Incredible Virgin Island Adventure

I knew what I needed was the basic Coast Guard license to carry up to six passengers for hire. We were fortunate to be berthed near a charter boat and the skipper and his wife were quite friendly. He and I got together to discuss the exam I had to take.

He went over all the subjects I had to study in Chapman’s, such as, Rules of the Road, Seamanship, Piloting, Fire fighting, Lifesaving equipment, Operating gasoline engines, and a couple other subjects. He stressed one thing: Do not treat it lightly…that it was a brutal exam…nothing like getting a driver’s license. I got the message.

The Rules of the Road, covering the lights displayed at night, and the day shapes displayed for all the different vessels you might encounter, are, by far, the most difficult part of the exam. It is almost impossible to commit it all to memory…but you have to! You don’t know what might be asked. Here is just a tiny portion of what I am talking about. I copied this from Chapman’s.

I studied like crazy. Mainly, I am a sailor, and I was determined to be a charter boat captain. Well, the exam was long, exhausting, and comprehensive. For me though, it wasn’t brutal. My thorough preparation really paid off. I passed with flying colors!

For any of you wanting to get this license, my method of studying for it is covered in much more detail in my book; it might help you prepare for it. As my mentor said, don’t treat it lightly! Things do change over the years, so the latest copy of Chapman’s would be the book to study. I think most libraries should have it. Also, talk to the head of the nearest station where the exam is given. I didn’t, but I think it’s a good idea. Good Luck!

After about a month’s cruise, and twelve hundred miles later, we arrived at Bahia Mar Yacht Basin, and pulled in to our reserved slip. The whole trip was fabulous, with many fresh fish dinners along the way.

At one of the restaurants, a couple that had been following Aubrey Graves’ columns in The Washington Post, recognized us. They were excited to meet us because they had wanted to do exactly what we were doing. We invited them aboard and had a delightful evening together. I hope they pursued chartering—they would have made a great team.

You might think taking the Inland Waterway would be boring—hey no way. It was a great adventure, though we didn’t get in much sailing…only a bit on Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. Then, down the “ditch”, as they say.

We called Leon to let him know we had arrived, and were told that Aubrey would join us in about three weeks. He wanted to accompany us on a visit to the Bahamas. Aubrey particularly wanted to visit Great Whale Cay and get an interview with the owner of the island, Mariam Carstairs, an heiress to the Carstairs liquor empire. (He got his interview!)

I decided this would be a good time to get my license to operate a charter boat.

Let’s face it—we loved to sail, and were really hooked on cruising. But those Sunday afternoon blahs were getting me down. We often talked about pursuing it professionally.

We had subscribed to Yachting and had read several articles on chartering. It looked like it might be the way to go. But Favonian would only be appropriate for taking day charters. That didn’t appeal to us.

Through a close friend of ours, Aubrey Graves, the Outdoors editor of The Washington Post, we eventually got a job to charter Anchorite, a 50-ft. yawl, berthed in Annapolis, Maryland. The owner, Leon Abrams, wanted us to take it to Ft. Lauderdale. We would then take weeklong charters out from there or pick them up in Nassau, Bahamas.
This entailed picking up stakes, folding our tent, and ending our life in Washington, D.C. If you will, try to imagine just what all we had to go through to take this job! Formidable, eh? But it was what we wanted, so we did it. And yes, through tears, we also had to sell Favonian!

We chose to take Anchorite down the Intracoastal Waterway. We had read articles about this in Yachting, and it sounded like something we would thoroughly enjoy. We were one of the few sailboats heading south; most were power boats like this one. We got several nice comments as they passed by, like “ “Hi, there…beautiful rig you have!.” Anchorite was a very classy boat, that’s for sure. Sorry I don’t have a picture of her.

By taking the Waterway we really lucked out! At one of the marinas where we stopped for the might we were invited to attend their yearly clambake. They not only had clams, but lobster, shrimp, and several kinds of fish! What an enjoyable evening that was—the highlight of our whole trip.

Dear friends of ours, Stan and Fran Pangborn, were going to leave the Potomac and take their boat to the Chesapeake. Marie and I had talked about this several times and decided to join them.

This would be our longest cruise yet, about 100 miles down the Potomac, then about 50 more miles up the Chesapeake to Hartge’s Boat Yard on

West River, where we had reserved a slip.

One evening, well after dark, we were following Stan to a marina/restaurant he knew about on the river. He wanted us to follow him, because he said it was a bit tricky getting in there. We were well out in the Potomac when he suddenly veered off 90 degrees to port. We followed. Sometime later, he veered back on his original course. Wow, I thought, is this ever tricky! And I hadn’t seen a single buoy.

As best we could, we followed his exact course. When we got in, I said, “Boy, talk about tricky!” He and Fran laughed like crazy. Then he explained that on another trip down the Potomac they had seen a huge buoy anchored in the river along about where we were and that, in the dark, he had the strange feeling that he must be almost upon it, thus veered off.

One day, we stopped for lunch at a small restaurant on Smith Creek, a short distance from the mouth of the Potomac. We enjoyed the finest deviled crab cakes I have ever had—anywhere! They were superb.

Hartge’s was our home port for the next five years. Naturally, we joined the West River Sailing Club. WRSC, a very active club, had numerous regattas, races, and rendezvous throughout the sailing seasons, and Favonian participated in everything. Thus, we got in a tremendous amount of sailing.

I have inserted an image of the WRSC burgee.