PATOUCHE?? Tortola

Where are you?

We wanted to book with PATOUCHE on his 48' Sea Ray tour which would "speed" us to the Baths but his website is gone...like poooof....

nowheres to be found... does anyone have his email address or at this point, i'll even take a phone #....

Has anyone here gone with Patouche on his speedboat? How was it? Can older folks with problems walking get in and out of the speedboat?

Please help me find him...It seemed like a really nice tour... Thnx.

Elaine

email-patouche@surfbvi.com

phone 284-494-6300

fax 284-494-5757

Please let me know the details you find out. I am also interested in doing something like this so we can get the Baths as fast as possible and stay as long as possible without missing the ship.

Laura

You are right! I have been checking out their website - was going to book today and it has disappeared. Will give their e-mail a try and see what happens.

"Patouche Charters" <patouche@surfbvi.com>

We sailed with Patouche this past November while cruising HAL Zuiderdam. Below is the portion of my review regarding Tortola and there are also links to pics in my signature.:) We were in Tortola on a Wednesday and in St Thomas the day before (Tuesday). The port times shown on the cruiseline's website through the day we flew to Fort Lauderdale were 7A-6P, then onboard the new schedule in our cabin showed 7A-5P (knocking off an hour in the evening), and then the day we actually showed up were were cleared to get off at 8:15AM back and be back onboard by 4:30. So if your cruiseline changes times, often you might just need to keep that in mind, as we felt somewhat rushed before/after the excursion due to the cruiseline chopping off time at the begining and end of our day. With the cruiseline time-changing aside, we would highly recommend Patouche. Absolutely wonderful day, and we choose to do a "catamaran day" on each cruise. :)

Tortola:

Wednesday, scheduled 7:00-6:00 (embarkation day schedule now showed 7:00-5:00)

Disembarked around 8:25 (safely docked alongside 7:58 according to Cruise Log, announcement made we could disembark at 8:15), all aboard by 4:30

Having prebooked with Patouche charters, we were to check in between 8:30-8:45. We made it there at 8:55. I am not sure whey disembarkation was an hour late, but it certainly made for a rushed experience walking to Patouche (down past the ferry dock and hospital).

We had an absolutely wonderful day with Patouche on Shamwari. Shamwari is 48’ and they take no more than 16 passengers. We snorkeled and toured the Baths and also snorkeled at Haulover Bay at a different island. Upon our return at 4:10, Julie hopped in her van to drive us back to make our all aboard time of 4:30. Again, knocking off an hour of each end of our day by HAL caused a rush with this charter. I wish HAL would have stuck to the original schedule advertised. I’m not sure why we arrived an hour late from St Thomas (it’s not that far away) but at least we were given a heads-up on embarkation day that we would be leaving Tortola early. That allowed me the opportunity to use HAL’s internet café and email Patouche to let them know if this change – and to re-verify we would definitely be back on time. The late arrival came as a surprise, but of course I realize a ship can change an itinerary at any time for any reason at all.

In port, there was one other HAL ship docked next to us. It was there when we arrived and it departed thirty minutes before we did.

Thanks for the info. Were you on the 48 Sea Ray? How much did they charge you? How far a walk is it to get to them? I was hoping they would be docked where the ship comes in.

Mandy, thanks for the info, sounds like a great time. Can you tell me how long you were able to stay at the Baths and what was the name of the other Island? Was going to book a small boat and set out on my own, but something like this sounds pretty good.:)

I have tried phoning and e-mailing them twice but have had not heard from them. I know that they have had great reviews and would love to experience this excursion. Does anyone have any advice?

(I know that I put this on another thread but I thought I would cover my bases - maybe someone knows where they are :D )

I have tried phoning and e-mailing them twice but have had not heard from them. I know that they have had great reviews and would love to experience this excursion. Does anyone have any advice?

 

(I know that I put this on another thread but I thought I would cover my bases - maybe someone knows where they are :D )

I spoke to Julie at Patouche yesterday about 5 PM. She took all the information and confirmed our tour today by email. They are having trouble with their website, but the email is working (I think)

If you don't hear back in a day or two by email, then call again. Maybe late afternoon/evening is a good time because she was actually answering from her home.

They do have a wonderful reputation, so be persistent and you'll get them.

MandyGirl,

Did you tip the crew and if so how much per person? I have them booked for a full day sail/snorkel to the baths and back in March on Shamwari.

Joanne, Patouche web site is up and running today, check them out.

Thanks for everyone's help!! I called last night and Julie returned my call this morning but I was at work. She said that I could either try calling her again or e-mail her, so I e-mailed her (so we are not playing telephone tag) - we will see what happens. Would love to book this excursion so if I don't hear from her by tomorrow night I will call her again.

Thanks!!

It took us about a half hour to get to them - but we had turned back as we had wondered if we had missed it at the ferry dock. The cruise ship dock is only for cruise ships. Then maybe a 15-minute walk to the ferry dock. Then about another 10 minutes around a curve (past the hospital and government building) to the Patouche dock. All of these docks are in a bay and you can easily see the cruiseships from Patouche. Hubby wasn't feeling well that morning so he was lagging a little on the walk - so we probably walked slower than normal. Of course as soon as we stepped on the catamaran he was fine. :)

Because of the winds that day, it took us longer to sail to the Baths than normal. We were there long enough to snorkel down a ways to a beach, get an intro of the Baths (history), tour with Pierce, and then snorkel back out to the catamaran. Normally they have some additional beach time but it had just taken us longer to sail there that day.

