Promenade Sail Dive Charters Blog - Rates and Specials

Yacht Promenade- Virgin Islands. Up to 25% discount before Dec 1st!

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:47:23 -0700

This is a major special for us people!!

On ALL bookings between now and December 1st, 2013 we are offering 25% off of captain only and half board, and 20% off of fully crewed. All amenities Promenade is known for are available. Promenade will be happy to pick up 6 guests and under at Red Hook in the USVI or over that amount, in the British Virgin Islands. We are also happy to offer the discount on shorter stays then 7 nights, EXCEPT for our captain only rate please!

Chad Blake is captain all season, and when needed or wanted, Kerry and Bazza will be onboard as additional crew at certain periods. Our other big news on board is that Chad yesterday received his PADI SCUBA Instructor certificate!!!!!

Full details are available here: http://wp.me/p3d1Ds-Xz

So...book fast! Who wants to go diving at out of the way places including Anegada hopefully this summer!

Yacht Promenade's Package for Wreck Week 2013- Sail & SCUBA!

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 11:12:36 -0700

wreck week may 5th to 11th, 2013

british virgin islands

Soar over the 310-foot long wreck of the RMS Rhone with Promenade Sail Dive Charters during Wreck Week 2013!

I am not sure why we in the British Virgin Islands have such a problem with getting a SCUBA diving wreck week off the ground, but I LOVE SCUBA diving all these wrecks, and so, I am going to put one on the yacht calendar again for next May.

Your week on Promenade will include 6 nights and 7 days (Sunday May 5th through Saturday May 11th) onboard our wide stable air conditioned multi-hull with all buffet meals, cocktails and h'or d'oeuvres, wine with dinner, all diving, and other water sports including fishing, waterskiing, kayaking.

Our style of diving on Promenade is casual. If you are a photographer, please feel free to go at your own pace. If you want a divemaster to lead you, follow our crew member, if you prefer diving by yourself after a thorough briefing on the site, go ahead. IF you want to get up very early in the morning and jump in the water (as we tend to anchor over dive sites because of night dives this week) feel free to (as long as a crew member knows that you are in the water).

This is a sample itienary ONLY. We have two wrecks, the Parametta and the ROCUS on Anegada Reef, that if the weather conditions allow, we will be going out to dive. We do however, guarantee to hit as many wrecks as we can in the time as we can and to do unlimited diving.

Day One: (May 5th Sunday)

Board Promenade 12 noon. Promenade will welcome you with a light lunch before sailing over to the wreck of the FEARLESS outside Great Harbor on Peter Island to do our first wreck dive. We will anchor for the evening at Little Harbor on Peter Island. For those staying overnight on island the evening before, we can offer a special rate for a "sleep aboard"

Day Two: (May 6th Monday)

We will dive Carrot Rock on the outside of Peter Island after breakfast, one of our favorite dive sites, with pinnacles reaching from 70 feet up to the surface. Lunch will be at White Bay at Peter Island, with time for a beach excursion or snorkeling trip before we dive “Brown Pants” on the outside of Norman Island, or Santa Monica Rock, so named for the Santa Monica that hit the pinnacles here on April 29th, 1783 and subsequently sank at Water Creek on St John. We will anchor for the night at Privateer Bay on Norman Island. Also known as the Caves at Treasure Point and the setting of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

Day Three: (May 7th, Tuesday)

After a snorkel before breakfast with all the Glassy Eyed Sweepers in the caves, we will take a short hop over to the Indians, so named as they look like an Indians feathered headdress from a distance, where we will do a dive before sailing up for lunch at Salt Island. After hearing the history of the wreck of the Rhone we will dive the Rhone in the afternoon, and then after dinner SCUBA to watch the turtles sleeping underneath the wreck and the lobsters and crabs wandering around. This is bar none, not only the Best Wreck dive in the Caribbean, but also in the top 5 dives of the world. We will anchor overnight on Salt Island.

Day Four: (May 8th, Wednesday)

Up and in the water early for a dive before breakfast before anyone else has a chance to disturb the wreck, this will cap off our SCUBA diving on the RMS Rhone. We have three additional wrecks on our diving agenda today the Beatta, the Inganess and the Marie L and the Pat.

