January 12, 2014 Catamaran to Norman Island or Jost Van Dyke

[Dabs01]

Coming in on the Jewel of the Seas, we are interested in taking a snorkeling trip to either Norman Island or Jost Van Dyke or both. I've contacted Aristocats and Patouche and it appears neither have other passengers at this point. Aristocats won't go without a minimum and Patouche will but hasn't gotten back to me re: how much if it's just the two of us yet. Anyone else interested?

[Dabs01]

We are booked with Patouche and we are the only ones booked, they can take up to 10 more people. It's $125, we're going to both Norman Island and Jost Van Dyke. The pickup time was changed to 8:30am, otherwise this is the information

 

"Sure we can schedule a trip to 2 of our most famous destinations, Norman (aka Treasure Island) and Jost Van Dyke known for its beautiful beaches (and yes bars)

 

Leave our marina at 0900 on our 36' power catamaran "Maverick" for a quick zip across the channel to snorkel at Norman Island (maybe the caves, the Indians or even angel fish reef) and an hour or so of snorkeling and a quick tour around Norman it is now time to head to JVD.

 

After a 30-40 minute ride we will drop anchor at White Bay (normally close enough to shore to walk) where you will spend the afternoon having lunch and drinks at Soggy Dollar Bar http://www.soggydollar.com/

 

or any of the other "watering holes" along the beach. We normally get a few hours here before we then load the boat back up for the 45 min drive back to our marina.

 

Included is drinks while onboard (alcoholic and non), snorkel gear and of course our personal attention :)

 

not included taxi to us ($15 round trip) lunch ashore and crew gratuity

 

You can book online at http://www.patouche.com/

[TKJK2011]

Did you enjoy your day sail with Patouche? We are looking at booking them in April! Would you recommend them?

[Dabs01]

Absolutely! Captain Joe was wonderful, it ended up just being the 2 of us and while he easily could have cancelled or decided not to go out, he was good to his word and we did the trip detailed in my original post. He didn't have a crew, I'm sure the $125 per person just covered his gas, but he was interesting and attentive and gave us as much time as we wanted. Norman Island was great, we snorkeled there and went inside a few of the caves and then went to Jost Van Dyke where we waded to the beach, had a few painkillers at Soggy Dollar and then headed back to the ship. We were out the whole day, wonderful! Jost Van Dyke is beautiful, when we arrived he said to order food soon and sure enough in about an hour a whole bunch of boats arrived. I would definitely go out with him again!

 

I live in NW Indiana too, hope you are staying warm

[TKJK2011]

Thanks for the information. How long did you stay on Jost for? We are mainly looking to spend most of the day on Jost but I know the tour stops for snorkeling as well. Do you feel you had enough time on Jost?

 

We are trying to stay warm. We are from the Schererville area.

[Dabs01]

We spent 3-4 hours on Jost, more than enough for me. Plenty of time to get some lunch, have a few painkillers, go for a swim. There's no snorkeling there so it's mainly beach time. No chair rental fees unlike most of the rest of the beaches. Our trip seems to have been slightly customized as it doesn't fit any of the descriptions, he may be able to alter if there are enough of you that want to do the same thing.

 

We're in Hammond, their snow removal strategy seems to be that it'll eventually melt in the spring :-)

[TKJK2011]

Thanks for the information. More snow is on the way I'm hearing:mad: