QWEST - Another great diving & sailing yacht charter

Thanks to Kim & Rich for another wonderful yacht charter!

Here are comments from our most recent clients aboard the s/v QWEST. Qwest is a 49-foot sloop which specializes in 2-person sailing vacations. Both Kim and Rich are dive instructors and diving is included in their rates.  As an added bonus, there is Jasmine, their feline cruise director :)

Sheri & Robert were celebrating their 20th anniversary...

Qwest yacht charter - November 2009

How did you enjoy your charter?

The entire experience was fantastic!  Could not have been better.

Did you find your crew to be helpful, accommodating and friendly?

All of the above. Kim and Rich are fantastic people.  We really enjoyed their company and their musical talent.

Was the yacht comfortable, clean and well maintained?

Great ship...very comfortable

How would you describe the quality and presentation of the meals served on board?

Exceptionally good. Kim was very creative in the galley and Rich was a master griller.  We enjoyed Kim's presentation of each meal and looked forward to every meal, even the beach picnic. 

How did you find the services offered by Paradise Connections?

Very informative, responsive and helpful.  Everything was perfect.

Would you be interested in taking another yacht vacation in the future?
Definitely

If so, would you like to charter the same yacht and crew?

Definitely

Did you stay in a hotel before or after your charter?

Yes

If so, which one and what are your comments?

At Home In The Tropics.  Fantastic!  The Inn is perfect.  It was a short, tho stair intensive walk to town which we grew accustomed to the first day.  The owners are very helpful and terrific people. The amenities were great.  Rooms and food excellent.

Are there any further comments or suggestions you would like to make to enable Paradise Connections, the yacht, or crew to better serve you and other clients in the future?

None that we can think of

May we use you as a reference?

Of Course

Thank you all for making our 20th Anniversary Vacation a fantastic and memorable one!
- Sheri & Robert, November 2009

By the way... QWEST is available for CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS!

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Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to book Qwest
View Qwest's online brochure and brochure #2
Visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com

Tropical Storm ANA & Hurricane BILL - Yacht Updates

With the threat of TS ANA & Hurricane Bill coming our way, we decided to sail our own boat over to Curaçao but then ANA was forecast to pass to the south of us and thus getting in our way, and as BILL was to miss the islands to the Northeast, we stayed put in St. Martin. ANA became disorganized and then spread out more like a tropical wave.

We heard from Gus & Marcella (catamaran MAROLANGA). They went to their hurricane hole in Vieques (Spanish Virgin Islands) and had lots of heavy rain & lightning. Their poor cat Sasha hid under a shelf and tried to make himself very small. They stayed there to wait out Hurricane Bill which fortunately gave our islands a wide berth. Marcella wrote today to say that they've "only had some little gusts and some rain. Not too bad…Now we getting a little bit rain from the tail of Bill. Outside are still waves 7-11 feet, so we waiting until tomorrow with sailing to Puerto Rico. Wind we have practically zero."

They are going to go into the boatyard for a little bit for new bottom paint and this and that. Marolanga is one of the few yachts chartering in the Virgin Islands through the summer season.

The trimaran PROMENADE went to their hurricane hole in Virgin Gorda, BVIs. Here's a photo of Bazza & Simeon tying lines up to the mangroves.

Kerry is very happy to be back at their dock now that the storms have safely passed by.

Charter Yacht BLITHE SPIRIT is down in Trinidad where Dominique & Michel are growing tomatoes while in the boatyard!

Dominique didn't have to tether down her plants as Trinidad is theoretically out of the hurricane zone and Bill was nowhere close.

John & Heidi, owner-operators of the charter yacht ANTILLEAN, are also in the boatyard in Trinidad. No pictures yet, but Heidi says that she has a crop of 30 tomato plants that she's grown from seed. Sounds like there's a little farming competition going on down there :)

Leslie & Charles of PHAEDRUS wrote to us last week... "We just got to NC on Friday and have been busy doing odd jobs, like cleaning the deck & pulling weeds out of the walkway. It's very hot here, but hopefully the temp will go down on Wednesday". Sounds like the equivalent of scraping the hull :)

STORM PETREL is chartering in New England this summer. Laura is Illinois doing a few house projects and nursing, while Phil is aboard Storm Petrel based in Falmouth, Buzzards Bay. They had a great repositioning trip, taking only 10 days to get there from St. Thomas. Phil's advice for us was: "To come north, just set your autopilot to 355, and enjoy. The spring trip is usually easy, no winds over 30 kts, seas calm... Fall is much more of an adventure!!!!"

So, if you want an affordable, fun charter, aboard a yacht with LOTS of local knowledge of the New England cruising area, look no further than Storm Petrel. Short charters, weekend & daysails, too. Contact Paradise Connections and we'll set you up!

A couple of weeks ago, Eric from ALOHA MALOLO wrote to say that they were "going to the Statue of Liberty today if we can get this RV through the traffic. I miss the ocean and Saltydog but we are visiting many past guests who have invited us to stop by on our trip."

Charter yacht HANALEI BAY is on the hard in Trinidad. We received a call recently from Diane. They miss being on the water but they have a beautiful view of it from their patio in Vancouver BC. They had front row seats for the annual fireworks festival, The Celebration of Light, from their pieds-à-terre.

Kim & Rich from the charter yacht QWEST wrote to us from the boatyard in in Fajardo, Puerto Rico where they were working on the boat and getting it ready to leave while they go to the States for a couple of months.

Kim wrote "One of the high points of our summer is the Bean Blossom Blues Fest that we going to in Brown County, Indiana, next month. We'll be spending lots of time playing our ukes and jamming with friends. We don't have any photos (yet), but here's a link to a video of a jam from last year's Bean."

So, back now to Bob & Sheila at Paradise Connections... Due to the recent storms our plans have changed a little, but we intend to pick up our mail soon in St. Thomas (thanks Reefco!) and then sail towards Curaçao. We did Hurricane OMAR last year and we don't want to do that again. Quite a scary night... Especially when you have this boat dragging down on you during the stormy night of a category 3 hurricane!

Nope, don't want to do that again :)

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Contact Paradise Connections Yacht Charters to start planning
your sailing vacation
Visit our website: www.ParadiseConnections.com

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