Have you worried about hurricanes before making plans for celebrating Summer Sailstice in the Caribbean? Bob Diamond of Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City, California, has been one of those fortunate souls who’s managed to spend the last few Summer Sailstice holidays sailing the Caribbean without any hurricane worries – in fact he thinks it may be one of the best times to go. Summer Sailstice 2006 was no different with Bob and friends celebrating all week and without the usual ‘high-season’ crowds. For those that want uncrowded tropical charters, the ‘off-season’ may be the perfect time. Not only do you get off-season rates but you have fewer crowds and longer days.
Here’s Bob’s report from the islands:
"We had a great time bareboat cruising in The Grenadines for Summer Sailstice this year. Our charter week began on June 17 at the Sunsail base at the southern tip of St. Vincent . The fact that hurricane season starts officially in June usually doesn’t put much of a damper on our trips, but this time we only had a total of 8 people on two boats. I think the storm hype on the news may have had some effect on our enrollment. Although we did get some heavy showers from a tropical wave that moved through the area in the middle of the week, the wind was excellent the whole time. We only got rained on once while sailing and it lasted only a few minutes.
Instead of celebrating Sailstice just one day, we celebrated all week while sailing to Bequia, The Tobago Cays, Chatham Bay on Union Island, Canouan, Petit Nevis, and back to St. Vincent via Bequia. Every destination offers something special. In addition to being a most fantastic place for snorkeling, The Tobago Cays were used in filming “Pirates of the Caribbean”, notably the scene where Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley were marooned on a small island with its stash of rum. (see attached photos).
It wasn’t crowded anywhere. At Chatham Bay , there was only one other boat anchored for the night besides our two. And during a day stop at the abandoned whaling station at Petit Nevis, ours were the only boats at the island. This was a beautiful place to snorkel and climb around on shore and we had it all to ourselves.
Members of our group went a little crazy shopping in Bequia near the end of our cruise. Bequia is known for model boat building and scrimshaw. The model boats are hand made with such fine detail, I think if you could stand on the deck of one, you wouldn’t realize it was a model. They are costly. Prices range from two to three hundred U.S. dollars for a small one (about 15 inches) to many thousands for a large model of a J class yacht or a fully rigged ship. Our little group relieved the island of 4 of its model boats.
Keep spreading the idea of the Summer Sailstice and I’ll keep working on organizing trips to ideal sailing locations like The Grenadines."
Bob Diamond
Spinnaker Sailing Redwood City