Opportunity of a Lifetime - Island Hopping in the Caribbean

3/20 - I've been looking for a dinghy so I haunt Craig's List both in Charlotte and Eastern NC as well as Oriental's own TownDock.net.  Early in March I ran across this ad and had to give it a shot. 

I emailed the boat's owner and made my pitch for a crew position.

Richard,
I'm interested in learning more about the proposed trip from Virgin Gorda to St. Lucia.
I saw your ad in the TownDock from Oriental.  I have a 29 Ericson docked at Sea Harbour Yacht Club in Oriental and live outside of Charlotte.
Like you, I'm in my late sixties with time on my hands.  I lived in the Ft. Lauderdale area for 25 years and was a power boater, fisherman, scuba diver.  I took up sailing about 4 years ago when I bought and restored a 19' O'Day Mariner, sold that for a more gunk hole friendly Sanibel 18, then last year bought the Ericson 29 in Oriental.  I'm still learning the ropes and would love to gain the experience of a voyage like you have planned.
If you're still looking for crew, I'd appreciate your consideration and would like to learn more about your plans.

Paul Dale

Well, it turns out that Richard, who now lives in Florida, once was a member of Sea Harbour Yacht Club and that's why he chose to put an ad in TownDock.net.   We exchanged a few emails and a couple of phone calls and I was in.

Lakota is a 2012 Dufour 433 and Richard has it in a charter fleet in Tortola.  He gets to use it 9 weeks a year and the charter company, MarineMax, takes care of the rest.  She's a beautiful boat with 3 cabins and 3 heads, so everyone has their own space.  She has her own water maker, 2 helms and a transom that folds down to a dive platform.

The third member is Rick Floyd from Raleigh, he has a 40' sailboat in Oriental and holds a 100 ton Captain's License.  Richard has over 900 hours on Lakota and more than 20,000 hours as a captain of a sail or powerboat.  This will be a great opportunity to learn.

The plan, weather permitting, is to sail offshore from Tortola to St. Lucia which is nearly 400 miles. That should take perhaps 4 days and nights of sailing.  After enjoying St. Lucia we will island hop our way back up to the BVI.  We depart on April 26th and return May 18th.  Can't wait.