Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Mandy Walker was the perfect suggestion to help us (two couples) plan our charter. We knew approximately when we wanted to go. She helped with everything else. We had several conversations and she asked lots of questions. Presented with several options, and with Mandy’s strong recommendation, we chose Ultra, a 63 ft power catamaran with an experienced crew in the British Virgin Islands. Mandy was available along the way to introduce us to Captain Kyle and Chef Jessica, help with transportation arrangements from St John to the charter, answer all questions, and generally make us comfortable with planning the trip.

Once on the Ultra, she kept in touch with Jessica and Kyle behind the scenes to make sure everything was going well. Towards the end of the trip one of our family members at home had a health issue and we needed to leave a day early. She helped Kyle and Jessica help us to make the arrangements and followed up even after we returned home.

Mandy is extremely knowledgeable about where to go when, the boats, and the crews. We loved our time on the Ultra and highly recommend having Mandy match the boat, crew and destination to your needs for a private charter.

Amy Cook, traveled Feb 14-20

The Silverman family in Little Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI.

The Silverman family in Little Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI. Photo: Traveler Jeremy Silverman

Our family had an amazing Virgin Islands sailing vacation over this past winter break with the expert and valuable assistance of our planner, Mandy.

Our planning journey began later in the fall than it should (as usual for us when regular life gets in the way). With availability limited for our initial vacation idea, Wendy and Brook asked—based on how much we loved a catamaran day charter in Belize, on a prior WOW List trip—whether we would be interested in exploring a full week sailing charter. We had some initial concern that a week on a sailboat would be too much togetherness for our family of 4 (with kids ages 17 and 21). But we love being on the water and, after an introductory call with WOW List expert Mandy, we were comfortable that a charter could accommodate our family dynamics.

Among other considerations, our 21-year-old is on the autism spectrum—he is high functioning, but we would need the right space and, most importantly, the right crew for the vacation to be fun and comfortable (physically and otherwise). Mandy’s expertise and detailed knowledge of the available boats and her personal relationships with the crews were clear from our first conversation. She was extremely responsive, personable, and our planning process was personalized to our unique needs and priorities, ultimately landing on One Love for the week of December 20.

Within minutes of arriving in St. Thomas, meeting Captain Christian and Chef Laura and getting settled onto One Love, we knew we had made the right choice. The boat is beautiful, the bedrooms more spacious and comfortable than we expected, and the overall design and layout of the boat allowed for everyone to have their favorite spaces.
We could go on FOREVER about our incredible experience, but some highlights and details include:

Our daily routine generally included my wife and I waking up for coffee on the flybridge for sunrise (not to be missed), followed by a leisurely breakfast (earlier for us, later for the kids) and usually some morning snorkeling or paddleboarding for me. From there, we would usually have some group morning activity, like a great snorkel spot (Maho Bay and Little Lameshur Bay, USVI, and The Indians, Cistern Rock and Wreck of the Rhone stand out) and delicious lunch on the boat before sailing for a couple of hours to another beautiful location. At some point mid-to-late afternoon, we would arrive at a gorgeous bay for more water activities—snorkeling, paddleboarding, or even tubing or wakeboarding off the back of the dinghy. Afternoon would lead into sunset “sundowner” appetizers and cocktails, then a fantastic dinner, family game night and then off to sleep and dream about the next day, then wake up and repeat!

We can’t say enough about Christian and Laura—they are welcoming, kind, FUN and experts at what they do, while making everything seem effortless. We had an intro zoom with Christian and Laura about a month before our departure after completing a detailed questionnaire about us, including our activity, food and beverage favorites. That zoom conversation laid the groundwork for the most personalized vacation we’ve ever had. Laura provisioned the boat and created a food menu for the week tailored to exactly what we like. She is truly an excellent chef and every meal was a special experience. Our First Night of Hannukah/Christmas Eve dinner is one that we will never forget—our family is Jewish, but we told Christian and Laura that we wanted that night to be about sharing traditions (ours and theirs). With that in mind, Laura made potato latkes with homemade applesauce for the traditional Hannukah element, along with a salmon dish that was an ode to the Feast of Seven Fishes. The food was fantastic, but the personal care and attention took the whole experience to the next level.

