Tag: caribbean vacation

Living in South Florida, we can easily enjoy a weekend getaway in the Florida Keys. Last month we headed to Key Largo for a long weekend. The last time we were in the Keys was in 2013 and we stayed in Islamorada. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a very good time because they were experiencing freezing temperatures.

Scott and I selected Key Largo because it was a shorter drive from Fort Lauderdale and I found a great hotel, The Reef House. This resort recently became part of the Opal Collection and it didn’t disappoint.

I had reserved an ocean view room with a king size bed. Ironically, this room was not expensive at all. The room was nicely appointed and we had a great view.

The Reef House Resort

After we checked in, we explored the grounds. This resort offers so much! You can book all of your water adventures in the gift shop, including boat rentals or you can rent paddle boards and kayaks from the tiki hut. Walking the resort we found plenty of moorage for your private boat, along with activities for volleyball and corn hole.

The resort does have two restaurants and a bar on site. When we checked in we got script for a free drink, so we stopped there next. The bartenders were so incredibly friendly, that we went back each night for a night cap. They also have live music during happy hour.

Sunset Dinner

The Reef House is walking distance to three other restaurants a block away. We were told to head to Big Chill, which Jimmy Johnson (the owner of the Miami Dolphins) owns. The restaurant is huge and has plenty of outdoor seating. Scott and I grabbed a great seat next to the water and enjoyed the sunset. While the music and scenery was fantastic, we wouldn’t go back for a meal due to the terrible service and no food being delivered.

Watching the sunset, we realized we hadn’t seen a sunset since we left Seattle in March. What a beautiful sight it was.

Walking back to the resort, we really felt like we were on vacation. This is one of the reasons we moved to Florida. We can enjoy a weekend getaway and feel like you’re miles away from home.

Stay tuned for our next blog, as we head out to snorkel at Christ of the Abyss. As always, thank you for following our blog and our journey. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel (see link below) and follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

We can all agree that the past few years have been a struggle. Who knew in 2018, when Scott and I sold our home to downsize and prep to live on a boat, what the future would look like a couple of years later? So many of you have asked us tons of questions on why we moved to Fort Lauderdale and now it’s time to spill the beans.

Let’s go back to January 2020. I had forgotten I had applied to a VP role in St. Thomas and suddenly my phone rang one day (I was actually working at the Seattle Boat Show). Right there, I ended up walking around the show interviewing with the VP of Human Resources. We had a delightful conversation which led to many more with other executives. This was a very large company with locations on nine Caribbean Islands. They verbally made me an offer in March 2020 and asked that Scott and I fly down for a weekend to look for housing. At that time, no one really knew what covid-19 was or how long it would be around. What we did know, were countries were shutting down their borders. After talking about it, we decided to take the job site unseen. Just five days later, St Thomas and every other country shut down. If we would have taken the trip, we would have been stuck and lost our current jobs.

So my offer had a TBD start date, which we hoped would be in a month or two. With that said, we began the packing process, which included selling our Bayliner 4087. It sold very quickly and we soon were frustrated being boatless during the pandemic.

Unfortunately my “new company” started to close many of their locations, as they were located at cruise terminals and there were no cruises due to the pandemic.

Fast forward one year

The following April, we decided to keep our trip to St. Thomas (was supposed to be the bare boat charter, but that was still restricted) and while we were there, I met with my “new company”. Scott and I were still on board to make the move and they were figuring out a new way to do things. But by June of 2021, it became obvious that this job wasn’t going to pan out, so both of us parted ways.

Now we had the itch to move to sunnier warmer weather – next option? Florida! I was interviewing with one company in Gainesville and after they flew me out, I knew I couldn’t be land locked. I needed to be near water, so that was not an option. Then I flew back down to Fort Lauderdale in August (no it wasn’t a surprise that Scott planned, it was actually another interview) to meet with a boat dealership. Again, they made me an offer, but unfortunately the current marketing director decided not to retire while I was in mid-air flying to Florida. The offer was not a good fit for my career. After spending that weekend in Fort Lauderdale, we were determined as ever to make the move somehow.

Fast forward to December 2021 when I started talking with OneWater Yacht Group. I was so excited about the opportunity, but I didn’t have my hopes up. Imagine my surprise, when it wall worked out! Like I always say, “things happen for a reason” and I truly believe I was meant to come to work here.

Living in Fort Lauderdale

When Scott and I announced we were moving, we heard the same thing from everyone. “It’s hot and humid there, why”? Well, when you are sick and tired of endless days of gray skies, misty rain and miserable weather, you’ll take a little humidity. This hasn’t been an easy journey either. For starters, I lived alone for almost a month and a half in a city I don’t know at all. Then I traveled up and down the East Coast, moved into our apartment with no furniture and then made the cross country trek with Scott almost two months later. As I am typing this (May 15th), we are still waiting for the movers to arrive with our belongings.

Scott and I are renting an apartment in downtown Fort Lauderdale, in Los Olas. There are so many restaurants and shops within walking distance and we love that! The atmosphere is energized and the streets are clean. Add sunshine and boats and we’re happy as clams. We are just a few blocks from “River Walk” and we get to see lots of boat action regularly.

Are we buying a boat now?

We know that’s the next question and if we find the perfect boat – yes! But there are a few things that have to happen first. First, we are still dealing with a lack of inventory and we are not going to pay 30% over market value just to have a boat. Second, we need to research hurricane policies, insurance, liveaboard marinas, etc. We don’t know the area and we don’t know the boating industry down here yet. For example, we’ve heard if you moor your boat north of I-595, then you’re safe – what does that exactly mean?

In the meantime, if you know of a project boat or a turn-key liveaboard power boat, reach out to us. We are entertaining all options. Until then, we plan on exploring and experiencing all kinds of boating adventures here in Fort Lauderdale. This includes, canal tours, air-jet adventures, private charters, day sailing trips and boating over to the Bahamas. Our blog and vlog is called “Boating Journey”, which doesn’t mean we have to own a boat. It means we are going to spend our time exploring new adventures on a boat.

Over the next few blogs and vlogs, we’ll share with you our adventure of how we got here, what we’re doing here and everything in between.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to both our blog and vlog, and on social media @BoatingJourney #boatingjourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

In our last blog, we mention that we decided to head back to the Moorings base the night before we had to return the boat. Our crew had a simple continental breakfast while we enjoyed the serenity of our anchorage.

After breakfast, the garbage and ice boat came along. It is so cool that you can get ice AND get rid of your garbage so easily!

Since we had the boat for the entire day, we decided to cruise a bit and perhaps get in some snorkeling.

We left Norman Island around 10am and headed to Treasure Point.

Once we got out of the bay, we realized the weather was getting rough.

Exploring the British Virgin Islands

Since the weather looked too rough to snorkel at Treasure Point, we headed to the Indians. Once we arrived, we realized there was no way we were going to go snorkeling as the weather was getting worse.

We were surprised that so many boats were moored there and wondered if they were actually snorkeling.

Before heading back to the Moorings base, we headed towards Salt Island for a nice cruise. About five minutes into our cruise, we ran into a major squall!

Returning to the Moorings Base

After battling with squalls for a few hours, we decided to head back to the Moorings base. The Moorings base recommends that you call the base to have a captain come meet you and hop on board to stern dock the boat.

Be sure to watch our YouTube video (link below) to see how easy the process worked. The Moorings give you a check-out sheet, making the process easy.

The Moorings base recommends that you leave behind any provisions for the staff, instead of throwing it out. We did throw out items that were spoiled. After we each took long showers and cleaned up, we headed to Soper’s Hole for a wonderful dinner.

Returning to the base was the best decision we made. The following morning, we were relaxed and not rushed trying to get to the ferry. Tune in next week, as we head to St. John to explore the USVI.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and vlog (link below). You can also follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.

Cheers, Scott and Ally

After three years of planning, Scott and I finally are heading to the British Virgin Islands. Thanks to the pandemic, our bareboat charter was postponed three times since 2020. We could have taken the trip in 2021, but the entry & quarantine requirements were too restrictive. Finally, a few months ago, the BVI government changed the requirements and removed the quarantine.

What Charter Company Did We Choose?

When we decided to do a bareboat charter, we wanted only a powerboat. That left us two options in the BVI, Marine Max and The Moorings. I reached out to both companies with inquiries and ironically I never heard back from Marine Max after a few attempts. So we chose The Moorings. Since our crew was only two couples, we picked the Leopard 433 PC.

I reserved everything online and spoke to our vacation specialist, primarily via email. When our original charter was postponed, The Moorings gave us a credit instead of refunding our money. In fact, a refund was never an option. However, they did lock in our pricing, which was great because the prices did go up significantly.

Let’s Talk Costs

A lot of people have asked us about the costs, so let’s break down the trip. I should mention that once you book an inquiry, The Moorings will send you a full quote before you pay. Our invoice looked like this:

• 5 Nights $6839 (reg $8000)
• Sleep Aboard $1087
• VSIR Contribution $8
• Damage Insurance $345
• Fuel $325 (we chose the fuel package so we wouldn’t have to fuel upon return)
• Wi-Fi $125 (necessary to take the proctored covid tests)
• BVI National Park Permit $25
• Paddle Board Rental $140
• Inverter $30
• Winter Cruising Tax $120

Obviously you can see that things add up quickly. We had originally booked the Mariner Inn at the base for $300/night, but then our flight was scheduled to arrive later in the day on Friday and we wouldn’t be able to catch the ferry in time. As a result, we ended up reserving a room at The Windward Passage hotel in Charlotte Amalie, that The Moorings recommended.

