Has anyone done a Prickly Pear or Anguilla Daysail?

[xtrmegee]

Has anyone done a prickly pear daysail? I'm thinking about doing the Lambada or Bluebeard's Catamaran. Our RCC offers the Golden eagle, but its only 4 hrs. I wanted an all Daysail. Any recommendations?

[gtaylor]

We did the Bluebeard to Prickly Pear last year. It was a really great day. I have a few pictures of Prickly posted in my PhotoBucket. Complimentary drinks on the boat all day (don't ask for any beer other than Heineken) including some great individually mixed rum punches on the way back.

 

From the pictures, you can see that they anchor out quite a ways. They did offer to shuttle people ashore in the dinghy, but most people snorkeled (pretty good!) first, and just ended up ashore in time for lunch.

 

Very nice lunch at the beach bar to the left of the beach in my pictures. Chicken or ribs or fish -- all very good! Be sure to try the hot sauce on the table. Allow time for the swim back out to the boat it's a lot farther going out than it was going in. :) By the way, if you swim back to the boat early it's still open bar (or at least for us it was). :D

 

It is truly an all-day event, leaving Simpson Bay Lagoon at 9 - 9:30 and returning at 5 - 5:30 depending on the season, and those times are absolute, as it has to coincide with the bridge openings. I think registration was 45 minutes before departure, as there is some paperwork.

 

That might be difficult to schedule unless your ship gets there quite early and stays late.

 

Also note that Bluebeard alternates destinations between Prickly Pear and Anguilla, depending on the day of the week. If it goes to Anguilla, you have to have your passport with you.

[gtaylor]

You ruled out the Golden Eagle as a half day sail, but on Fridays it offers a full day 'Farewell Party', geared to those living or staying on the island, which is absolutely fantastic! We were lucky enough to do that twice last year. Not a concern to cruisers, but they picked you up at your hotel and then dropped you back at the end of the day -- no driving, feel free to enjoy all that they offer. Some photos are in my PhotoBucket.

 

We arrived at the boat (at Bobby's Marina) about 8:30 for a 9:00 sailing. Stepped on board to be greeted with champagne and mimosa's. After quickly downing those, we switched to made-to-order Bloody Mary's for a while. We left the dock shortly after 9:00 and motored out of Great Bay, hoisting the sails as we passed the cruise facility, headed to Tintamarre. 'The bar is open'. It's an interesting trip, very scenic and some good actual sailing. A short rain squall did nothing to slow down the party.

 

We anchored at Tintamarre with the ship's ladder dropping into about 6 feet of water. It's a wet, swim ashore, landing, as you can see in the pictures. There's a nice beach, and they bring coolers of drinks ashore and have a 'floating bar' as well to dispense beers and sodas right in the water.

 

After a decent time at the island we sailed off towards Grand Case. Drinks were flowing and pretzels and little ham and cheese sandwiches were available. We stopped at Creole Rock for some very fine snorkeling -- I think some of St. Maarten/St. Martin's best!, and then made another semi-wet landing in Grand Case.

 

This time the water was only about three feet deep at the bottom of the ladder. Lunch was set up at Calmos Cafe, a very nice beachfront open air restaurant. The first drink, rum punch, was included, as was water, but anything else you were on your own. Three courses, choice of chicken or fish, and quite tasty. The little bowl of special sauce that they had on the table was very nice.

 

We spent quite a bit of time here, many enjoying their beach chairs and a bottle of wine, or back in the water to the Golden Eagle's floating bar or catching the beers that the captain was flinging into the water.

 

Then it was a nice long sail back towards Great Bay, with a 45 minute swimming stop in the waters off the exclusive resort La Samana, and then a 15 minute stop off of Maho Beach and the airport so that we could watch Air France departing. Arrived back at the pier at about 5:00.

 

As I said above, it was fantastic, so if you're there on a Friday and your ship is in port for the full day, consider it.

[xtrmegee]

THANKS FOR THE GOLDEN EAGLE RESPONSE! Oh how I wish I was there on a friday. Our ship will only be there on a thurs from 7-6. But I will stick with the 4 hr on Golden Eagle. I look forward to it, especially after your review!