Favorite Port Adventure you have ever taken??

[sweetpee_1993]

Who did you use for your private charter?

It was purely accidental that I found them. We were on 2 b2b Eastern Caribbean sailings on NCL Escape in May 2016. My "plan" to get 6 of us to/from The Baths from Tortola was a complete un-plan. If you walk from the cruise port area to the ferry (to Virgin Gorda), when you leave the port there are guys there that work for small boat services that look to fill their boats to Virgin Gorda. There are a few widely discussed on CC. I've taken the ferry before & I saw these guys. So my plan was to go find one of them. I know they typically charge around $40pp round trip. I had 6 people. I also know they like to get as close to 10 people as they can. So, I had hoped to get one of these guys to let me pay them a flat rate of 10x whatever per person price they gave me (I estimated in $40-$50pp for a total of $500 or less) and BAM! Private boat for my family to/from. Backup plan was to catch the 7:45 ferry. I'd done the ferry before but preferred to find another way. All the charters I priced before that trip were over $1k round trip. No thanks.

So....that morning I went looking for 2 guys in particular. Neither were out yet. The guard by the gate asked s couple taxi guys. One of them fetched us a fella named Malcolm. I explained where we wanted to go. He said $45 each (or something like that) but let's wait for a couple more. I offered him $450 to leave now. He was a bit in disbelief but I explained I didn't want to wait & would rather it was just us. We walked with him like maybe 5-10 minutes to the marina. Perfectly nice boat. We were shoved-off & on the way within 15 minutes of stepping onboard.

Malcolm took us to a marina on Virgin Gorda where he docked the boat. He called us a "taxi" (same trucks everyone rides to the top of The Baths). We all arranged when to return. I set our return time like 3 hours before our all-aboard just to err on the side of caution. Again, I knew but the ferry schedule just in case! Everything went off fine. Return. All the things were perfect.

On the trip back to Tortola we explained that 4 of us would be back in a week. (My inlaws weren't doing both cruises.) We asked a price for Malcolm to take us to some good snorkeling & maybe a pretty beach. He quoted us $650 for the private boat charter with snacks & stocked cooler (beer, water, & Pepsi - our choice). We told him we'd send an email from Miami to completely confirm but to tentatively count on us for the private charter day.

Emailed from Miami on cruise turnaround day. Perfect. Got their confirmation as well before departing.

The morning we arrived in Tortola hubby & I could see the boat & Malcolm getting ready from our breakfast table at the buffet. We were so psyched! As soon as it was all-ashore time we walked right back to the marina, hopped onboard, and off we went. I'm trying to remember the stops. We snorkeled at The Indians, somewhere else, & the Caves (I think that's Norman Island but I'm not sure). We went ashore and walked on Cooper Island and Peter Island. The entire day was just amazing. It was awesome because it was just my family on our time.

I looked back in my email history and it was Sunshine Powerboats that we went with. I know the boat we were on both days was the 35' Contender. Malcolm is who we had for our captain. I know he works for the company but does not own the boats. He's a really nice fellow, talked about his family, etc. He just clicked so well with our family (hubby, me, & sons - 18 & 20 yrs old at the time).

I'd recommend Malcolm & Sunshine anytime. Seriously excellent days BOTH times we set off with them. I plan to contact them again next year when my friends & I are in Tortola.