Day Five: (May 9th, Thursday)

We sail early, weather permitting, out to the wreck of the CHIKUZEN, our second most famous wreck. We will dive the Chikuzen before lunch and again, after lunch before taking a leisurely sunset sail into Muskmelon Bay on Guana Island, one of our favorite deserted anchorages. Or perhaps we will head out to the Rocus and the Parametta? It all depends on the weather! A night dive is planned for those interested.

Day Six: (May 10th, Friday)

After a breakfast of watching the pelicans circling while they feed on the billions of bait fish in this bay, we will go around to the outside to dive Grand Central Station. Grand Central Station is so named for the many fish that converge around here, and it is capped up by a spectacular large cave that goes through the island at about 60 feet. Perhaps this afternoon will be a good time to visit the Baths? Friday night will find Promenade either anchored at Trellis Bay or Road Harbour and a last night to party under the stars.

Day Seven: (May 11th, Saturday)

Sadly, it is time to sail back to marina, and disembark and leave paradise, with great memories.

Goliath Grouper on the wreck of the Chikuzen

PACKAGE:

Accommodation with Yacht Promenade Liveaboard (6 nights Sunday to Saturday)

All food and beverages on the yacht (wine with dinner, cocktail hour, (for those not night diving!) beer and soda)

Unlimited diving featuring the wrecks of the BVI, inc a minimum of 3 dives on the wreck of the RMS Rhone (inc 1 night dive)

Includes all tank fills. BC's and regs are available at an extra rental cost for those who would like

Dive Anegada (weather permitting), inc The Chikuzen and The Rocus

Special souvenir T-shirt

Souvenir Chart to map your week

Dive Book on the Chikuzen or RMS Rhone

$3500.00 based on 2 people sharing a cabin.

Discounts are available for a group chartering the entire yacht

Review on Charter Yacht Promenade- Thanks Hardings!!!

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:58:38 -0700

..one of the most unusual feedbacks I have ever gotten I love it... The Hardings, 11 strong, were on Promenade in June...guests and crew had a wonderful time!

You can also see a long and involved video of the charter week here too...

Endings of seasons on charter yachts...

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:36:21 -0700

So..One more time the yacht has been stripped of anything that may make it fly away in a hurricane type thingy..and is put away in its bed in Fajardo until mid October..

Bye Bye Promenade! Bye Bye Felix and Lindsey! Have a good vacation!

It certainly does not take very much time to strip it down...But putting it back together in October is another story...

Promenade will open back up for charters toward the end of October and there is some good openings still on it. With some very good rates on some of the weeks too!

I have a few weeks I want to fill in this calendar year. We are offering up to 10 guests on the casually inclusive plan for $14,000 a very special rate on these weeks ONLY.

October 13 - 20
October 21 - 28
November 19-26
December 9-16

For our normal rates for other weeks, please see our rate sheet at this link. Xmas and Thanksgiving are STILL open on the yacht!

But remember how good it looks when it is up and ready for charters...

Rates on Promenade Going up..

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 08:39:10 -0700

I will be raising my rates for Yacht Promenade next season very shortly...I will honor anything I have quoted for whole groups for a short time, but don't delay!

Costs go up every year on the yacht...I am sure we will still be about the best value around in our size/price/amenities/numbers....

I still have a week or so available around July 7th, 2012 this season and perhaps a bit of time at the beginning of June for whole yacht charters at this years rates.

Contact Kerry soon!

Charter Yacht Business Opportunity...

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 11:21:31 -0700

Although not wanting to get out of the charter industry, we ARE looking ahead (medium term) at our "advancing age", to the time that we will want to be dealing with different aspects of the industry rather then running large sail and dive charters for up to 12 guests, if only for less physical work.

Promenade has always been a money maker, with a solid niche. We could be open to options and/or partnership ideas.

I know there are a lot of people who have new ideas for business opportunities.

I love this yacht, but once our chartering careers are done, it will not be a good fit for us sleeping as many people as it does.

Please, serious offers and ideas only. We are not interested in subsidizing someone else's dream, nor are we putting this up because we need a cash infusion.

Oh yeah, and we don't need a broker to sell it for us either

We are also interested in employing a couple to run charters on Promenade, starting in the spring/summer where we provide the shore support and back up.

If you are interested, well, you know our web site..I put up a page on it here

Calendar weeks open on Yacht Promenade

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:35:15 -0700

Yesterday I had posted the dates I have put up for the cabin only sailing in 2013...
Yesterday I also opened another week on our calendar due to "unexpected expenses". Those unexpected expenses are not for boat repairs, but between my husband and I, we managed to spend quite a bit of money just at the computer yesterday (damn internet when it works here too!) Hence, more weeks available on Promenade...

And since that little graphic ames no sense to me, never mind anyone else... here is what we have open...

-Week available in the second half of January
-Potential 5 nights at the beginning of April
-The first two weeks of June, can fit two charters in
-Between July 7th and 17th is open

We also have an early start on the charter season next winter, we have a charter booked the first week of November and we will be open from October 14th on.
Our rates are very reasonable for the size of yacht and amenities on board

My web page on Yacht Promenade

Contact Kerry for more information

Cabin only Sailing FEB 10th, 2013 (NOT 2012!)

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:34:06 -0700

I am already getting inquiries for next season on Cabin only Sailings..so in a major advanced planning move, (usually not my forte is planning this far in advance!) I am putting up 2013 cabin only sailings really early! We generally only have room in our schedule to do one a season... and February 2012 is sold out currently.
First come first serve on cabins.....

Either 6 or 10 nights onboard

Package:

Sunday Feb 10th, Sleep over if wanted. Boarding after 4 PM, in Roadtown, Tortola. No services (dinner on shore)
Monday Feb 11th- start cruise for 6 nights.
Sunday Feb 17th- drop off for any guests only staying on yacht for 6 nights (10 AM)
Thursday Feb 21st- drop off for 10 night guests. (10 AM)

Includes: All meals and ship's bar, cruising taxes, port taxes, overnight air conditioning and all on board ship's toys. This will include SCUBA diving for any CERTIFIED divers on a casual basis. If you follow the guidelines on our "mostly inclusive" package here, you will have a fair idea on the casual style on board. Yes, I still will do the Bushwackers!
Excludes: Transportation to and fro the yacht, including plane and taxi fares. Any meals and beverages you choose to have on shore. You will be responsible for one dinner ashore on the ten night package. BC and Regulator rental if needed at $125.00 for the charter period per person. Crew Gratuity.

6 nights: 2 in cabin, $3800, any cabin, 1 in cabin $3600
6 nights: Willing to share, (one of two twin (small) twin cabins in aft, you may luck out and get it to yourself, but then again, you may not. These rooms are definitely better if you bring a friend that you know, and need two separate beds) $1900.00 for one person.

10 nights: 2 in cabin $4800.00, 1 in cabin $4500
10 nights: Willing to share $2400 (per person)

Only two calendar weeks left open this season on Promenade

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:00:48 -0700

I can either do a charter January 15th to 22nd or January 22nd to January 2nd....and I have room for one more charter either June 10-17 or July 7-/8th- July 14/15th.. These are both 2012.

Someone book them so I can have the satisfaction of closing off the calendar. Although since we have a charter booked at the beginning of November 2012 the off season won't be as long as this summer was

Update on Yacht Promenade openings

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 06:21:04 -0700

This is what I have open still for next season...

I have time in the second half of November (Thanksgiving is still open weirdly..)

I have some time in the second half of January (one week)

We have a tentative cabin only sailing going out on February 13th, which I have two cabins who want to commit, but I need to get a third one committing before I can confirm that is a go before someone books the entire yacht for those dates in there.

I have time in the second half of June and all of July still open.

I have the yacht closed off for 6 weeks late April to mid June so I can go home for awhile at the moment.

Swim Vacation has cabins (but the numbers are shrinking daily..) open on their sailings:
Dec 10, 2011 (3 spots)
March 18-24th and Mar 25-31st

Promenades ONE & ONLY cabin only sailing Feb 2011

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:58:33 -0700

I put up this notice a couple weeks ago about our cabin only sailing in February. (see below). I have 2 cabins who want to confirm for the ten nights. I need at least 1 or 2 cabins more for at least the 6 night to be able to make this a confirmed charter.

If you are thinking that you may possibly want to take advantage of this sailing week, please book now. Normally, I don't mind sitting on these and selling them close to the date, but for next season i have a total of maybe only 2 weeks that I can sell in the winter period left and if a "whole yacht charter" comes along for those dates before getting enough bookings then I have to take it.

My whole yacht charters are selling like hotcakes for next season. In fact, I see a lot of the industry selling like hotcakes lately.

