Sailing: Big Beards vs. Jolly Roger

I've seen a few reviews of Big Beards on here but I haven't seen much on Jolly Roger? Anyone have any suggestions? We prefer a "smaller" experience and would probably do a half day sail to Buck Island.

:cool:

I've seen a few reviews of Big Beards on here but I haven't seen much on Jolly Roger? Anyone have any suggestions? We prefer a "smaller" experience and would probably do a half day sail to Buck Island.

 

:cool:

Never tried Jolly Roger but I'm a firm believer in Big Beards. I'll ask around about Jolly Roger for you.

Thanks drake! Jolly roger gets good reviews on tripadvisor, surprised me there wasn't much on here!

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g147402-d3820466-Reviews-Jolly_Roger_Charters-Christiansted_St_Croix_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

We love sailing with Captain Heinz on the Teroro out of Green Cay Marina. A bit smaller than Big Beards (though he too is very popular for a reason), the do as much sailing vs. motoring as they can, they go to the reef for snorkeling first and then the beach. The only challenge is that Green Cay is 10 minutes farther from the port so the cab transfer would be a bit more money.

Just another one to consider.

Never tried Jolly Roger but I'm a firm believer in Big Beards. I'll ask around about Jolly Roger for you.

Hi Drake, did you manage to find out any more about the Jolly Roger day sail?

Also, has anyone else used these companies in 2016? Does the full day with Jolly Roger provide a lunch?

We want to go to Buck Island snorkelling but not sure which company to use.

Still can't give you Jolly Roger advice but think I can shed some light on the lunch option.

In most cases, when the boat charters offer a full day sail to Buck Island, it includes a lunch on a beach back on the main island of St. Croix. This basically means that the difference between a half day sail and a full day sail is the time it takes to sail to a beach on the East End of St. Croix and lunch (and probably swimming) at that location.

Another charter to look into: Charis. Have never sailed with them but we watched them take people out to Buck from our villa rental last year and they always stopped at a nearby reef to snorkel (and probably eat).

We ended up going with Caribbean Sea Adventures (https://caribbeanseaadventures.com/) as their website stated 19 persons max. Although once onboard there was about 25 guests and 3 crew, so the 19 "max" must be fluid? :rolleyes:

Lunch was not included for our trip but water, soda and rum punch (after snorkeling) was. There were a couple of small groups staying locally that brought actual "lunch" but the rest of us cruise passengers had things like chips, granola bars, etc. It seemed to be plenty as we had a good breakfast on the ship and then were back on board by around 3:30.

We saw 2 of Big Beards ships while we were doing the Buck Island snorkel trail and they were both huge catamarans.... so I would say it would depend on your experience wishes... smaller boat or big catamaran?

Hi Drake, did you manage to find out any more about the Jolly Roger day sail?

 

Also, has anyone else used these companies in 2016? Does the full day with Jolly Roger provide a lunch?

 

We want to go to Buck Island snorkelling but not sure which company to use.

Sorry, nobody seems to know anything about them. I'm still a big fan of the Big Beards half-day sail and getting lunch in town.

We booked a day sail with Captain Mike of the Jolly Roger.

The weather was awful on the day we arrived at St Croix and all the ships water tours were cancelled.

We still caught the shuttle bus to Cristiansted because that looked more interesting to explore than where the ship docked at Frederiksted.

Mike came and met us as the arranged time, to let us know that he had to cancel the sail due to the weather.

We walked around the boardwalk in the town and then caught a ferry to an island just across a small inlet where there was a hotel. We rented loungers, but spent most of the time under a beach restuarant's cover while we watched our loungers getting very wet! We were entertained by some birds who were having great fun in a very large puddle that had developed and the rum punch was very good.

Give yourself plenty of time if you intend to catch a shuttle back to the ship from here!! :(

I suggest that you are ready to take a private taxi back, even though the shuttle ticket you buy in the morning is a return ticket for $16.

They kept us and many other people waiting for about 45 minutes before the shuttle left for the ship. This meant that the line had built up to about 3 shuttles worth of people and there was some pushing forward to get into a shuttle, dispite there being several ladies with canes and walkers who had been waiting for longer than anyone else!

Our faith in people was restored after the first shuttle was filled with recent joiners to the line pushing forward, when a man took control and made sure that this group of ladies got on the next shuttle and told people to let them go first.