More trouble than it's worth

I am going to tell this bit of the story to the best of my abilities, and just know that I consulted my parents quite a lot for this one. As I mentioned before, a trip to Tortola, BVI was going to have to happen if we were really serious about this boat. I, unfortunately, was not able to go on this trip. Sad, I know. That being said, there was a large effort made to make it possible for my parents to go look at this boat as soon as possible. Here’s the kicker: this was all taking place during Tropical Storm Karen. We really wish she could have talked to the manager somewhere else, but no. Regardless, Mom and Dad booked plane tickets to Tortola. When I say tickets, I really do mean several tickets. The only cost effective way to get from Denver, CO (in the middle of the country) to the Virgin Islands, was to fly through Florida at some level. Seems easy enough right? Wrong. They had to fly from Denver, to Ft. Lauderdale, then back up to Orlando, to then fly to St. Thomas, USVI. I’m not exactly sure why the airline had to take that route, but I guess some things just aren’t for us to know. Ok, fine, the flight sucks, but surely getting from one island to another (that are literally right next to each other) won’t be a problem. Wrong, again. Because Mother Nature decided to let freaking Karen loose on us, the Coast Guard shut down the ports, so all the ferries were out of commission until further notice.

Night one was spent in St. Thomas with the thought of getting up in the morning and taking the first ferry over to Tortola. Again, you would think, “ok seems easy enough,” once again you would be sorely mistaken. The first ferry out didn't leave until after three in the afternoon. That made the amount of time on the boat in the daylight extremely limited. Once they finally got to the boat at around 4:30 PM, they would only have about one hour in the daylight to look at this boat. One hour. Have you ever made a significant purchase with only one hour of inspection and contemplation? I sure has heck haven't. They also spent one hour in the dark on the boat, but let me tell you after being on the boat in the dark and trying to look in access panels, I can assure you that it’s difficult to see much of anything. You can imagine how nerve racking and sort of frustrating that could be, and I haven’t even told you about the cab ride yet…

Ahh cab rides can be a wonderful thing- Uber and Lyft have proven that from time to time if you ask me- but there are definitely times where you think, “oh my good lord, what did I just get myself into?” If you are remotely close to being familiar with how things work on the islands, you can only imagine what I’m about to tell you. Tortola is not a big island. From tip to tip it’s about 13 miles long (roughly 21 km) and you can’t drive all 13 of those miles. To get from the port where the ferry came in to the dock where the boat was at, cost them $110 USD plus a tip. The whole ride couldn’t have been more that 10 minutes! A very valuable lesson was learned that day, you NEED to ask the price BEFORE you even get in the vehicle, otherwise they just throw numbers out there willy nilly. In their defense, the selling broker said that he would send someone to pick them up. Here in the states, that usually means that they would pick up the tab as well, after all they were seriously considering making a sizable purchase in which the broker would be adequately compensated for assisting in the transaction. In any case, that’s not how it works over there. Their first trip down there was nothing short of an adventure.

They spent their last night on the islands in Tortola, and caught the ferry back to St. Thomas in time for their flight the next day. The trip back was just as miserable as the trip out there, but they got what they needed. They had confirmation in their own minds that they were ready to make an offer on this vessel. After that, there was some negotiation that I am not 100% privy to. After all, I wasn’t the one making the purchase, so I wasn't really involved in that process. All I know is that Mom and Dad made an offer and the seller accepted. Then 10% of the purchase price needed to be put into escrow. The next step in the process is the haul out and sea trial and survey. This meant that someone had to take another long and anxious trip to Tortola.

Want to hear the rest of the story? Come back on Sunday to find out what happened on the sea trial!

Thanks,

Syd