Our one and only cabin only sailing of 2011/2012 season

First come first serve on cabins.....

Either 6 or 10 nights onboard

Package:

Sunday Feb 12th, complimentary sleep over if wanted. Boarding after 4 PM, in Roadtown, Tortola. No services (dinner on shore)
Monday Feb 13th- start cruise for 6 nights.
Sunday Feb 19th- drop off for any guests only staying on yacht for 6 nights (10 AM)
Wednesday Feb 22rd- drop off for 10 night guests. (10 AM)

Includes: All meals and ship's bar, cruising taxes, port taxes, overnight air conditioning and all on board ship's toys. This will include SCUBA diving for any CERTIFIED divers on a casual basis. If you follow the guidelines on our "mostly inclusive" package here, you will have a fair idea on the casual style on board. Yes, I still will do the Bushwackers!
Excludes: Transportation to and fro the yacht, including plane and taxi fares. Any meals and beverages you choose to have on shore. You will be responsible for one dinner ashore on the ten night package only. BC and Regulator rental if needed at $125.00 for the charter period per person.

Cost:

6 nights: Only 1 in cabin, $2600 (Starboard or Port Ama with private head, or aft cabins, with king sized beds, share two heads for 3 cabins)
6 nights: 2 in cabin, $3000, any cabin
6 nights: Willing to share, (one of two twin (small) twin cabins in aft, you may luck out and get it to yourself, but then again, you may not. These rooms are definitely better if you bring a friend that you know, and need two separate beds) $1400.00 for one person.

10 nights: Only 1 in cabin, $4000
10 nights: 2 in cabin, $2375 (per person)
10 nights: Willing to share $2200 (per person)

Cabin only Sailing Feb 12th, 2012

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 14:56:21 -0700

I was surprised to open up this blog program and find out that i have not posted anything to it since the end of April. I had to look twice! However, I have been posting pictures AND information on both the Facebook and Twitter feeds, so that counts.

Since we are back on charter this weekend, I am sure that will change.

******

Our one and only cabin only sailing of 2011/2012 season

First come first serve on cabins.....

Either 6 or 10 nights onboard

Package:

Sunday Feb 12th, complimentary sleep over if wanted. Boarding after 4 PM, in Roadtown, Tortola. No services (dinner on shore)
Monday Feb 13th- start cruise for 6 nights.
Sunday Feb 19th- drop off for any guests only staying on yacht for 6 nights (10 AM)
Wednesday Feb 22rd- drop off for 10 night guests. (10 AM)

Includes: All meals and ship's bar, cruising taxes, port taxes, overnight air conditioning and all on board ship's toys. This will include SCUBA diving for any CERTIFIED divers on a casual basis. If you follow the guidelines on our "mostly inclusive" package here, you will have a fair idea on the casual style on board. Yes, I still will do the Bushwackers!
Excludes: Transportation to and fro the yacht, including plane and taxi fares. Any meals and beverages you choose to have on shore. You will be responsible for one dinner ashore on the ten night package only. BC and Regulator rental if needed at $125.00 for the charter period per person.

Cost:

6 nights: Only 1 in cabin, $2600 (Starboard or Port Ama with private head, or aft cabins, with king sized beds, share two heads for 3 cabins)
6 nights: 2 in cabin, $3000, any cabin
6 nights: Willing to share, (one of two twin (small) twin cabins in aft, you may luck out and get it to yourself, but then again, you may not. These rooms are definitely better if you bring a friend that you know, and need two separate beds) $1400.00 for one person.

10 nights: Only 1 in cabin, $4000
10 nights: 2 in cabin, $2375 (per person)
10 nights: Willing to share $2200 (per person)

Openings on Yacht Promenade

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:36:10 -0700

Hey all,

Been away from the boat for two weeks and I always find it bittersweet. I love getting up to the first world for awhile and having fast internet and all such, but I also miss living on the water and going SCUBA diving every day...

Having said that, I really think we are finally, after so many years of doing a ton of charters getting to the point where we have a good balance of charters and time not on charter.

I wanted to put up a post giving those who book us every year an opportunity to see what we have for bookings coming up and what time we have available. I am already taking bookings on Promenade for June/July of 2012, so any one that I have told it was too early and they did not need to book yet, well, I may be wrong.