Provisions & Extras

You have a few options for ordering provisions. You can order directly from The Moorings, you can use an outside source (click here for a list) or you can provision yourself at Rite Way.

Not knowing when our provisions would arrive to the boat and not having a way to store our perishables, we chose to have Moorings do our provisioning. They have a great portal and the prices were similar to what you would expect (and some were cheaper). They do offer a “starter kit” for $110, but after looking at the list, it included items we would never use like ketchup, mustard, etc. Our group chose to purchase what we wanted a la carte.

The boat did come with snorkel fins, but if you wanted snorkel masks or anything else, you had to order those as an extra. We ordered a paddle board from The Moorings and then some water toys from BVI Water Toys. Again, we were able to order everything online.

Testing & Portals

Just like last year, we had to take a covid test and upload to a portal. This year, was a bit more complicated. For starters, Scott and I flew to St. Thomas before arriving to the British Virgin Islands. We took a covid home proctored test five days before we arrived. The proctored process was super easy and convenient. After 30 minutes we uploaded our results to the USVI Travel Portal and waited for our approval. Another thing to note, is my first test was not usable. The adhesive was missing and they would not allow me to use it. Luckily, we had ordered lots of extras, so it was not a big deal.

If you use the Emed tests, you will get your test results via a pdf. That pdf will be password protected. It’s very important that you print a copy as a pdf (not save as) and rename it, before you upload it to the portal. My first submission to the USVI travel portal was denied because my test was not accessible. Once approved, we received a green QRCode allowing us entry into the territory.

On top of that, the British Virgin Islands required a negative covid test 48 hours prior to arrival and we were told they would not accept a home test. We found a local lab in Seattle that gave us our results in 15 minutes. There is no portal for the BVI, you simply need to bring your negative test results with you when you go through customs. The British Virgin Islands also had testing available at the airport and ferry terminals for $65/pp.

It’s Time to Leave for the British Virgin Islands

Tune in next week to see how our arrival process was for both the British Virgin Islands and The Moorings. Our goal for our blog and vlog, is to help other travelers using the lessons we learned during our first bareboat charter experience. As we have also mentioned, we have big changes coming in our personal lives, so be sure to subscribe and follow us on social media.

As always, thank you for following our journey. You can subscribe to our YouTube Channel (link below) and follow us on social @BoatingJourney. Cheers, Scott and Ally

With only one day left of our epic USVI tour, Scott and I hired a taxi to tour the island and explore the ruins of St. John. This is a great way to see the sites, without having to join a tour . What we weren’t expecting was an open air safari bus for this tour!

Our tour guide was very friendly and knew just about everyone on the island. He wanted to make sure we stopped and saw everything and he almost literally did. We scheduled him for four hours @$75/hour and he was worth it. Since the truck is open air, you want to make sure you hang on tight!

First stop the Bethany Moravian Mission Church

Tony took us to the Bethany Moravian Church and his parents are actually laid to rest in the cemetery there. The first Moravians came to St. John in 1741. This building was erected in 1919 and the sanctuary was restored after the storms of 2017. It is still an active church today and it has a beautiful view.

Neptune’s Lookout

Our next stop was the Susannaberg sugar mill at Neptune’s Lookout which was built in the 1700’s.  The windmill tower of Estate Susannaberg was erected between 1780 and 1800 and is the second oldest windmill on the island of St. John.  The estate is owned by the Neptune Richards family since they purchased it in the 1950s and they still live in the house which is on the grounds. The estate is now used for weddings, special events and camping.

The views are amazing from every vantage point, which look down at Caneel Bay (where we were the day before). At the top of the hill, there is The Windmill Bar, which was currently closed due to covid.

We also got a peak a view site of country singer Kenney Chesney‘s home at the top of the hill. Sadly, his home was nearly destroyed by hurricane Irma and he’s now rebuilding.

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Catherineberg Sugar Mill Ruins

Heading northeast, we entered the Virgin Islands National Park to check out the Catherineberg Sugar Mill Ruins. The ruins are an example of an 18th-century sugar and rumfactory. The “most impressive” ruin is that of an unusual windmill tower and the very large cistern. It was amazing to see how intact the ruins still are.

One very interesting thing we discovered was the sugar mills were constructed using coral! Could you imagine?! We can’t even step on coral, let alone dig it up for building materials.

