought you back safely to port, created a lifetime of memories, and they accomplished all of that in a manner that seemed effortless - not to mention that the 20% gratuity or whatever you feel like makes up the majority of the captain’s profit!.

If you really want a fun experience sharing time with charter captains and their crew, check out the VICL 33rd Annual Charter Boat Show the first week of November. There will be four days of non-stop story telling as they present their yachts to the charter vacation brokers who will be inspecting all of them

It will take 10 minutes to view this U-Tube

So, here I am, minding my own business and a friend of mine emails and says, “If you want the most amazing ten minutes in recent history, check out this U-Tube posting”. I am not one to fall into these internet traps very often. However, this is a dear friend of mine, and if he is suggesting I check it out, I will. There is no more information I need to give you other than spend ten minutes and check this out. Let me know what you think of this U-Tube posting.

The 33rd annual Virgin Island Charter League boat show at mega-yacht marina!

Yacht Haven Grande mega-yacht marina is preparing for their first BIG all-Caribbean event November 7th – 11th. As I mentioned in my postings on August 12th and October 12th, Yacht Haven Grande is the first mega-yacht facility to be built in years. The featured Caribbean mega-yacht marina for years is in St. Martten – until this year. With the opening of Yacht Haven Grande the Caribbean now has one of the most luxurious mega-yacht marina in the world!

They have taken the opportunity with their 2007 opening to host their first BIG event of the year as they welcome the 33rd VICL charter boat show. There will be a hundred or more charter vacation yacht brokers touring the finest charter boats the Caribbean has to offer – from mono-hulls to catamarans. This is the opportunity for the charter yacht vacation brokers to rank their favorite yachts they will promote to their 2007 – 2008 charter vacation clients.

While touring and inspecting the charter yacht fleet they will be very surprised as to what will be awaiting them at Yacht Haven Grande marina. There are now over thirty jewelry stores, haute couture shops, restaurants, drinking establishments, cafes, and even a car rental company, Royal Caribbean cruises, and the U.S. Customs house.

Those of you who have enjoyed the amazing shopping in St. Thomas will recognize some of the signature shops that have now assembled at Yacht Haven Grande; Louis Vuitton, Diamonds International, Little Switzerland, Coach, Bulgari, bebe, Cache, BCBG, and even Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.

Virgin Island Brewing is opening, and much more!

A new destination has been created for anyone visiting St. Thomas who is interested in a one-stop shopping experience. This has all been created by the designers of Yacht Haven Grande marina. Their parent company, IGY Marinas, LTD., has a sterling track record of delivering the services that are expected by the mega-yacht community. And, they have done it again. Until next time…

Let us hear from YOU. Add your experience or questions via the “comments” section below.

A Caribbean Rogue Spotted In The Virgin Islands!
And this time it is not Captain Hollywood!

I have known a Rogue or two in the Caribbean, but apparently there has been a new one spotted in the Virgin Islands. Up until today, I thought Captain Hollywood was one of the most colorful Rogues I had met in a long time. He is the Captain/owner of Treazzures, a 60’ mono-hull that will take your breath away if you want a day sail or a week sail in the Virgin Islands. And, Hollywood is a one-of-a-kind character. In fact, I will be looking for the Rogue while I am attending the Virgin Islands Charter League boat show in St. Thomas at Yacht Haven Grande – November 7th – 11th . I will update you on what I discover.

The new Rogue has apparently impressed thousands of people who have sited her. I was told by one of the ubiquitous “unnamed sources” within Nissan that it is the launch of a cross-over SUV that is not quite ready to hit the mainland yet. But, he did say that the Rogue will take over the market share of the Toyota RAV-4 and the Honda CRV. So, your Caribbean Islands lifestyle detective is breaking the news right here. Nissan has even created a video game using the Rogue as a tool to play three amazing on-line games that will engage potential consumers to develop brand awareness before it hits the markets. ( I tried all three of the games, but I was a complete disaster at getting past Level 2. Let me know how far you get with this one. )

Back to Captain Hollywood… I first met him several years ago at an anchorage in the U.S. Virgin Islands. It is a dangerous thing to be anchored next to Captain Hollywood because the only result will be an all-night party. He is rock-star status. Last year my friends, Kevin and Suzanne, called me up and said they were on St. Thomas for a few days and could I recommend a sailing adventure they could arrange on very short notice. Well, my first call was to Captain Hollywood. You will have to check in with Kevin and Suzanne for their side of the story, but they can’t wait to sail with him again. (You may have seen Kevin on CNBC two months ago being interviewed about his new company, Bug! Realty.

