Honey, you know I went there for the fishing, and then the cute horny girls showed up and asked if they could see my wooly booger, and I thought they wanted to see my fly, and then...........
In 1992 A friend and I picked up a job to deliver a 30 foot sail boat from Seattle to Prince Willam sound Alaska. We went in and out of the intercoastal waterway, and it was a difficult trip, I had about 4 or 5 years of piloting and navigation classes, and I had been back and forth to the Caribbean several times, but this was a real test. It's a long story. But if you ever find a charter that would take you on that same trip, it would be the trip of a lifetime. The Carib is nothing compared to Canada and Alaska, and the Canadian Coast Gaurd is par excellence. It took us 22 days, when we were in the intercoastal we anchored at night, and in the Pacific you don't anchor, and a 2 man crew is exhausting. But if you could find an experienced guy with a capable boat, and I'm sure it would cost thousands you would never forget it.
The inside passage is something I would love to do but am absolutely incapable of doing.
Ordinarily, I would say go for it, but not here, The current can be 15-16 knots against you, and we were in a boat that could only make 6 knots, the tide can be 20 feet easily, and there are a hundred wrecks and hulls along the way. It's a tricky piece of water.
We met up with a guy and his girlfriend in St Martin years ago. He captained luxury private boats/ships to destinations in the Carib so their owners could fly down from the US, boat around for a few days and fly back.
Meanwhile, he and his girlfriend lounged on the beaches waiting on the owners to fly home, where he would pilot their craft back to its berth.
Rough life!
A lot of that goes on. I met a girl in the BVI who was a stewardess. on a 104 foot boat, she was part of a crew of 4, the owner was from Tulsa, the crew was fultime, They were told how many people to expect and where to pick them up, what the guests liked to eat. The boat was equipped with fishing, scuba gear, a dingy, a jet boat, skis, tubes, etc. IIRC the budget for the boat was 30,000 a month, not including the captains salary, which was 60,000/year, the owners wife's satellite phone bill was 3000/month. Sometimes months would go by without seeing the owner, they would just send friends down for a week. They were instructed to make port wherever the guests wanted, then go buy lots of fresh flowers and food, booze, the whole thing delivered to the dock. Would have been a nice gig if you didn't have to put up with a bunch a holes that thought you were a servant.
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