British Virgin Islands Charter Yacht Show 2014

This is where it all started, Nanny Cay Marina BVI…Nanny Cay has everything, great beach, great beach bar, restaurant, café, laundry (that matters to us) and docking.

This was where we came to look at the 1st boat we bought, Peeps Larou

We were so excited.  All the dreaming, and research (and Wiley) brought us here to this moment.

AT this moment we were different people.  We knew we were embarking on an incredible journey but there was no way to know how amazing it was going to be.

Long story short Peeps fell through and Nauti Buoy popped up in Bahamas.
I believe everything happens for a reason and I gotta say this was for the best even though it didn’t feel like it when Peeps slipped through our fingers.
I wouldn’t change a thing!

So here we are at one of the biggest Yacht Charter shows in the Caribbean.
Over 120 brokers and approx. 85 beautiful yachts.

This is where you come to shine.
We never intended on being here but fate kept banging us on the head with it.
So many random people commented on how this was something we should get into.
Completely unsolicited.

Stevo’s a great adventurer and story teller and I love nothing more than to cook for people and make sure everyone is taken care of.
It fit.
This boat is conducive to this industry.
We switched gears in Fort Lauderdale and started to upgrade Knot Anchored with Chartering in mind.

Yeti was all lit up ready to impress.

Once we finally got into USVI we got into “show mode”.
Actually everyone at the marina was in “show mode”.
Cleaning.
Polishing.
Decorating.
Cleaning.
Buffing.

It was a buzz of activity.
Never seen so many people working hard like this.
It’s hot too so everyone was also melting simultaneously.

But you know what, everyone was also constantly helping each other.
The cruising community is just like that.
We were weary at first like “what do they want from us” or “what’s their angle”.
Nothing.

That’s just how they roll here – awesome.

Once at the show – all your hard work pays off.
The brokers come one by one sporadically throughout the show.

We were prepared with snacks.

The weather was really blegh, rainy and grey.

In some ways that makes the yachts that much more inviting and cozy.

There was an Around the World dock hop one night where the boats picked a country and dressed like and served appetizers/drinks from that place.  We were Morocco.
We served a traditional stuffed date and of course hummus and pitas and a weird spiced tea – hey don’t blame us it’s a Moroccan thing.

Here we at the show 🙂

If you look down the waterway you’ll see – Peeps!

Yup, still here.
Just pushed off for the pretty boats for the week.
Apparently she HAS been purchased in the past 2 weeks.

Sooooo glad we didn’t wait for her.

The show had a LOT of catamarans on display.  Here’s a birds eye view.

Cats, cats and more cats as far as you could see.

We like to make sure we stand apart from the rest …

And I’d say we do a darn good job of that, especially at night!

After a lot of hard work, a ton of shopping and 4 days of schmoozing we celebrated the end of the show.

Everyone here has a story.
Everyone here went through something that made them choose this life.

Nicest people you’d ever want to meet 🙂

Now some alone time was in order.
We went to Caneel Bay and enjoyed the view, alone, together.

Unlike these very busy day charters beside us!

Wow – that’s a lot of people!