Let me know if you get a peek at the latest “Rogue” hitting the islands – whether it is Captain Hollywood of the Treazzure or the new Nissan Rogue that is coming soon. I know you will fall in love with both of them.

Estate Maho Bay in St. John will soon become the largest expansion of the US Virgin Islands National Park in the last 50 years after its purchase was secured by a US conservation group.

The untouched tropical land will be handed off to the National Park Service during the next few years when the $19 million deal will be finalized. Its 419 acres hold ruins of colonial plantations and Indian village sites, making the preservation of the area vital to keeping the island’s physical history intact.

If negotiations for the property’s purchase hadn’t been completed by The Trust for Public Land, preservationists would have continued to fear that the untouched land might have turned into commercial developments. Unprotected parcels near the middle of the Estate Maho Bay had attracted numerous construction proposals over the years.

St. John is the smallest island in the USVI territories. Protecting whatever significant piece of land reminding us of the past is the least we could do for future generations.

- Joseph Natividad

Are Cats Taking Over The Caribbean! TheVICL Boat Show may have the answer.

The sailing purest will tell you that it would be a cold day in Hades if they ever bought or sailed a Catamaran. The hundreds of years of mono-hull design of sailboats with a multi-ton lead keel is the purest’s dream. It is the tried and true sailboat of choice for circumventing the world. At the Virgin Island Charter League Boat Show the competition between the purests choice versus the consumer wanting a very stable sailing experience for a week’s charter vacation is very evident. There will be a large group of Catamarans showing off there best assets at the show.

Amazingly, the brand competition in the tropics is typically a Beneteau 51 mono-hull or a Lagoon 57 catamaran. Why this is amazing is because they are made by the same company, Beneteau with five state of the art shipyards in France. Beneteau is the world leader in the sailboat business. They are also the largest supplier of sailboats to the charter boat industry. Their boats have logged more off-shore miles than any other boat builder in the world!

The Lagoon catamaran was created in 1984 as a direct extension of Jeanneau’s racing division, ( Jeanneau is another French boat builder with a 50 year history of innovation in design and construction of boats.) Today, Lagoon is part of the Custom Yacht division of the Beneteau Group.

Here are some of the pros and cons to consider when making a choice for a crewed charter vacation in the Caribbean.

Mono-hull

• A purest sailing experience. You definitely get the full benefit of the sailing “feeling” as you put the gunnels in the water sailing downwind to Virgin Gorda at seven knots. ( If you are prone to seasickness this is not the experience you want to imagine. I personally love the thrill of the mono-hull sailing experience.)
• Because of the big keel, you are limited in some of the island anchorages because your draft may be from 10 to 12 feet – the depth of your boat under the water.
• The cabin configuration on a mono-hull is limited to the boat’s width. So, it becomes an engineers dream to design ways for people to have a comfortable experience that must include walkways, a galley, heads, and an interior salon all within a boat that is 16 feet wide. Plus, your deck space has the same limitations.

Catamaran

• Luxurious space is one of the top features. A Lagoon 57 typically has four queen suites for the guests, each with their own bathroom and shower.
• The boat is 35+ feet wide which allows for a very stable sailing experience compared to the “ride” you are going to get in a mono-hull. Plus, you are typically going to sailing at ten or more knots while under sail.
• The deck is beyond spacious! Again, with 35+ in width, there is nothing but room to roam around the boat. The salon and cockpit are also important features of the catamaran experience – BIG.

So, my vote is for a mono-hull for the open ocean and the purest sailing experience. The catamaran is my choice for exploring the Caribbean in the luxury of a spacious yacht. Let me know your thoughts. Let me know if we can meet me in St. Thomas during the November 7 – 11 Boat Show and we can check out the sailboat inventory together. Until next time…

The annual VICL Boat Show is coming!

Your Caribbean life-style detective will be at Yacht Haven Grande Marina November 7th – 11th for one of the premier events of the year for the Caribbean charter fleet! I will be previewing and interviewing some of the more colorful people I know in the Caribbean – charter boat captains and their crews.

I will also spend a day at Lambert Bay, Tortola and further explore what is happening with the Raffles Tortola resort project.

