Travel & Island Info
Each country is different and if your sail includes multiple islands, then you will be immigrating into and out of each country/island. Here are some important details for planning your trip as well as info on each island.
Travel
Accommodations: Unless you decide otherwise, you’ll be sleeping on the boat each night so no hotel required.
Customs & Immigration: You will be flying in and out of the same island/airport (except for most Women Only sails and the Grenada to Trinidad sail). To clear customs and immigration you will need:
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Required documents for immigration
a. Passport - must be valid for at least 6 months from the date you depart the islands for home
b. Airline Ticket/Itinerary copy both inbound and outbound flights
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Required documents for on board
a. Completed medical form
b. Signed liability waiver
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Air & Ground Transportation (Dollar conversions approximate)
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Island - Trinidad
Airport - POS - Port of Spain
Transfer Via - Jesse James Taxi (Lynda will arrange)
Transfer To - Power Boats Boatyard Chagauramus - 50-90 mins
Currency - $1 US Dollar = 6.75 TT Dollars
Island – Grenada
Airport – GND - Maurice Bishop Int’l
Transfer Via – Taxi
Transfer To – Prickly Bay Marina – 9 mins
Currency – EC Dollar - $1 US Dollar = $2.71 EC Dollars
Island – St. Vincent & Grenadines
Airport – SVD– Argyle Int’l Alternate: Bequia BQU – FJ Mitchel Airport
Transfer Via – Taxi
Transfer To – Blue Lagoon Hotel & Marina – 20 mins
Currency – EC Dollar - $1 US Dollar = $2.71 EC Dollars
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Island – St. Lucia
Airport - UVF – Hewanorra Int’l
Transfer – Taxi
Transfer To – Laborie – 15 mins
Currency – EC Dollar - $1 US Dollar = $2.71 EC Dollars
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Island – Martinique
Airport – FDF – Aime Cesaire Int’l
Transfer Via – Taxi
Transfer To – Kalva Martinique Restaurant – 35 minutes
Currency – Euro - $1 US Dollar = $0.87 Euros
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About Local Currency: Exchange rates above change daily. Check current exchanges on Google.
To get local currency you will visit an ATM either in the airport or at a bank near the harbor/on the way to the harbor. This is easy but make sure you have notified your credit card and ATM companies you are traveling.
​​​​Island Information
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There is so much to see on each island so please research “what to do” and get to know your island(s)... it’s worth dreaming about the possibilities in advance! Once on shore we can arrange whatever you need. Info below is from Caribbean Compass.
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Bequia - A St. Vincent/Grenadines Island
Bequia lies only eight nautical miles south of mainland St. Vincent and is the largest of the 32 Grenadine islands. The passage from Young Island Cut and Blue Lagoon in St. Vincent to Bequia is usually pleasant, off-the-wind sailing. It is closer to the wind if you are coming from St. Vincent’s west coast, but it is usually still easily done on one tack.
Bequia has long been a favorite of yachts people. Isolated enough to remain relatively unspoiled, yet lively enough to be stimulating and entertaining, it provides a blend of the old and new that many find perfect. It is well connected with St. Vincent and the other Grenadines, both by a small airport and by the cheaper and more traditional ferries. Some yachts people leave their boats anchored in Bequia and take a ferry to visit St. Vincent.
Bequia is an island of sailors and boats, linked to the outside world mainly by the sea, and the old traditions continue. Boats are built on the beach in the shade of palm trees, though these days the building methods are a lot more high-tech, and the traditional fishing boats have morphed into sport boats capable of speeds well over 10 knots. Bequians travel all over the world on cargo vessels; quite a few have ended up owning their own, and some are intrepid fishermen who venture all over the Grenadines in little open boats. They are a proud people, descendants of settlers who came from North America, on whaling boats from farms in Scotland, from France as freebooters, and as enslaved people from Africa.
The island has an active whaling station in a low-key and traditional way. By International Whaling Commission agreement, local whalers can take four whales a year, but in some years they do not get any. The whaling season is from February to April. At this time of year humpback whales leave their northern feeding grounds and head south to mate and bear young. Few people are left in Bequia with the skills necessary to hunt them — a daring feat in an open sailing boat, using hand-thrown harpoons. On the rare occasions that they make a kill, the hunters tow the whale to Semplers Cay for butchering.
Friendship Bay is a harbor on the south coast, and there is a daytime anchorage at Petit Nevis, but Bequia’s main harbor is Admiralty Bay. It is a huge, well-protected bay with Bequia’s only town, Port Elizabeth, at its head. Small hotels, bars, restaurants, and shops spread from town along both shores, strung together in the south by the popular Belmont Walkway. This delightful coastal path, renovated and extended by Action Bequia, meanders along the shore, skirting a few trees to Plantation House. Here it climbs the hill before bringing you back to the sea via a lovely wooden staircase. It then turns into a path that takes you to Princess Margaret Beach.
Much of Bequia’s tourist industry is based on visiting yachts, so you will find good yacht services, restaurants, shops, and handicrafts, many made only here. Best of all, Bequians understand yachting. Several yacht services are grouped together in Ocar on the northern shore. Others are in Port Elizabeth. Good dinghy docks are spaced around the bay, including one at Dockside Marine, a large and well-stocked chandlery. There are multiple canvas and sailmakers on the island, and Bequia has the friendliest and broadest range of on-water service providers, from which you can get everything from your water and diesel tanks filled to fresh bakery items every morning, laundry services, and garbage collection.
You will also have a great range of restaurants and entertainment, from relaxed beach bars to the more formal atmosphere of the larger resorts. There is no shortage of waterfront dining options in town, all conveniently connected by the Belmont Walkway. Wander down the coast for a beach day and dine with your toes in the sand, overlooking the clear turquoise waters of Lower Bay. Afterwards, dinghy over to Bar One, the Windward’s only floating bar, for a cocktail to go with the explosion of color that so often accompanies the Caribbean sunset. Paired with the friendly locals and accessible yacht services, it’s no wonder Bequia is such a popular yachting destination.
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