Tips: By booking early, you get 10% off. So if you plan on paying $100 each you get back $10 each (cash). We placed that in the tip jar on the way out ($10 each). It was truly "no pressure tips". I don't even think tips were mentioned!! The tip jar is on the counter inside the office as you go through the building from boat to road. We probably undertipped though.

As far as doing a boat on your own - the Baths can get busy and the moorings fill up. By being with Patouche, they were able to drop us off with Pierce and Clive hung out on the catamaran until a mooring became available that he could tie to. So unless you anchor out a ways or get there when plenty of moorings are available, you will appreciate being on a charter (in my opinion).

Also - as a side note - Kenny Chesney's new CD "Be As You Are" has a song recorded from a beach on Tortola. This is the first country CD I have ever purchased! It is based on his experiences in the islands (other USVI message boards report he has a home on St John).

Thanks Mandy for the tips, I believe I will go with Patouche, It really sounds great and I did e- mail them last night. howlong does it usually take to hear back? and how did you like the Zuiderdam (our ship to TORTOLA ) ? AND YOU WILL LOVE ALASKA they do have drums but not steel.;)

Mandy,

Thank you for the response regarding tipping. How far out did you have to snorkel from to get to the baths? Did they bring along the dinghy and if so how big is it?

The snorkeling was "downwind" so it was more of floating - not bad at all. Snorkel vests were available if necessary. The dinghy was maybe 12' or 14' and was available if someone needed it. Nobody needed it going TO the beach but someone who had sprained his ankle the previous day jogging had it start swelling while we were going through the rocks, so he asked for the dinghy to come get him at the beach. When we snorkeled back to the catamaran, Pierce hopped in the dinghy and went back to the beach. Neither direction was a bad swim.

Emails were usually returned within a couple days. Sometimes the island ISPs aren't all that reliable - so definitely give them a few days and then send another email. They are very friendly.

Again, we were very pleased with our day onboard Shamwari.:)

Oh - Zuiderdam - it was an enjoyable cruise - "good" but not "wow" like we were with the Maasdam the previous Thanksgiving. We were not as crazy about the ship as compared to HAL's smaller ships (such as Maasdam) but hey - I don't think you can ever go on a bad cruise! If/when we cruise HAL again we'll go back to the smaller ships that hold 1300 passengers - we just really enjoyed the size of Maasdam. However, our inside cabin on Zui was over 200 sq ft - the largest we have ever had! We had chosen Zui specifically for the long day in St Thomas so we could enjoy the day on St John without being rushed (married on St John in 2003 on a cruise - and this was our first trip back to our wedding beach). Speaking of St John - we thoroughly enjoyed renting a dinghy that day. Definitely worth checking into. I wrote a review on the St Thomas boards on Noah's Dinghies. It was fun beach hopping at our own pace. :) But now we can't wait for Alaska - booked our first balcony and just switched it to an aft suite - so we are looking forward to it!! Almost everyone from our wedding cruise in 2003 is joining us for Alaska - and we have read so much about booking an aft balcony to shelter from the wind in Alaska - glad one became available. :) This will be the first Alaska cruise for anyone in our group - so doing lots of research now.

Thanks for everyone's help!! We now have it booked - by the way, the website is back up!!

What did Patouche serve you for lunch and what did you think?

Actually, the lunch was very yummy! Probably the best of any daysail we've been on. It is catered by a local place in Tortola (a bakery?). Quiche, pasta salad, and coconut bread (WOW) were the main things I remember. It was good. And of course there were various sodas/beers/waters onboard too. I think there was another tray of dessert-type food for the afternoon. I think I remember snagging more coconut bread... :D

Got in touch with Joe from Patouche charters today and made our reservations to sail with them to the Baths and Cooper Island, he said that since our ship will be there on a Wed. that is the itenerary for that day. how great will that be!!:)

How much did Patouche charge all of you for the 48" Sea Ray to the Baths Tour?

For no more than 17 people, he quoted us $1000. and to me, that sounds like alot of money. Is it??

Did they have any fruit or something else refreshing?

Elaine - if you are talking about the full day sail (Monday - Friday) you are getting a deal for 17 people, it is usually $100 per person. You tour the baths but there are other stops plus lunch.

Mandy - anything else? I really dislike coconut!! What was in the pasta salad? Not that the food is going to make or break our excursion but just wondering?

We are only at Tortola from 7am - 1pm and Patouche actually said that this tour would be from 9 - 12....

So, now I guess $1000. is too much money?

I'm sorry - I really don't remember but I think there may have been some fruit. Those were the things that jumped out at me. With all the wonderful meals onboard our cruise that week I wasn't too worried about lunch that one day - but for being a daysail it was great - and especially great that we didn't have to bring our own food (like I have done before on a daysail).

We paid the quoted price on their website when we booked - $100 each minus 10% for booking early. 9A-4P. When we chartered a catamaran from St John for our wedding reception in 2003 I believe we paid $65 per person for 90 minutes with a minimum of 15 - or we could do $80 pp for 180 minutes with a min of 15. So that might give an idea of other rates that are out there (and this was a different company on St John).

We were quoted $500 for 1/2 day for up to 8 people,so your price sounds about right.

Laura