Things will even book up more/quicker nowadays since we are doing half the amount of charters only that we used to do.

I am going to ramble for a bit here, cuz I am in that mood! It was with a large gulp a few months ago when we decided to change our strategy and charter offerings on the yacht to allow us to run the yacht in a much more casual style and not have to have full time crew living with us on the boat.

People were not impressed when I took out the cooking. I found most don't want to do that part themselves and I had a lot of requests to include that. I can understand that, as if you have large groups, it is not as easy as it sounds.

When I added back in a "mostly inclusive" option where I did the bulk of the cooking but the guests participated in most other ship duties, I was surprised how attractive that was to some people, and in areas that I never imagined.

Most tell me they don't mind pitching in with the other things, and in fact, I have found out that many PREFER to. I never thought I would see that when guests would prefer to do some of these things themselves. One of our charter guests told me that after a couple times on the boat it gets quite boring just being the one sitting around the table and it was much more satisfying having the run of the boat, and participating.

For everyone I ever stopped helping us with the dishes cuz it was our job, I apologize! I did not realize that you truly wanted to help and were not just being polite. Silly me. What a lot of pressure I put on myself and crew over the years.

Another thing I have noticed is that I am getting smaller family groups booking now who love the idea of a larger boat with more room and amenities, but weren't interested in finding ten people to come along with to make it financially feasible. I am really excited about the smaller groups, as it will give me so much more time to SCUBA dive etc with them.... and take pictures!

Promenade is still a great yacht for families and multi generations...and I think that will definitely be our niche, with maybe single groups as well, maybe not so much the 5 couples looking for lots of high end service... One other thing, with our new casual style, if conditions and everything permit, and we have guests who are interested, we would be more then willing to take out one of our fast boats on a day of charter. Buoy Boy is perfect for fishing (and diving for that matter) and the Bingo Bus is just plain all around fun! Just pay for the fuel costs, not a problem.

OK, rambling done.

I would still like to book another charter in the late July/Early August range... We drop off our last one July 17th, and we plan on going back to SoCal about mid August. Would love an opportunity to perhaps find a group who wanted to go gunk holing and diving around the Spanish Virgins or the south coast of puerto Rico. We are kind of planning that for early August whether we get a charter or not.

We still are open for Thanksgiving this coming season...

The holiday season is totally booked already, all the way up to mid January, when we have openings still until toward the end of February, then some more good openings in March and April. After Easter we will close off our calendar again until mid June, when we already have a week booked for the end of June beginning of July.

And that takes us far enough ahead...

My link here will take you to the calendar page which has further links for the two types of charters we do

Our captain/ mate only charter details can be found here, and we will take up to 12 guests

Our mostly inclusive, we prefer to stick to 10 guests and under and the details can be found here

Of course I have to put up a couple pictures, My friend Heather Perry, took these of ME taking pictures of her while down on Swim Vacation Charters last month. It is such a treat to get pictures of me in the water, even if I don't like them all!

This is Heather on the bow of the boat, I actually really like this photo...

And me on the helm, we had obviously just jumped up from a dive and were heading straight out somewhere...

And me diving underneath the pier at Salt Island, which is one of my absolute favorite places for photography!

And one more, what the heck, Heather took this of me at Salt Island when we were looking at the patch of old bottles down there...

That is all I have for you today...The boat continues to rest nicely in Puerto Del Rey and we will be back in the islands for charters in early June..

Promenade "mostly inclusive" charter rates...

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 10:51:31 -0700

I have been surprised how much resistance I am getting to changing our format and giving up our fully crewed rates and focus...

After having been asked numerous times, I have come up with a "mostly inclusive" for those who wish it, on top of our "captain only" plus all expenses. The cooking seems to be the thing that most groups do not want to take on themselves, but most say they are happy to pitch in with a lot of the other onboard tasks.

If this below sounds like your group, great, we are happy to have you onboard...Believe me, our knowledge of the islands and water (above and under) in the BVI is more valuable to guests then us picking up towels during the week.

Promenade is a large yacht, and has many toys and amenities on board, which can keep everyone busy, but with only two crew, guests have to be willing to pitch in. The yacht will be fully provisioned and ready to go and includes all food, ship's bar, cook, fuel, water, on board water toys (except SCUBA diving), permits and cruising taxes.

