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Greetings from your Ad Astra Crew
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Hi everyone and thank you for your interest in booking Yacht
Ad Astra. We look very much forward to meeting you and
having you on board. Below are some helpful tips from us.
Our website is very useful with regards to yacht layout,
yacht amenities, prices etc so take a good peak!
General Information:
When you are on board we will give you a full safety
briefing and cabin/yacht briefing. We can also chat about
your desired route when you arrive and are happy to plot it
out on a map for you at the end of the week. You can
purchase these at most stores or use the free one in the
local Welcome Aboard magazine from the airport. Snap happy
Bridget will normally take pictures of your party during the
week and burn you a free CD at the end.
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Food Menu and contacting the crew:
We will send you a sample menu based on your preferences and
our current menu for your party to approve. So have a look
at the online sample menu and this will aid you in filling
in the preference sheet. Feel free to let us know if you
have any favourite foods/meals and food allergies. Bridget
has had a lot of experience with gluten free diets. Bridget
will be in touch with you via email before the charter and
Captain Barry will also call you a week before the charter
to answer any last minute queries that you may have and to
confirm our meeting point.
Pick up:
We are based out of Village Cay, Road Town Tortola and will
confirm your particular pick up with you via
telephone/email. Your broker will inform us of where the
pickup is (e.g. Trellis Bay or Village Cay). The standard
charter runs from noon to noon.
Luggage and Dress:
The islands are very casual and you will probably spend most
of your time in your bathing suits! Pack light in flat pack
bags if possible, as all luggage is stored on board. If you
are planning to dine ashore, the dress code is casual for
most restaurants (you can wear your flip flopsJ).
Certain places like Peter Island Resort have a more formal
dress code.
Shoes:
No shoes are to be worn on board the yacht (unless there is
a medical reason), you will probably only need some flip
flops for shore and some running shoes if you enjoy hiking.
Allergies/Medical issues:
There is a standard medical kit on board as well as oxygen,
however if you have serious allergies/medical conditions
please bring your epi-pen and medication with you.
Snorkelling:
There is snorkel gear on board for youJ.
There is wonderful snorkelling throughout the BVI as most
areas are protected National Park. We keep pool noodles on
board and these are helpful if you are not an excellent
swimmer and would like something to float/rest on. They are
also an excellent beacon and yacht and dinghy Captains can
identify you more easily
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Diving and equipment:
Diving is free for certified divers only; this includes
tanks, tank fills, weights, belts and the services of the
dive master/guides. If you do not have your own gear, you
can rent it for $30 per day for a BC and regulator (or $15 a
piece) or a flat fee of $150 for the week per person. The
crew will organise this based on your sizes and the money is
payable to the crew at the end of the week depending on the
number of days you have been diving.
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The crew do not take a percentage of this money as it has to
be paid to the correct parties for use of the gear. If you
need a wetsuit, please bring your own or we can take you to
a shop to try one on when you arrive (it is best to try
these on yourself). See the online section on diving for
more information.
Dive Courses:
If anyone is interested in finishing a certification or
doing a resort course, we can organise this for you by
rendezvousing with a local dive school.
Number of Dives:
For those of you who are keen divers, we can generally do
one dive a day. If you are a whole/majority party of super
keen divers; we can do our best to fit in two dives a day.
Linen and towels:
All linen is provided including bedding, beach towels, bath
and hand towels, as well as facecloths. There is a midweek
linen change.
Amenities:
We try to use environmentally friendly products that are not
harmful to the ocean. There are small shampoos and
conditioners as well as body wash in your bathrooms. You are
welcome to bring your own. We also have two hot water
showers on the back steps of the yacht. There are also
products outside for your use, if you fancy a sunset shower
J
.There are hair dryers in each cabin, but the wind generally
will blow that mop dry!
J
Toys/music/internet:
As you can see from viewing the website we have a number of
water toys at your disposal. Hopefully you are looking
forward to escaping technology for a week, but we understand
that some people like to stay connected .We have Wi-Fi on
board, so feel free to bring your own laptop. We have an
I-pod on board with thousands of songs, but please bring
your own too! We have games on board and a small DVD library
if anyone wants to watch a movie in the saloon, but once
again feel free to bring your favourite movies/games.
Crew Gratuity:
The crew work very hard to give you the week you have always
dreamt of! They are your Captain, 1st mate, chef,
tour guides, dive guides, taxi drivers, barman and cleaners!
They perform all these charter duties whilst performing
their regular weekly yacht duties. Their gratuity is at your
discretion. The average gratuity is anywhere between 15-20%
of your party’s cost of the charter.
Sailing/itinerary-
Feel free to join in and learn or sit back and relax!
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We have been here for a number of years and are happy to
draft an itinerary for you based on your interests. We are
also happy if you have some idea of where you would like to
go. We will tailor make the route to suit your needs and to
work with the week’s weather.
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Captain Barry will bring out the chart every morning and
chat about the day’s plans with your party and Bridget will
call you up to the foredeck at each spot and explain what
exciting things await you and point out any potential
hazards, if any. Charters with lots of diving tend to
have shorter sails and tend to be focused on dive orientated
sites/islands, however most dive sites are snorkel sites, so
snorkelers will not lose out. If you are a group with no
divers or a few easy going divers, then you will have more
time to play and can have lengthy sails!
There is so much new information when you come on board a
yacht and each yacht and crew are different! So hopefully
this was helpful and we won’t have to overload you with too
much new information when you arrive! A lot of these tips
are also based on FAQ’s so hopefully it has also saved you
and your broker some time!
J
We look forward to sailing the BVI’s turquoise waters with
youJ.
Thanks for readingJ.
Bridget and Barry- Crew of Ad Astra.
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