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WANDERLUST Guest Comments
July 2023 BVI Charter
Dear Katie and Francois,
Thank you both for the vacation of a lifetime. Every moment was unforgettable from the fabulous welcome, the amazing meals, the thoughtful details, the yummy drinks, and beautiful beaches! We enjoyed both of your company so much. You are both so sweet, funny, knowledgable and made every day PERFECT! Thanks for your patience while we learned new things. Thanks for sharing your stories and enriching our lives. It will truly be difficult for any future vacation to match up. Please let us know when your recipe book is available. The Olympics was so fun and added another layer of fun! You truly thought of everything and are a terrific team! Please come visit us down in NOLA.
Wishing you both continued success!
With much gratitude and love,
-The Allams
November 2023 BVI Charter
Katie and Francois,
Where do we even begin? This trip was a lifelong bucket list item for Michael and now our favorite trip for all of us! From the moment we stepped aboard Wanderlust to the moment we left it was perfection. You curated the perfect days-the flow of the trip was ideal. And not having to make a single decision beyond paddle boarding :) made it a true vacation.
Kate, your meals were 5-star!! I mean tuna sushi after Eric reeled a tuna in off the back of Wanderlust-you can't make this up! We loved being surprised by your gourmet, beautiful creations-truly an artist. Throwing the most beautiful birthday celebration, you made 40(ish) the best birthday yet!!
You two and this experience, all 6 of us together has changed us. We truly hope our paths will cross again and we wish you more joy and adventure.
Endless Gratitude!
We love and miss you
-Michael and Andrea
-Eric and Moe
Thanksgiving 2023 BVI Charter
Katie and Francois
One week on Wanderlust was more than a great vacation. The two of you made it exceptional! We wouldn't change anything about this trip. The itinerary was great, providing stellar opportunities for snorkeling, hobie cat sailing, and island exploring. In addition to being a great captain, Francois was attentive to our requests and spent so much time making sure our grandchildren experienced the water sports. Every meal and charcuterie board created by Katie was a gourmet delight-beautifully served and beyond delicious. ! She went so far beyond our expectations making sure the different dietary requests were incorporated in every meal. This was truly a vacation of a life time.
None of us will ever forget Katie's Thanksgiving feast and how welcome and homey she always made us feel. We will be making our best attempt at recreating her amazing food as part of our holiday traditions from now on.
Francois' wine pairings were perfect and so were his hand-crefted cocktails!
We dreamed of a vacation like this for years, but the two of you made it much better than we imagined!
The Suttons
January 2024 BVI Charter
I’m writing to share the amazing experience we had (6 total guests) on Wanderlust a few weeks ago. My husband and I have been on crewed charters 6 times now in the VI/BVI’s over the years (including other yachts in the Charter Caribe fleet) and have always had an amazing experience and have been very happy. However, this experience on Wanderlust was so far beyond wonderful that I seriously think we will be forever unable to find any other boat/crew that lives up to this one.
The Yacht: Wanderlust is beautifully appointed for luxury cruising and adventure. Elegance is evident everywhere-from the high end glassware and table settings, to the bedding, the décor, artwork and bar stock. She is equipped with a wide variety of water toys and high quality dive gear enough to keep any guest occupied with choices for ocean fun. Other wonderful extras include an ice maker, filtered water on demand, high end coffee/espresso maker and a custom fly bridge with tabled seating (generally only seen on larger cats). Did I mention the on-board air compressor to refill scuba tanks? The cleaning products and body wash/shampoos on board are environmentally friendly, the boat is meticulously clean and the entire boat has a soft fresh scent that kept everything feeling so fresh for the entire week.
The Crew: The crew on Wanderlust exceled so far beyond any other crew we’ve experienced in our time chartering. In all our other experiences there were areas of excellence that stood out on that particular trip as compared with others. And there were areas that were good, but not as good as other experiences. For example, when comparing the gourmet quality of food or skippering skills or divemaster skills etc., every crew we’ve experienced had significant strengths in some areas but not all areas. In the case of Wanderlust, I can confidently say that this is the only crew that exceeded expectations in every area. I have a hard time expressing everything I loved about Katie and Francois but I will try to briefly summarize here.
Katie: It’s no wonder Katie has won so many awards for her cuisine. The beautiful presentation of each meal and the variety and quality of the ingredients was superb. Edible flowers, fruit and desserts gilded with gold leaf and many other fine touches graced each dish. The meals were as beautiful as they were delicious and rivaled the cuisine of a 5 star restaurant. I don’t think any restaurants in the islands could compete with Chef Katie’s food and presentation. We also appreciated the wine selection and how thoughtful each evening’s wine choice was for the meal served. Katie is a cheerful, wonderful conversationalist and absolutely loves preparing a good theme night, of which we enjoyed two while on board! So much fun!!!!
Francois: what an absolute treasure of a captain and skilled skipper and divemaster! Francois is professional and super friendly. It’s clear he enjoys making each experience special and is able to pivot plans on a moment’s notice to optimize guest comfort, preferences and safety. As an example, we had several experienced scuba divers onboard who were interested in multiple dives but also had a large north swell that week. Navigating the need to find a dive site with good visibility for the divers and shelter from the swell for the non-diving guests was no doubt challenging but Francois checked all the boxes for us. I also want to note how skilled and professional he is as a divemaster and how well he assessed our skills as guest divers and lead us on some amazing adventures. I always felt very safe (and I have certainly experienced the opposite on charters) and the onboard dive equipment was meticulously maintained. Beyond this, Francois’ pride in maintaining and operating a top notch sailing yacht is evident in everything he does. He is always attentive to everyone on board, having the toys ready for use right away, drinks poured and to safety. We enjoyed spending many hours with Francois on the flybridge while underway sharing stories, sailing tips, learning more about yachting and the BVIs. Cap this off with his excellent bartending skills, generous local knowledge and his cheerful kindness and helpfulness and, well, what else could you ask for in a captain?
As a team, Katie and Francois are an extremely talented crew and execute the thousands of details that make an experience special with professionalism and grace. They are very special.
I know I haven’t captured everything that made our week on Wanderlust so incredible and I’ll probably think of many things I wanted include here once I hit the “send” button, but suffice it to say, we are completely over the moon about Wanderlust, her crew and the memories we made during our Jan charter week. Please feel free to share with whomever might be interested in chartering and the charter broker community. Thank you so very much!
Sincerely,
Nicole
February 2024 BVI Charter
As someone who's usually at the ready with an entire arsenal of words to express my gratitude what can I say that hasn't been said a thousand times before? Suffice it to say that there amazing experiences in one's short time here in the earthly realm and then there are peak moments that simply redefine what it's like to achieve those stellar, pinnacle heights of wonder, joy, balance, exhilaration and complete relaxation all at the same time. Those extraordinary and total bliss moments when mind, body, and spirt combine to create what I like to call a "well being attack!" Nirvana! Every moment on board Wanderlust had us thinking "it can't get better than this! and then the universe says "Hold my Beer."
I'll leave with thousands of wonderous memories etched forever on my heart and the deepest gratitude for all these two lovely lights did to ensure we'd have the best experience in the BVI, Ever. A few highlights-the 5 star cuisine and magic created daily by chef Katie. Somebody needs to award this amazing young woman a Michelin Star. (I did figure out her secret ingredient after hours of close observation... it is love combined with sprinkles of magic.
Shhh
Francois has somehow managed to accumulate quite the impressive list of talents and expertise in his 24 years on earth-Chief among them the ability to observe and deliver exactly what his lucky charter guests require seconds before they're even aware. Look up the word conscientious in the dictionary and there will be his image. Thanks to his observant, patient, intuitive demeanor I was able to put my aprehensions aside and experience one of the best dives ever after a 30 yr hiatus.
Both Katie and Francois possess skills above and beyond the usual checklist of the standard resume. Skills that can't be taught in any school, but exist only on an entirely different level. Suffice it to say-those attributes left me feeling nothing but extraordinary gratitude and blessed beyond measure!
crewed@visailing.com | (800)382-9666 | (941)966-9387