It does not include getting to and from the yacht (air and transfers), any meals you choose to have on shore, anything other then ship's standard bar, communications, dockage, SCUBA, and overnight Air Conditioning.

Our rate is $12,900 for 6 guests, 7 nights and then add $1000.00 for each additional guest (adult or child) up to 10.
Overnight air conditioning is $65.00 per night extra. SCUBA Diving will be $10.00 per person per dive for certified divers. Gear rental (BC and Reg) is $125.00 per person per week. Resort diving is possible on a per charter basis with two SCUBA Instructors on board, depending on how much diving is being done. Please ask in ADVANCE.

Generally, my meals run like this:

Breakfast: Early risers can help themselves to coffee, juice, cereal, fruit, yogourt, toast and the like. Please find your way around the galley. Generally Bazza and I are not around until about 830 to 9 and at that time, I am happy to do hot breakfast cooked to order for those who want it.
Easy enough for me, I used to own a short order restaurant at one time, Breakfast meats, eggs, omelettes, pancakes and the like, not a problem, if asked. However, you are certainly welcome to cook your own eggs if you want them earlier.

Lunch is buffet style, and always includes salad, and good food, but I don't like fiddly gourmet with names I cannot pronounce. We stick to sandwich platters with fresh baked buns, salad, burritos, and the like.

Dinners could either be buffet style or at the table, depends on my mood that day...I try and do a night with a nice tablecloth at the table. Again, good food, fairly simply prepared, family style, but lots of it. Good American cooking: steak, ribs, pasta, seafood, fish...and of course whatever is proper to serve with it.

I have no problem with putting on a piece of chicken say, if someone does not eat seafood, but I don't have the crew any longer to do special diets (lactose intolerant, gluten intolerant etc etc). I have no problems with things like "we all hate fish don't make it" or "always have PB and J and bread on hand for this person" or we "hate mushrooms" type of thing. You are certainly welcome to take care of yourself if you have special dietary needs that we cannot provide.

Our ships bar is basic, but plentiful, and all of it is self serve. From your wine with dinner to your cocktails and beer, help yourself.

We appreciate one dinner and one lunch on shore for the guests.

We are happy to do whatever we can to make our guests trip through the Virgin Islands enjoyable, but we look more for guests who want to share the experience and are not looking for someone to wait on them hand and foot all day long, which with two crew is pretty hard. ALthough guests don't necessary have to spend their time cooking and doing dishes (besides finding coffee, breakfast and snack items and their own drinks...) we expect the guests to help set and clear the tables and bring their used dishes down to the kitchen and to generally pick up after themselves. Washing our their own personal cups and plates and putting them in the drying rack is always appreciated, Hang their towels, keep their bathrooms and cabins tidy etc. Keeping in mind that the sooner this type of work gets done we can get onto helping with the fun tasks.

We definitely expect help with the sailing (Bazza and I can do this ourselves, but how much the guests pitch in will make the difference between us sailing more, or just turning on the engines and motoring instead...) Of course it is all under direction of Bazza and turns out to be quite fun! They will be pro's by the end of the week!

We have many pull toys on the yacht, double tubes, 4 person couches, wakeboards, you know...that type of thing that is generally popular with teenagers, and we are happy to teach someone else in the group how to drive the tender and pull others around if guests want to do that type of thing quite often. If they already know how to drive a tender, even better! We of course, are happy to do it ourselves a couple times a week, but the more participation the more it can happen.

Although we never move the boat early, unless we have to, you will often finding us sailing at sunset still to get to our anchorage. We will go anywhere the guests want, and it is reasonable to expect us to move the yacht every day to a "interim spot" for snorkeling or beachcombing or exploring, and then onto an anchorage for the night that there are more things to do at. We specialize in out of the way places that others don't get to, with a couple beach bar cocktail hour places thrown in there for good measure.

We are very casual and easygoing, we know the islands and the waters inside out. We enjoy a drink or two, but are not partiers. Our guests can if they like, stay up all night and party, we don't care, but we pretty much go to bed after dinner, although we are happy to drop guests off ashore and pick them up at a certain time if they want to go out...No problem. We do often spend a bit of time fishing with the guests after dinner, as we love to fish and are probably better at it then any other yacht around.

Our guests should be able to entertain themselves though, we are happy to show them where the lights are to turn off when they go to bed and what needs to be closed.

