My husband and I are first-time sailors, and we enrolled in the BOSS with Barefoot Charters. We were matched with an instructor and one other student, and spent 7 glorious... read more nights on a live aboard 38' Lagoon sailing the Grenadine Islands together. We spent the days making our way south to Bequia, Chatham Bay, Mopion, and the Tobago Cays. Nights we made anchor in safe harbours next to the lobster beach BBQs and shared sunsetters at the floating bars. How amazing was that!

We highly recommend the adventure, and are looking forward to our new retirement hobby. Thank you Brian and Jimmy, you are both patient and skilled, and shared your local knowledge so we could get the most out of our holiday! We will be back!

  Barefoot offers everything one would want from a bareboat or skippered yacht charter company - well-maintained boats, a thorough helpful boat and chart briefing, easy booking process, well-trained and helpful... read more customer service staff, additional extras such as available snorkeling gear, kayaks, custom provisioning, good restaurant at the charter base (thank you Rhonda!) ... the list goes on. We just finished a spectacular week sail on Viewfinder (amazing almost-new cruising boat although, like many catamarans, not the best upwind). Everyone please - visit St Vincent & the Grenadines as soon as you can. The anchorages are empty and the people need your business! Everyone we met all over the islands was friendly and welcoming but they really need tourism to start up again - hard times in the meantime.

  We spent 2 weeks with Barefoot and it was all we had dreamed and hoped for. It was my 50th birthday present from my wife and a lifelong dream to... read more be able to charter a boat and be able to sail on our own. Rob did a fantastic job in the first week with the training school. Refreshing my 15 year old UK Day Skipper training and getting my wife up to speed to be a valuable crew member and able to handle the boat. And the couple they had paired us with was a great fit and we had a fantastic time learning all the ropes and exploring the islands. In the second week we went out alone. Well trained, familiar with the boat and the area. Sailing along the beautiful islands and snorkeling with the turtles. In the wild and not organized with trained animals like they do over on Barbados.
The experience with Barefoot was fantastic from start to finish. Debbie answering the 100 questions we had in the months leading up to the booking and everybody at the base being super friendly, curious and always eager to help and please. Starting with reception, the restaurant, the ladies cleaning our room and doing our laundry between school and charter, Andrew patiently explaining us every nook and cranny on the boat, Charky and his dock crew getting the boat ready and carrying our supplies and luggage down the steep hill to the boat and back up.
Thinking we knew the area after a week of sailing school we nearly skipped the briefing with Phil Barnard before our solo trip. Man would we have missed something. He knows the area and all the little things that you won’t find in a guide book. And he and everybody from Barefoot was always available by phone whilst we were out there giving tips and tricks about weather, wind and currents. Unbelievable valuable.

We sailed Isaphil, a 38 foot Lagoon catamaran, both during the school and later on our own. She was well equipped and easy to sail and handle. Couldn’t have asked for more.

Already looking forward to coming back in the near future

TIP: On the day checking in or out take the dinghy over to Fort Duvernette and climb the stairs. Fantastic views. (See pictures)

  Now with direct flights, the St. Vincent Grenadines offer some of the finest cruising waters in the world, and there is simply no better way to experience them than by... read more sailboat. Barefoot is a family run business has been in operation since the eighties, and this was my third charter with them. As usual, we were met at the (new) Argyle International airport on the windward coast by one of their friendly and helpful lady taxi drivers, for the 15 minute ride to Barefoot. I'm an ex live-aboard sailor, with an intimate knowledge of the area, and as on the two previous occasions, I had chartered one of their older "economy" boats - a 42' Jeanneau. As it turned out, our boat had developed a minor problem that required a part, which would have delayed our departure by a day. So, rather than keep us waiting, the manager Philip upgraded us to an available 50' Beneteau at no extra charge. That's the kind of service that keeps me coming back - 2020 is already in the planning stages!

  Since Tripadvisor won't let me edit my review, I deleted the original, and now I can't choose the right date, which was October 2018.

Because Barefoot was my first... read more charter, I had nothing to compare it too, and I feel like my review wasn't positive enough (although it was also 5 stars). I did a charter with another company (one of the big companies) and it gave me something to compare with my experience at Barefoot.

Barefoot wins hands down in every aspect. The customer service is simply superb, and the facilities are amazing. I knew I had a great experience, but I had no idea how much better it was than other companies/locations.

Original review:
I am glad I ignored the negative reviews and went with Barefoot. This was my first charter, and Barefoot made everything easy by being extremely friendly and helpful. We chose to stay on the premises the two nights before and one night after our trip. The room was very nice -- extremely clean, great view. The restaurant, The Driftwood, is top notch. The food is great, it's beautiful, and the restaurant/bar staff are friendly and fun. We had a great time staying there, and will do it again on our next trip. I don't want to leave anyone out because everyone at Barefoot is great, but we spent the most time with Khalvin and Donnette, and Debbie did a great job answering all of our questions and making arrangements to get us prepared for the trip.

But it's all about the sailing, right? We did ASA certification on Lady Di with Captain Ritchie. We sailed from St. Vincent to Bequia to Mayreau, to Petit St Vincent, to Union Island (go to Happy Island), to Tobago Cays, back to Bequia and then back to Barefoot on St Vincent. During the day, we practiced docking, mooring, man overboard, navigation and other ASA curriculum. We anchored at Petit St Vincent and cooked on board, but every other night we ate and drank at great restaurants and bars. Captain Ritchie gave us great instruction and was a great tour guide. We had a great time with him.

It was an absolutely amazing week. There is no question we will be back.
Date of experience: October 2018