First Impression: Belline II

January 2008 update: Owners Walter  and Lela Wegmann are still running Belline II, but Melissa Libs left the boat   in December 2007, and Matt Neidlinger was expected to leave, as well. New crew were being sought as of this writing.

Date toured: November 2006

I was lucky enough to get onboard the  48-foot sailing catamaran Belline II as she celebrated 10 years in the charter business under the same ownership—and at the same time as she was entering a new phase in her crew operations.
     Belline II is a 1991 build that Walter and Lela Wegmann have owned since 1996. Walter serves as charter captain, having cruised throughout the Virgin Islands and Caribbean for the past 16 years. I’ve heard more than one reputable charter broker say Belline II is a boat that can be trusted, and that is in large part due to the reputation the Wegmanns have earned over the years. Plus, I know that I felt welcome and safe the minute I stepped onboard.
     The news for Belline II is that she got a new crew under Walter’s supervision in fall 2006. Melissa Libs and her boyfriend, Matt Neidlinger, chartered the yacht themselves for a vacation and decided they enjoyed life onboard enough to stay and become Walter’s new crew.  (Which is interesting, because that’s how Walter got into the business, too, arriving for a vacation and deciding to never go home again.) They're shown in the photo below, with Walter on the far right of the picture.
     Melissa and Matt had been onboard less than two months when I met them, and they were working hard to ensure their enthusiasm made up for their shortcomings in the experience department.
     Before signing on as crew, Melissa was a business manager at an upscale French restaurant in Chicago. Matt was also working in America, as a marketing manager for Hyatt hotels. He’s a licensed dive master who took on the challenge of learning to serve as first mate, while she opted to become stewardess/chef so she could use what she learned in her culinary and pastry courses at the Chicago Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago.
     Those backgrounds certainly bode well for continued excellent charter service onboard Belline II, especially given the pair’s obvious enthusiasm and Walter’s continued oversight of day-to-day operations.
     Belline II is part of the fleet at CharterPortBVI. She takes as many as eight guests at an inclusive rate of $13,800, or about $1,725 per person before adding in the gratuity. Contact any reputable charter broker for additional information.
     This yacht does accept MasterCard and Visa, which is relatively unusual in the charter industry. Also noteworthy is that scuba divers can dive straight from the boat for a fee of $30 per dive, or can complete their PADI open-water certification during a charter instead of working with a separate local company.—Kim Kavin