One Love offered plenty of space for everyone to enjoy their preferred environment at all times of day. During the sailing part of the day, each of us gravitated to their personal favorite location and activities—my wife and daughter were usually on the front of the boat to sunbathe and read, my son was watching college football bowl games in the shaded eating area in the back of the boat (the Wi-Fi was as good as my house in Atlanta), and I was on the flybridge watching the islands go by, eyeing beautiful sailboats and yachts and daydreaming away the afternoon.

One of the many benefits of this type of vacation is the flexibility and spontaneity it allows. Our days always had some plan, but we truly could do what felt right in the moment and shift in whatever way was best for us. One of our family vacation mottos is that we never leave fun to chase fun—so when snorkeling with the turtles at Maho Bay was too good to leave until after lunch one day, we went a shorter distance that afternoon and spent that night in a different magical spot than was originally planned. On another day, our original mooring spot for the overnight was too windy, so Christian called an audible and we made our way to a less trafficked bay at Cooper Island with only one or two other boats. That evening, the fish activity under the boat was amazing—tarpon and other fish were swimming all around us after dinner. I asked my daughter if she wanted to do a night snorkel, she said yes and we were in the water in about 7 minutes. We snorkeled in darkness with a flashlight and saw things we’d never seen before or in the same way. Along the way, we found ourselves eye-to-eye with two cuttlefish (squid) that were rapid fire changing colors in every share of luminescence. Normally, they are skittish and you can’t get close, but they were literally inches away and let us touch them without swimming away.

Like I said, we could go on forever about our magical week on One Love, but by now you should get the picture. We are already looking forward to Mandy helping plan our next sailing charter vacation, maybe in Greece or Croatia (or both)!

Meghan Schubert with her three children celebrating her birthday.

Meghan celebrates her birthday with family, catamaran-style. Photo: Traveler Jim Schubert.

We spent the week of Christmas on a 52′ Catamaran in the BVIs. Our family of 5 (including 3 teens) and my mom (who’s in her 70’s) had one of our most memorable vacations. And it was truly a vacation—we all came back rested!

We were well cared for by the Captain, Pieter, who maneuvered our 52′ boat into every little nook and cranny in the BVIs. He was extremely relaxed and never worried about getting into any of the sights we wanted to see. His laid-back attitude helped all of us stay calm and relaxed AND we saw everything! Pieter was never concerned about getting a mooring—he was an expert on throwing an anchor, so we were able to find a spot everywhere we went.

Two of our favorite memories of the week…
1. We sailed into Jost Van Dyke mid-day on Christmas day. The cove was filled with boats and swimmers enjoying the sunny, warm holiday. Our captain steered our boat in between all the other yachts and anchored us nearly on the beach. As we swam for shore to get a drink at Soggy Dollar bar, we noticed that many of the swimmers were wearing Santa hats! What a sight to see! When we returned to the boat, my daughter and I were not ready to get out of the gorgeous water so our chef, Ashley, gave us appetizers in the water!

2. On Christmas Eve, our captain found a private cove for us to anchor for the night! It was incredible to have the entire cove to ourselves. After some swimming and snorkeling, Pieter took our teens tubing. What a sight to see—the sun setting on a private cove and the only ones around are your kids tubing and laughing as loud as they can. After an amazing dinner prepared by our chef, we sat on the bow of the catamaran and watched the stars and constellations appear. It was so peaceful and private.

Working with Mandy and her company (as recommended by Wendy Perrin) was perfect. She took the time to get to know what we were looking for and found a great match for us in the crew. Mandy was readily available to answer all questions we had and replied to my texts/emails promptly. I truly felt that Mandy was booking the best vacation for our family and not just another charter for a random person.

Mandy Walker was fantastic, her recommendations and all the plans she made for us were outstanding. They have a lot of really good local knowledge and overall experts on sail chartering. I would definitely use them again and have already referred them to friends and family.

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