Bareboat Chartering Advice for BVI..

[Rubikoop]

Originally Posted by upstateny

Let me say you want to spend as much time as possible sailing in the BVIs not the USVI. Therefore sail out of Road Town, Tortola.

Six of us have sailed out of Tortola 3 different times for a total of 36 days. We know the BVIs very well. For the most part everyone has given you good advice here except for captainjay's comments below which is FALSE BAD information. You can fly to St Thomas, usually a direct flight arriving at noon and ferry over to Road Town, Tortola. With a sleep aboard on your boat the first night at the dock you can check the boat out, provision it the day/night of arrival and be ready to sail the next day. Note to self, you can not buy alcohol on Sundays at Tortola.


Our first trip was a non-direct flight to Beef Island airport and then wild long taxi ride to Road Town. We prefer the direct flights from JFK to St Thomas and take ANY ferry over to Road Town. Don't get hung up about which FERRY your going to take. I had to laugh at all the comments on which FERRY is best. All the FERRY's from St Thomas to Roadtown are in the same dock. On arrival, just take a quick taxi to the FERRY's, figure out which one is will get you ALL THE WAY to Road Town first, buy your ticket, check your bags and go up stairs for refreshments and food.

We rented 45 foot monohulls (no AC) from Moorings, Sunsail, and Conch in that order. All were great boats and Conch was half the price. I would highly recommend Conch. Note Sunsail and Mooring docks are very very nice with great restaurant,swimming pool, bath rooms. Conch dock is old and run down. The sleep aboard first night and boat is much much cheaper at Home - Conch Charters - BVI Yacht Charter Provider. Also Conch made it easier to get sailing in the morning and returning the boat was significantly faster at Conch. Sunsail is just as good as Moorings and same dock/restaurants/bathrooms.


Must BVI places to see:

• The Baths and walk through the baths. Kids will love it. Warning slippery rock scramble. Rent car(s) or taxi from Leverick Bay to get to The Baths.
• Restaurant, swimming pool, and best place to buy tee shirts at top of the Baths
• Sail to Sandy Cay Island pick up day red mooring ball, beach dingy. Awesome beach and hike around the island. You can not miss this.
• Leverick Bay (BTW you can rent vans here. They drive them over from Spanish Town.
• BTW docks at Spanish Town are expensive and VERY HOT. Also weeds outside of Spansh Town don't anchor well.
• Bitter End Yact Club and Saba Rock Island Resort visit
• Drop anchor in Peter Island's Deadman's bay. Snorkel and I guarantee you will see Turtles here. Walk over to that expensive Peter Island Resort and Spa. They may let you swim in their pool.
• JVD spend 2 to 3 nights here.
  • White Bay, Soggy Dollar Burger for lunch
  • Make diner reservations at Corsairs 5 minute walk from Foxy's where army jeep is. Home - Corsairs Beach Bar & Restaurant
  • Walk or sail over to Foxy's have a drink and look around.
  • Have the 2nd BEST DINER in the BVIs at Corsairs.
• Anegada COW WRECK BEACH is nice beach/bar. Anegada is a sailing challenge. Print this off and read it. We saw/heard another catamaran hit the reef when they were leaving Anegada.
  • Navigating to Anegada
• Your challenge is to find all the other great places in the BVIs and a better place to eat than Corsairs.
• Have fun and enjoy.
• Did you say July? Not sure but some places may be closed in July. June/ July is start of hurricane season.

In case your interested we are sailing out St Martin in May 2016 for 2 weeks on a 50 ft monohull from Dream Yacht Charters .

Following info from captainjay is worng:A couple of things. For the record I am the fleet manager for CYOA Yacht Charters in St Thomas.....



Flying into or Ferrying into Tortola will burn up two days of your vacation. You can easily get trapped into spending a night on either end of your charter in a hotel, and sometimes on both ends trying to get to and from Tortola. The Ferry and Flight schedules are spotty.

Upstateny, you mean CaptJay is not the fleet manager of CYOA? When was he replaced and when will he be informed?

I'm just struggling to absorb your vast wisdom and experience, it is appreciated. Let me review to make sure I've got this right, you've made the trip to the BVI three whole times? WOW!!! I'm truly glad that you've had great experiences on your trips down here. I'm even more glad that you've not had any transportation issues with the ferries getting you back and forth to the BVI. When you've made the trip a few more times and your luck has run out, I hope you're able to secure a hotel room with the others who've missed their flights because there wasn't a ferry run when you needed it. To clarify your misinformation, all the ferries heading to the BVI do NOT leave from the same dock on St Thomas.