Along the way, we saw wild donkeys and all kinds of fruit trees.

We came upon tons of soursop trees too. With an aroma similar to pineapple, the flavor of the fruit has been described as a combination of strawberries and apple with sour citrus flavor notes, contrasting with an underlying thick creamy texture reminiscent of banana.

As we drove down the windy narrow highway, Tony took time to pull over and share the views with us.

At this viewpoint is was awesome to see how close Tortola & Jost Van Dyke of the BVI were to us.

Francis Bay

Our next stop was the Francis Bay walking trail and home of George Francis.

In 1863, the Annaberg Plantation was purchased by Thomas Letsom Lloyd of Tortola from the James Murphy heirs (one of the original owners). For a time, Lloyd struggled to keep the estate in operation, but in 1867 a violent hurricane, followed by a series of devastating earthquakes, finally put an end to sugar production at Annaberg.

With his factory in ruin, in the spring of 1871 Thomas Lloyd sold Annaberg to his property overseer, George Francis, and returned to Tortola. George Francis was born enslaved on the Annaberg plantation. His name first appears in the earliest existing census for the property compiled in 1835, in which he was recorded as a thirteen-year-old field laborer.

Over the course of his life, George Francis encountered opportunities that in his youth must have seemed wholly unimaginable. By 1860, he had gained the position of estate overseer, and two years later he received outright title to a 2-acre parcel of land on the Annaberg property from the will of his former owner, Hans H. Berg.

In 1871, George Francis acquirred the entire Annaberg estate from Thomas Lloyd and immediately set out to renew sugar production on the property. At the time of his death in 1875, Francis had recently completed the construction of a new sugar-boiling house and horse mill on the isthmus between Mary’s Creek and Francis Bay. It was the last facility ever to produce sugar on the Annaberg property. [credit US Parks Online].

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Once again, you’ll notice all of the coral used to construct the buildings!

From Francis Bay, we headed to the Annaberg Ruins passing by Mary Creek. The water was amazing, but the sewer smell was horrid!

Annaberg Plantation Ruins

As with looking at churches in Europe, this was now our third sugar mill ruin we visited in two hours. Had it been our first one of the day, we might have spent more time exploring the ruins. Annaberg Plantation, as of 1780, was one of 25 active sugar producing factories on St. John. Other products produced at Annaberg were molasses and rum. Annaberg was named after William Gottschalk’s daughter and translates to Anna’s Hill. Gottschalk was the plantation owner. 

The windmill at the Annaberg ruins, one of focal points of the site, was built possibly between 1810 and 1830, and was one of the largest in the islands.

When the windmill wouldn’t churn due to lack of winds, they then used horses and mules instead.

Today the plantation ruins are protected by the Virgin Islands National Park and are open to the public. Trees have reclaimed the hillsides around Annaberg.

In the 17th to 19th centuries, boiling rooms were used to convert sugarcane juice into raw sugar.

What was super cool to see from the plantation was how close we were to Tortola and the BVI. I’m literally pointing at Road Town, where we will pick up our bare boat charter next February!

Heading back to Cruz Bay

After three hours, it was time to head back to Cruz Bay. It was interesting to pass by Maho Beach, Caneel Beach and Honeymoon Beach by car this time. Both Maho and Honeymoon were packed and cars were parked everywhere along the street.

Tony was fantastic and we’re so glad that the concierge at Gallows Point Resort booked him for us!

Since Tony dropped us off at the market, we decided to do a little shopping and support the locals.

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After a full day of walking and exploring, we were hungry and thirsty! We stopped at The Taproom for a quick snack and cocktail.

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Right across the street is the dinghy dock! How convenient.

On our walk back, we noticed another boat rental company at Cruz Bay called Ocean Runner and you can rent Boston Whalers!

We finished our amazing day, enjoying the sunset and a beautiful dinner at Ocean 3-6-2 at our hotel. This was a highly recommended restaurant and we were very happy we spent our last night there.

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Goodbye St John – Until we meet again

Scott and I had a wonderful time in St. John and we can’t wait to return and explore more. Out of the three US Virgin Islands, St. John was our favorite. As we were enjoying our last morning, we had a new visitor who tried to come into the condo. He (she?) was a very friendly and curious peacock.

Of course our neighborly iguana had to come say goodbye too.

We headed to the ferry terminal around 1pm and enjoyed another quick boat ride across the bay.

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As soon as the plane started down the runway, it began to rain again. We timed it perfectly. Until we meet again US Virgin Islands – see you next February, when we fly in for our bareboat charter in the BVI.

As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our YouTube Channel. You can follow us on social @BoatingJourney on FB, IG, TW and TikTok!

Cheers, Scott and Ally