Business Spotlight: Cruise the Virgin Islands in Style on Island Girl

If you have been scouring websites and Facebook pages in an attempt to find the perfect charter for your boat day, then look no further!  Shades of Blue Charters recently brought a newly remodeled, super fast and fancy vessel to the USVI and they will take you anywhere you want to go in our local waters!

Island Girl is the newest (and quite possibly the fastest!) way to see all there is to do in the waters surrounding St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island.  She is a 2008 32 foot off-shore fishing catamaran designed and built by Ocean Express.

This particular boat builder designs their vessels for speed and efficiency and has been involved in the offshore racing industry for the past 40 years (with two world championships!).  After creating racing boats for a variety of well known companies, such as Budweiser and Benihana, Ocean Express diversified and began building offshore catamarans for a wide variety of boaters, including pleasure cruisers.

This particular boat was purchased in 2019 by owners Mike and Debbie and underwent a complete restoration. 

She was repurposed as a day charter boat and is outfitted with new EVERYTHING and a beautiful wrap to match the “Shades of Blue” of our beautiful waters.

During the remodel, they added plenty of comfortable seating, brand new engines, an incredible stereo system and safety equipment (to name a few)!

The boat is modeled to be super fast and efficient which means less of a fuel cost for YOU at the end of a memorable day on the water.  Island Girl is less than half the weight and up to 40% more fuel efficient than similarly sized power catamarans and monohull boats.

This also means that you can get just about anywhere on a day trip!  On a calm day, when the BVI are open, a trip to Anegada is definitely within the realm of possibility!  Zip from the National Park Dock in Cruz Bay to Lime Out for lunch and back around to Pizza Pi for dinner to go.  You can literally do it all on this super fast and fun vessel!

 

The soundtrack for the day was super important to the owners during this restoration process.  Their specifications were simple, “We want our guests to be able to hear their music at 40 MPH!”  And the Fusion audio system with 2000 watts and 10 speakers delivers on that request.  So, get your boat trip playlist ready to tap into the Bluetooth while you are on board with Captain Kirk.

Speaking of the captain..let me introduce this guy!  Captain Kirk has spent the past four and a half DECADES as a mariner and purchased his first sailboat in 1983.

Prior to that, he served in the Navy for six years, first as an Aircraft Mechanic and later as a Deep Sea Diver.  In 1994, he became a full-time, live aboard sailor and has sailed his boat around the globe.  Twice.  He has a passion for manned submersibles and was directly involved with the first (and last) manned expeditions to the Titanic!  Captain Kirk calls St. Thomas home and lives around the Virgin Islands aboard his Hylas 49 GALLIVANTER with his Canadian Super-Model wife, Cindy.  So, maybe turn that music down a bit…This guy has some stories to tell!

With YEARS of experience in living on the water and diving beneath it in the USVI, Captain Kirk knows ALL of the secret snorkel spots and interesting factoids about the territorial waters.  In addition to the ride of a lifetime, you’re likely going to learn a lot in your day, or days, aboard Island Girl.

Shades of Blue Charters is offering all types of excursions.  From day trips to sunset sails, water taxi rides to dinner drop offs, Island Girl will do it all for your group of up to ten people.  We recently reported on the upcoming grand openings of both Lovango Resort and Beach Club and ZoZo’s at Caneel Bay.  These two incredible destinations offer more to experience on St. John and in her surrounding waters which is all the more reason to make sure you get on a boat while you are here.

Contact Shades of Blue Charters to get Island Girl booked for a day trip that incorporates a high end lunch option at either of these brand new establishments!  Or, book a sunset cruise on Island Girl so she can take you to dinner!  Check out the Shades of Blue Charters website for full details, booking info and a little slide show of the redesign of this gorgeous vessel.  They are currently running a grand opening sale through December 31.  ALL charters booked before the end of the month will receive a 20% discount.  Additionally, local’s pricing IS available…Contact them directly to inquire.