Differences of opinion are part of what makes this forum educational. Citing facts wrong does a disservice to all.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[upstateny]

Originally Posted by Rubikoop

Upstateny, you mean CaptJay is not the fleet manager of CYOA? When was he replaced and when will he be informed?

I'm just struggling to absorb your vast wisdom and experience, it is appreciated. Let me review to make sure I've got this right, you've made the trip to the BVI three whole times? WOW!!! I'm truly glad that you've had great experiences on your trips down here. I'm even more glad that you've not had any transportation issues with the ferries getting you back and forth to the BVI. When you've made the trip a few more times and your luck has run out, I hope you're able to secure a hotel room with the others who've missed their flights because there wasn't a ferry run when you needed it. To clarify your misinformation, all the ferries heading to the BVI do NOT leave from the same dock on St Thomas.

Differences of opinion are part of what makes this forum educational. Citing facts wrong does a disservice to all.
Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Facts is Charlotte Amalie , St Thomas is very close to the STT Airport
Here are the ferry schedules leaving from Charlotte Amalie that go to Road Town.
BVI Ferry Schedules: St Thomas (Charlotte Amalie), USVI to Tortola

Since we landed in STT around noon there were multiple FERRY's that we could take. Probability of all FERRY's not running are pretty low.

On the return trip back home to JFK we have stayed a few extra days on land with the last hotel day on St Thomas. I agree that it would be difficult to return your boat, quick catch a ferry, in time to catch a return flight at STT all in the same day. Renting your boat at St Thomas requires extra days sailing to BVI and then you have multiple delays going in and out of customs which all counts toward boat rental time.

[Rubikoop]

Originally Posted by upstateny

Facts is Charlotte Amalie , St Thomas is very close to the STT Airport
Here are the ferry schedules leaving from Charlotte Amalie that go to Road Town.
BVI Ferry Schedules: St Thomas (Charlotte Amalie), USVI to Tortola

Since we landed in STT around noon there were multiple FERRY's that we could take. Probability of all FERRY's not running are pretty low.

On the return trip back home to JFK we have stayed a few extra days on land with the last hotel day on St Thomas. I agree that it would be difficult to return your boat, quick catch a ferry, in time to catch a return flight at STT all in the same day. Renting your boat at St Thomas requires extra days sailing to BVI and then you have multiple delays going in and out of customs which all counts toward boat rental time.

Yes we can fully agree that CA is just a few minutes from the airport. Experienced travelers using the ferry system know that the value of the posted ferry schedules is worth exactly what you paid for the link... There is no need to believe me, in fact I encourage those that are curious to peruse traveltalkonline.com and see the collective wisdom of people who've made the trip to the BVI dozens, some on there hundreds, of times over the past 20-30 years via the ferry system. But since it takes effort to research it I will just share what I've personally witnessed in the past 10 years. More times than I can count on all my fingers and toes in the course of a single year ferry runs have just been cancelled without notice or a reason given. I believe it was two seasons ago a strange set of circumstances occurred when zero ferries made the trip back and forth for a full day because of breakdowns and scheduled maintenance/inspections. No, it doesn't happen all the time but my point is to help people to understand that it all works well until it doesn't. When it doesn't, it really goes downhill quickly because there just aren't enough vacant rooms on the Islands during busy season to put up a few hundred people on short notice. So what, one has to sleep at a bench you say? Well then what happens? There aren't seats available to fly out one day later. Were there a lot of vacant seats on your flights coming and going? No? It just keeps getting more expensive and inconvenient as you are forced to try and find a flight at least to Puerto Rico, which does have more options, and a place to sleep. What are the solutions? Well Upstate you clarified that you spend a vacation day on St Thomas so you don't miss your flight. That's a good idea and many travelers that charter out of the BVI do just that. Private water taxi $$$$ works too and can actually save money when things go sideways assuming they have the capacity to get you on. Private charter flight $$$$ can sometimes work too. Upstate, I can appreciate that you have limited trip experience here and that when you see a schedule posted you expect it to work and you expect there to be electricity and a dozen other things you most likely take for granted back home. All I'm attempting to do is temper your limited experience with much more data so to speak.