SCUBA Divers should be able to set up and take apart their own dive gear, and be able to do the easy dives themselves with a good dive briefing and always someone on deck watching for any problems or divers gone astray. However, guests assume liability for the diving. A dive Master will be in the water with you when required.

******

So, to sum up:

Captain only: $11,000, up to 12 guests.
All expenses on top, as per our work sheet here
SCUBA is $10.00 per dive for certified divers

Mostly inclusive: $12,900 for 6, add $1000.00 pp up to 10.
SCUBA is $10.00 per dive for certified divers

A reminder: you are welcome to hire a freelance chef on board as well if you would like as long as you have a bed for them...

******

Kerry and Bazza with Yacht Promenade offer a new charter option...

nospam@example.com ( Kerry) — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:39:44 -0700

You have all heard of Inn Keepers, Light House Keepers and the like, well meet us, Kerry and Bazza again as YACHT KEEPERS. After 14 years of fully inclusive charters for up to 12 guests on our wonderful yacht Promenade, the call to offer something new is too strong to resist. We love playing hosts, but are now looking for groups who want to be much more involved in their vacation than is provided on a typical fully inclusive yacht charter. Fully inclusive, for us has meant hosting over 400 charters with approx 4000 charter guests in the British Virgin Islands. I have cooked more meals, cleaned more heads, and made more pitchers of bushwacker's then I can possibly count. We loved every moment of it (Ok, marketing speak, I did not LOVE EVERY minute of it, but most!) ...and hope we spend the next 14 sharing the yachting life out on the waters of the BVI with many more, in a less involved manner.

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This applies to NEW charters only! We will still be doing the ones we have booked fully crewed, and indeed will continue to offer a limited amount of fully crewed every year, as well as a "by the cabin inclusive" and special charters for events such as BVI Wreck week etc. Remember, this is done in Kerry's wordy style. I will work on a bulletin point posting that uses much less words.
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That's right, Promenade will act as your very own Yacht with Yacht Keepers to safely move the yacht to a new anchorage daily (If you choose...) for your charter group. You will enjoy full access to our entire yacht and all its amenities, for a reasonable price with a bit of sweat equity put in! (Unless you choose to run the air conditioner 24/7!)

This will make Promenade, carrying space for 12 guests, a very economical and well outfitted yacht option for large groups.

As Yacht Keepers, we will share our knowledge of the local area, give you as many suggestions as you like on places to go, things to do, all from the comfort of our luxurious yacht with plenty of space, amenities, water toys, for your group to enjoy the British Virgin Islands with.

Want to dive the out of the way spots in the BVI from your own yacht? No problem with our onboard Dive Gear, Compressor and Bazza and Kerry who know every site intimately...
Want to anchor at deserted anchorages every night and float from a sun mat or lay on the spacious decks and trampolines with a good book? No Problem...
Want to hit all the Party Spots and local restaurants on different islands each night? No problem... You don't have to cook on the boat unless you like, and you know that your yacht will be safely watched by the Boat Keepers while you are enjoying the evening's festivities on shore.
Want to sail, fish, dive, snorkel, kayak, or just sit in the cockpit and watch the sunset? No problem...
Want to anchor in one bay all week and not move, and use us as a floating villa? No problem...

Yes, you do have to cook, clean up, help with all sailing duties and be your own entertainment committee,...You can make as many or as little of the decisions on where you want the boat to go as you like. If you are competent, we are happy to take a back seat on the weeks sailing plan. Don't worry, we won't let you get into too much trouble, if you feel a bit hesitant, by the end of the time onboard, you will be sailing like a pro!

As Yacht Keepers we have years of experience of knowing when we have to step in to help, and when we should just disappear like Inn Keepers do!

We really are not quite sure what to call ourselves and what we are doing yet, are we Captain/Divemaster only, which sounds clunky..Is our yacht a Floating Inn or a Yacht Villa? We are still playing with it, and time will tell, as our fully crewed charters have evolved over time, so will this.

We are truly excited about our new direction onboard and know that some or even many of our repeat guests will be disappointed that we will no longer be offering fully crewed charters, but that's ok, we are happy to do a limited number for smaller numbers or refer you to another yacht similar to Promenade.

This is something we have been considering for a few years now, and we have finally decided to take a large gulp and jump in with both feet!

Please be patient, our websites and information are being updated and I am happy to answer any questions.