It took 19 months of hard work, love and dedication, and today we are excited to tell you that Kekoa is back sailing the waters around St. John. With every day that passes, life gets one step closer to normal. Here’s what the owners had to say earlier this week:
This week marks the end of our recovery from the 2017 Hurricane Season. What began as two historic hurricanes, resulted in a nearly twenty month recovery for the Kekoa family. Starting with a five week salvage digging Kekoa out of Hurricane Hole, to sixteen months of reconstruction on Hanson beach, two months on Tortolla for paint and rigging and finally the finishing touches right here in Cruz Bay. We are proud to say we are officially done. Kekoa is back. Thank you all for sticking with us through this epic adventure and we look forward to sailing with you.
By now most of you likely know the story. Kekoa was abandoned at sea during a storm while en route to St. Thomas many years back. Her owners, Jamison and Ryan, found her adrift and restored the 50-foot catamaran before bringing her down to St. John. She was one of the island’s most popular and recognizable boats with her signature black sails. And after nearly 20 months of hard work, Kekoa will once again be one of the island’s signature charter boats.
We bumped into Jamison, his girlfriend Katherine and their adorable daughter Coco (who Dalton absolutely loved to smile at!) last night at The Tap Room, and they said that they had just completed their first trip back to Jost Van Dyke. How wonderful is that…
Kekoa offers day sails around St. John, trips to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands and also sunset sails around Cruz Bay. Please visit its website to learn more.
With every day that passes here, things get better and better. So go ahead, book that trip. We’d love to welcome you all to the island.
BRAVO/BRAVA!!
Nothing meaningful and great comes easily ….
And this news about Kekoa is GREAT!!
Had a wonderful sail on Kekoa to JVD yesterday! Jamison & crew are top notch as is Kekoa herself! We were honored to be on the first sail to JVD since the rebuild.
Cheers to all who worked so hard and long on this restoration. It was well worth it!
Welcome back Kekoa! One of our favorite things to do on St John.
Hi Jenn, FYI…the link to the Kekoa site at the end of this post actually just opens this same post again.
Here’s the link to their website:
http://blacksailsvi.com/
Oh no, thanks! I will correct it right now!
Congrats to the Kekoa family! A truly heroic effort with the rebuild. We will be there in July and cannot wait to sail with you……multiple times! Relaxing under those black sails is our favorite thing to do when in St. John.
We are so excited to be back and you can visit us at http://blacksailsvi.com/ or call us at 340-244-7245
Congrats for the “rebirth”. Pssst – maybe you could convert to the typical island native didgeridoo or whatever the harry it is called v. your startling canon blast at the end of the sail? Pleaasssse. Sorry, don’t mean to offend.
It’s great to see the Kekoa back on the water. Also, I just heard the Kekoa song that Jolie C Bell from Nashville did about the boat and it is awesome!! Check it out. Sail (3.0)
I found it on Google