Jan 6, 2012

Travel





Happy New Year.  Yep, 2012 is the year of the water dragon.  Oh, and the Latitudes & Attitudes Grenadines Share the Sail.  Who's excited besides me?

Scott at Dream Yacht Charters has secured us more boats - swiped 'em from a French group who wanted 'em - "Pirate".  We have six 47' catamarans, a 50' for the Bob Jody crew and a 41' and a 43'.  That's right, 9 cats in our little fleet filled with sailors and adventurers, all readers of Lats & Atts.

I am deep in research for flights and accomodation information for those of us who have not yet made those arrangements.  The size of our group and the noteriety of Latitudes & Attitudes (not always a plus) gives us leverage for deals.  Also, I am educating my travel agent to be available to book flights and accomodations for those who prefer to have a pro handle the details.  All that info will be spilling out to you in the next couple weeks.  I encourage you to book your travel by February.


Flights:
-I've been in contact with charter airlines for a group rate (and less stops) getting to and from San Juan (SJU serves a lot of the states).  I'll let you know if they cut us a deal.
-For those who would are eager to book, the flight tips on the Lats StS page are still good.
"Exploretrip.com has fares from Miami MIA-FDF and SVD-MIA $728. Cost from Los Angeles LAX-FDF and SVD-LAX $1307. Other sites serving the area: AA.com, Liatairline.com ..."
-Digging deeper, American flies direct San Juan SJU to Martinique FDF.  The best I've found returning from St. Vincent SVD is from Liat.com.  A 3 leg 8am to noon trip from SVD to SJU (no overnight):
$257  liat.com  on May 16 or 17
07:15 AM (SVD)  to 07:45 AM (SLU)
08:10 AM (SLU) to 09:15 AM (ANU)
10:30 AM (ANU) to 11:55 AM (SJU)
 -Understand we are a large group using small el Carib airlines.  Flights will fill quickly.  Expect airlines to add more flights.  Worst case, you may be 'forced' to fly in a day or two early or stay longer.  I know you'll make the most of it.


Rooms:
-Tripadvisor.com provides traveller reviews of accommodations and points of interest.
-In Martinique we have the luxury of sleeping aboard our large clean catamarans our first night - Le Marin Marina on May 5.  You have all day (and night) to fly in.  For accomodations before May 5, consider the coastal area called Sainte-Luce between the airport and the marina.
-For the St. Vincent end of our adventure, we've been offered group room rates from an ex-sugarmill gone quaint motel.  Info on all that to come.

Island Exploration:
I encourage you to come down early or stay after to do some land cruising.  Pick an island, there are both ferries and flights that run between them.  And there are land tours you can take on each.

A video on the Grenadines for your pleasure:   http://youtu.be/wnIDXunVzRc

All Shailor emails post here:
http://grenadinessts.blogspot.com/

Lats Share the Sail webpage with original info:
http://www.seafaring.com/magazine/shareTheSail.php

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