Wednesday, December 18, 2013

New Boat Charter Company! Wahoo Boat Charters!

As many of you know, since we have been down here, we pretty much go boating every weekend. What started out as a 19 ft boat in Nevada, grew into a 26 foot boat in the Virgin Islands and now has grown to 32 foot boat.

I have received many requests to take friends of friends out on our boat, but due to Coast Guard regulations, I can only charge for gas. Meanwhile I have all the other associated costs, maintenance, dock fees, repairs, etc. What better way to take folks out and charge an amount to where our costs of owning the boat are paid for by doing some charters?

I recently took the Coast Guard class for a six pack license, meaning I can take out 6 charter guests. I passed the exam of Rules of the Road with a 97%. I am now working on getting all the mounds of paperwork into the Coast Guard so I can receive my Captain's License. Once I have that, I will have to deal with the USVI Dept of Licensing to get my business license.

In the meantime, I received approval of my LLC, Wahoo Boat Charters!

Does this mean I am no longer going be the broker of America's Caribbean Realty? No, I still love doing Real Estate and plan on continuing to practice real estate sales and leasing on a full time basis.

As far as the charter business, I will not be going to the British Virgin Islands, why?


  • Customs - going to the BVI = long wait times for both checking into the BVI and then checking back into the US. You have an 8 hour day on the boat, count on 2 hours dedicated to customs, not to mention the mounds of paperwork I have to fill out. 
  • Cost - They raised the fee to $15 per person. 
  • Fuel  - at an average of $5 a gallon for gas here, your gas bill can get upwards of $200 onward to $500 depending on where you go. 
Don't get me wrong, I love boating to the BVI, but the aggravation of customs starts taking its toll on fun! I plan on keeping our tourist dollars in the USA and doing charters around St John and St Thomas. There is more than enough great snorkeling, beaches and beach bars to be had locally. Honeymoon Beach on Water Island and there is a new beach bar that you can only get by boat opening soon on the south side of St Thomas. If you don't think there is enough to do here locally, I can change your opinion! I will also be doing fishing charters with advanced notice! 

I hope to be ready to go with paid charters by mid January, but we shall see what road blocks I will encounter with our business licensing division here. Feel free to contact me with any inquiries you may have in the meantime as to booking your charters from mid January on. I am working on the new website too and will have a facebook page up soon! 

Meanwhile here is the new logo and our facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/wahooboatcharters





1 comment:

  1. That's such a great boat pic! You should use it in your promotions. Congratulations on your 6-pack license, Cap'n Ken! :-)

    -- sailing couple who posted query on your Santarchy entry

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