The annual St. Thomas Charter Boat Show is one of the fun annual events in the Caribbean sailing community. This is when the Charter Fleet shows up in St. Thomas, and polishes and varnishes their boats in preparation of the Charter Vacation Brokers gathering in St. Thomas to inspect them. You will have the Captains and their crews in their finest dress and the boats gleaming. Plus, during the evenings there are non-stop parties happening for the Charter Vacation Brokers and the Captains and Crews to mingle and get better acquainted.

The reason for this event is for the Charter Brokers to pick the charter yachts that they want to promote for the upcoming charter yacht season. The chartering season is usually from November 1st to June 1st. I have sailed in the Caribbean every month of the year, but the newspapers talk about Hurricane Season starting from June 1st and ending October 31st. I am one of the lucky ones that has never encountered a Hurricane during any of my voyages. They certainly happen, but I have not run into one yet in 30+ years. ( Just an aside…Ann Marie will not be in the Caribbean during Hurricane season. She is scared to death of Hurricanes. It is odd to me, because you are given a week or two notice if one is heading your way. In San Francisco, earthquakes don’t give you any notice, but she is OK living there half the year. Am I the only one that thinks this is odd? )

Anyway, the VICL Boat Show in St. Thomas is a sailor’s dream to attend. You are mingling with some of the most skilled sailors in the Caribbean who have decided to monetize their skills in providing a floating “bed and breakfast” to people who love the Tropical life. I tip my hat to these amazing entrepreneurs who help thousands of people fall in love with the Caribbean experience.

If you are in St. Thomas during the Boat Show, email me and we will meet at Duffy’s Love Shack for a Caribe – it will be on me. Until next time….

Caribbean Pet Immigration – It is a confusing experience to get an expat pet to the Caribbean

Moving to the islands would not be the same if your family pet didn’t make the trip with you!  The challenge of brining pets to the Caribbean is that there are different regulations in each of the island – nations.  So, let’s focus on the Virgin Islands as an example.

The Virgin Islands do not have any quarantine requirements. Pets traveling to the United States mainland from the Virgin Islands also will not require quarantine.

You should contact your air carrier and find out details on whether you can carry your pet with you on your flight. That is the best option. Often cats and small dogs are allowed to be carried in carriers with you on the aircraft, which is what we prefer, given that our cat, Patches, would not like us anymore if she was in the baggage compartment.

If your pet is small enough to fit into an approved pet carrier then you can travel with your pet in the carrier onto the plane, your pet will be your carry-on luggage. Pets that are not hand carried into the plane will travel in a climate controlled baggage space of the airplane. ( Can you imagine being a dog or cat and think this is a fun way to travel to the Caribbean – in a climate controlled baggage space?)

It is a good idea to prepare your pet for being in the carrier. For several weeks before the trip, place the carrier in an area they often go to in your house.  Put some toys in the carrier and allow your pet to play in the carrier so that they can become accustomed to it. ( Do not leave toys in the carrier when you are traveling, they may become hazardous as your pet is transported.)

A health certificate confirming that your pet bird is healthy is necessary. Birds have particular regulations for travel, some are not allowed - contact your airline for details.

Some very large dogs are not allowed on the aircraft but can be transported by air cargo. Again your best bet is to contact the air carriers that service the U.S. Virgin Islands to get details. When traveling with a large dog you need to try and get a direct flight to St. Thomas or St. Croix rather then a stop over in Puerto Rico . The commuter planes from Puerto Rico to the islands are small and don’t really have room for a large dog carrier. Ask a lot of questions of your airline to find the best travel route for your pets.

A health certificate from your veterinarian stating the animal; has not been exposed to any communicable diseases, is not sick and is up to date on rabies shots is necessary. This certificate should be prepared within 10 days of travel. An up-to-date rabies shot is necessary. The rabies shot should be no less then 30 days prior to arrival but no longer then one year. Have these documents readily available when you are traveling.

The Virgin Islands are welcoming to animals, however you have a responsibility to make sure they adapt to the islands. The weather here makes worms more likely, water more necessary and care greater. Although many locals leave animals outside the house, this invites danger. Frogs, centipedes, passing cars are threats to animals. If you take the measures to make it safe for your pets the islands will be a great place for them.  Let me know some of your pet stories so I can pass them on to my readers.  Until next time….

How to organize a move to the Caribbean

More people have moved to “Paradise” only to leave disenchanted within months than those who have relocated successfully. The reasons are many. For a start the word “paradise” is misleading: “Paradise” is not a place it is a frame of mind and one person’s paradise is another’s empty lot.

Among the most common reasons for regretting a decision to move are as follows:

• Not doing enough research and being unprepared for all the readjustments you will necessarily have to make.
• Not realizing that each island is unique and picking the wrong one.
• Overlooking and not considering such things as the quality of housing or the abundance of insects (each local will have something along those lines that you may not be comfortable with)
• The setting in of homesickness for a known lifestyle.
• Missing family and friends could also be the culprit, or it could be, and often is, simply that not enough time was given before deciding whether or not it was a move that suited you.

We have made many moves in our lives: from Southern California, to Geneva, Switzerland, to Tornonto, Canada, to San Francisco, to the Virgin Islands. And, the most difficult one of all was moving to “Paradise”. It was difficult because of the dramatic change in lifestyle compared to the other amazing places we have lived.

The key word in Paradise is SLOW!

There are only two ways to get to the Virgin Islands; by air or by sea. Air travel is the most popular choice because it is really the only option for someone who wants to move here. There are no ferries or barges for people between the US mainland and the Virgin Islands. There are barges for cargo.

There are two major airports in the Virgin Islands ; the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas and the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport. St. Croix and St. John do not have airports and are connected to St. Thomas via ferries. Ferry service is very reliable.

Unless you plan to move with only what fits in your suitcase you will find moving your personal and household items here to be one of your biggest projects. Below you will find some ideas to get you started on how to move your things to the islands with you!

The least expensive way to ship a large quantity of items, perhaps your entire household and car(s), is by ship using a moving company. Items must be packed in crates and delivered by you or a moving company. Most large moving companies have agents in the U.S. Virgin Islands, call your local movers to find out if they have contacts in the Virgin Islands that would facilitate your move. You must then hire a trucker or moving/storage company locally to pick up your crates and deliver them to your home or store them until you arrive. St. John residents should take note that the trucker must additionally take your crates over on a barge and to St. John . It is a good idea to call around and get estimates. I am glad to be a further resource for you if you are wanting to join us in Paradise.

Here’s a link to a great article that may help more.

The Time to Buy Virgin Island Real Estate - NOW!

I just received an email from a fellow Realtor in Florida that let me know that his last few clients have been from Europe. My Realtor-network is seeing what I have been telling them for months, “The countries with currency that is valued higher than the U.S. dollar are buying U.S. Virgin Island real estate at bargain-basement prices!

My wife, Ann Marie, just returned from Vancouver, British Columbia. She was attending the International Luxury Real Estate conference where only 250 Realtors were in attendance from 40 different countries. She was networking with Realtors around the world that are having a similar experience in buying U.S. real estate. The money that is coming into Canada, the United States, and its territories from Europe is buying real estate at a record pace. And the properties they are buying have million dollar price tags. She had dinner with one Canadian Realtor who had sold eleven $20 million estates in Canada the past six months to European clients. So far this year, over 15% of the real estate sales in the U.S. Virgin Islands has come from Europe! And, 40% of it has been all cash purchases!

The Euro is at all time highs compared to the U.S. dollar – around $1.40 per Euro! The Canadian dollar is now MORE VALUABLE than the U.S. dollar for the first time in my life time! The Asian currency is incredibly strong compared to the U.S. dollar. Are you getting the picture? When Ann Marie and I celebrated her 50th birthday in Paris last March it cost us a 37%+ premium for every dollar we spent. That translates into Euros getting a 40%+ DISCOUNT on everything they buy TODAY that is connected to the U.S. dollar. It is bargain shopping time for the world regarding U.S. real estate. That includes the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico!

So, if you are buying real estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands and you have Euros, you are going to purchase that property for a 40% discount. If you review my post titled, Virgin Island Real Estate “Hot Spot”, use your calculator and do the math on the a $500,000US townhome on St. Croix if you are from Europe and the actual price is not $500,000US, it is actually $300,000US if you are using Euros to purchase it! Are you getting the clear picture as to what is happening with the U.S. dollar compared to the Euro? What a great time to buy real estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands if you are in a country that has currency that is more valuable than the U.S. dollar. Let me know if I can assist you with any of your Caribbean purchases.