I am slightly confused as to why you keep ending a statement with a comment that is factually wrong. Motoring for about 2.5hrs from St Thomas will put a charter boat in Jost Van Dyke or West End. Clearing in and out at the same time in the BVI takes me all of about 20 minutes on average. Clearing back into the US takes me about 30 minutes on average. How those times equate to: "Renting your boat at St Thomas requires extra days sailing to BVI and then you have multiple delays going in and out of customs which all counts toward boat rental time" has me perplexed. Many that actually visit St John find that the undeveloped beaches in the VI National Park are so beautiful that they work in more time to visit on their next trip rather than blast by to get to another beach bar. What happens if you charter a boat from one of the companies on St Thomas? You can be on your boat a few minutes after grabbing your luggage at the airport. You run your own "ferry" back and forth to St Thomas and don't have to wait for another carrier. You don't have to spend "extra" time at a hotel so you don't risk missing your flight home. Yes there are additional fees to pay to clear into the BVI on a charter vessel. The recent failings of the ferries have been a boon for St Thomas charter operators bringing an influx of "BVI" charterers who wish to have more control of their own destiny. Once again, I'm really glad that you've not had an issue with a ferry and I truly hope you never do. Transportation issues don't reflect well on the area and can cost tourists thousands of dollars which may run them off for good.

Enjoy your next trip.

[IntoMyHealth]

Originally Posted by robgrant1

IntoMyHealth, We're headed down in April as well (our 6th trip). Can't wait!

Rob,

Our first. Can't wait to get our vessel down there longer term. Have you been to Anegada?

-Bill

[captainjay]

Originally Posted by upstateny

Let me say you want to spend as much time as possible sailing in the BVIs not the USVI. Therefore sail out of Road Town, Tortola.

:

By all means please pay no attention to the horrible sights available in the USVI while sailing around the Virgins. These views are obvious photo shop fakes.





















Obvious nothing to see here please keep moving.

Jay

[captainjay]

Originally Posted by upstateny

Let me say you want to spend as much time as possible sailing in the BVIs not the USVI. Therefore sail out of Road Town, Tortola.

Six of us have sailed out of Tortola 3 different times for a total of 36 days. We know the BVIs very well. For the most part everyone has given you good advice here except for captainjay's comments below which is FALSE BAD information. You can fly to St Thomas, usually a direct flight arriving at noon and ferry over to Road Town, Tortola. With a sleep aboard on your boat the first night at the dock you can check the boat out, provision it the day/night of arrival and be ready to sail the next day. Note to self, you can not buy alcohol on Sundays at Tortola. :

About this pearl of wisdom. It is obvious after three round trip flights to the Virgins you have this all figured out. While it is possible to catch one or two direct flights here that arrive early in the day. That is not the norm. Due to the hub and spur system in the airline industry the lions share of the flights into STT arrive between 2:00 pm and 9:00 pm daily. Don't take my eight years of experience living here and scheduling briefings with arrival data for charter guests as proof take a look at the Flight Aware arrivals http://flightaware.com/live/airport/TIST/arrivals?;offset=20;order=actualarrivaltime;sort=D ESC

[l2ridehd]

This shouldn't be a cat fight as to which island to sail from and enjoy the Virgin Islands. They all work very well. I have chartered from Tortola, St Thomas and Fajardo in Puerto Rico. All three work really well. And I have checked my charter in during the AM, caught the ferry back to St Thomas and made my flight all in the same day. Not the best idea, but made it work.

In Tortola, Sunsail, TMM, Horizon and Dream World all have decent charters, St Thomas I really like Island Yacht Charters out of Red Hook and Fajardo Sailcaribe was good. All get you to the same sailing areas. Each has it's own pro's and con's. Chartering out of St Martin, Antigua, Abacos and St Lucia are other options. All the islands have beautiful beaches, snorkling, beach bars, and make for a great vacation and an adventure to remember.

Don't let the nay sayers spoil your fun. Just pick one, figure out your travel and have a blast. And if you miss a ferry, have a long wait at customs, or a rainy day, just have another sundowner and enjoy the trip.

[RunawayC47]

After chartering a cat in 2002 I bought my own cat sailing 60,000 miles and spending multiple winters in the Virgins. The BVI's are my wife's favorite and one of mine as well. I am totally s cat guy for this kind of trip. I would also suggest Voyage in West End. To me their cats are more sailing orientated compared to the other charter cats. Everyone of them that I have been on has been excellently maintained.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[upstateny]

Originally Posted by captainjay

By all means please pay no attention to the horrible sights available in the USVI while sailing around the Virgins. These views are obvious photo shop fakes.

Obvious nothing to see here please keep moving.

Jay

Jay, all good points and awesome photos. I have never sailed the USVI. After seeing those photos we may have to check that out. I am sure sailing anywhere in the Caribbean beats working in the office.