cgullo@sbcglobal.net
07-22-2007, 10:31 AM
I forgot to mention in a previous letter about a day trip we took to tortola, and a catamaran sail. The trip was great, but is tough to do from st.thomas and meet the ferry back to st.thomas all in one day. The main reason for this letter is to warn anyone considering taking a day sail on a catamaran out of tortola, do not to use KURALU, or if you do, beware. Here is how it starts. We had planned this trip months in advance because we had a group of 17 people, and wanted a nice day sail for the family, just us. Well, we all get on board and sail of to our first stop, which was sandy spit, for some snorkeling, one of two spots for snorkling. I should mention, Robbin our captain is about a 65 year old retired british fellow, and his first mate is his golden retriever that comes along for the ride. We are all dog lovers, so not a problem, but if you don't like dogs, then sorry, he's coming. The only other crew, is the guys 20 yr old daughter, who did most of the grunt work, so good by service. 45 MINS into the sail, i asked for some water, and was given a cup of water, no one else was offered a beverage, little strange, but no biggy,so we land at tiny sandy spit, after passing, larger sandy caye, which was to be our first snorkel spot, that was easier, so first broken promise. Ok, so captain Robbin, decides to tackle the expierenced stuff first. So, with no instruction and not the best equipment, we take off snorkling. The reef there was alive and well, but my father-inlaw, never made it from the beach, because he had never snorkled before, so once he took in water, it was over, and with no instruction whatsoever, he was done. So, the rest off us, snorkel about 45 mins, load everyone up, and head off to white bay, on jost van dyke for lunch and a little R&R. We arrive about 12:30 at white bay, oh, and did i forget to mention, never once, was anyone offered a beverage, i actually found the cooler with the drinks, and started passing them out, myself, on our way to white bay. It's now 12:30, time for lunch or so we thought. I asked Robbin, if we were ready for lunch, and he says 3 quarters of an hour, because he has to prepare everything, fair enough. So the kids jump back in the water, and there goes Robbing in with them, and the first mate (the dog) right behind him. He plays for about 25 mins, get's back on the boat and sets everything out, ya! you guessed it ,the food was already prepared, just had to set everything up. So we finally eat lunch around 1:30pm, we were starved by now. I didn't mention this ,but we left st.thomas 7:00am in order to get to tortola, so we could have a semi-full day sail, and had not had anything for breakfast at all, and he knew this. So we had lunch and it was fine, but the food ran out, but most got something. Also, i will note, the website says open bar, well there was no open bar, and still no one was ever offered a drink, but by now, we all knew were the beverages were. Captain Robbin could care less that we were there, and as i mentioned, his daughter, did most of the work. He either hates americans, or he is semi-retired and doesn't give a dam, about customer service, because we are not demanding people at all. He got irritated when, a brother in-law offered to put his i-pod on his itunes system, so we could listen to some Jimmy Buffet. He definitely does not like Jimmy buffet, at all. But, he relented, and we got to listen to a little margaritaville, on the trip back. I'm not a buffet fan, but we were getting ready to pay him 1500.00 dollars for about 5hrs worth of sailing, so he could have been a little more accomodating. This was the final straw. We head back into port, where the ferry docks, and everyone gets off the boat, and we have 20 mins to catch the ferry, and he decides we need to settle up. We had not paid him, so we dig into our pockets for cash, no credit here baby, jcold hard american cash. Some had wanted to put on credit, but were never offered an option, so we hurried as fast as we could, to get him the money, because the ferry was about to dock, by now, and the british were none to happy about him pulling up in there spot. So we made it, and i suspect Robbin was sitting in a bar somewhere counting his american dollars, and cussing us americans for having taken time out of his day, exccuse me, just to share a little piece of paradise, with us. Is that too much to ask? I conclude, if you want just the smallest amout of service and just the basic common curteousies, and attention, then don't choose KURALU, but if you want someone who doesn't care that you are there, or want any service, and just want to fend for yourselves, then go for it. Find someone who has a real crew, not a dog and his daughter. enough said.