Your group size will affect your customization options.
Here are some ideas for customizing your Caribbean family sailing adventure. If you have a large group of 6 or more persons, you will have exclusive rights. With exclusivity you have the most flexibility in customizing your stay. As long as your group agrees, we will try to accommodate any reasonable plan. The only requirement is safety, favorable winds and we must be in our next planned location on the following Saturday evening. You are free to sail as much or as little as you wish and to use all the water toys available. We have a recommended local itinerary detailed for each week under the 4 weekly itinerary groups above. For exclusive groups, we can deviate as you wish but we should avoid night sailing. Contact us to explore your options in advance to make sure what you want is feasible.
Most of your options can be realized without exclusivity. We can discuss any unusual suggestions among the separate groups and if everyone agrees we can deviate from the routine itinerary. Furthermore, most of your options can be accomodated because we have enough crew and toys to support a wide variety of separate activities simultaneously. We can split up into sub-groups with different activities and meet back at the mother ship for dinner. For example those who want to go for a part-day sail can, and those who want to go diving can. There is no conflict as long as we meet back together in the early evening. And we have two hand-held GPS VHF radios and the base units to keep in touch.
On the last week of each location, we must make passage to the next island location. Many of the locations are only for one week. So in this case that week is the first and the last week at that location. Our passage is usually made on Saturday leaving as early as needed to arrive at the new location Saturday before sunset. If the weather forecast looks bad for Saturday, we might have to deviate from our planned itinerary and make passage on Friday a day earlier. Some passages are long enough that we leave on Friday normally (see weekly itineraries for details).
You have a choice to disembark on Saturday morning or make passage with us and return home Sunday. Each member of your group can make a different decision. Those who disembark on Saturday can return home or get a hotel and meet up with their group on Sunday or meet us in the new location Saturday evening so you can return home together. The location of the international airport will determine who flies the commuter (or ferry) to meet the other group. To help you plan we have listed the local international airport code as well as the local island airport code. If you want to avoid passage making at all, try to pick a location that has a more than one week stay and then avoid the last week passage. Likewise, if you want the adventure of passage making, choose the last week at a location.
To help you select the right weeks to match your sailing enthusiasm, here is a breakdown by week according to the amount of sailing difficulty.
Short sails with no passage required: Weeks 2, 8, 11, 19, 21, 24, 27, 28, 30, 32, 34, 35, 40, 46, 49.
Little sailing with a short passage: Weeks 4, 5, 7, 10, 14, 29, 30, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 52.
Typical sailing with a typical passage: Weeks 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 26, 44.
Longer sails with a longer passage: Weeks 1, 3, 9, 12, 16, 17, 23, 37, 38, 50, 51.
Overnight sailing required for a long passage: Weeks 6, 13, 31, 33, 36, 39, 42.
See also the discussion under the FAQ: "Is it Scary"
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