Sailing Resorts?

[scottorious]

Hello,
So I am planning a vacation for this winter and I would like to go to a resort with a big emphasis on sailing. I would like this to be in the caribbean. I have so far come across the bitter end yacht club and am considering going there. My question is, are there other similar places that anyone knows of that I am not finding online? It could be something with a little less emphasis on sailing than the bitter end yacht club, I just want to go somewhere with a nice beach and the option to check out a boat for a day and go have some fun. The BVI looks like a good place to do this as there are a lot of islands in close proximity but maybe there are other good locations also. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
-scott

[James S]

I'm a bit out of that loop, so not much help, but hey....welcome to the forum, and hope you give us a run-down on how it turns out.

[fastfilm]

Bitter End is very nice, if a bit chi-chi. They have sailing dinghys and cats and a couple of 26 footers you can use as your room and take out for overnights. Not cheap. North Sound of Virgin Gorda would be a great place to day sail and take excursions from. Sunsail runs a sailing resort somewhere worth a search.

[Vasco]

BEYC is the only place that I know of where they have sailboats bigger than Hobies or Sunfish. They have a fleet of small Freedoms and offer instruction Haven't been there for about five years so my info might be a bit dated. North sound would be an ideal place to sail. If you want to sail something smaller many of the all inclusive resorts have sailboats but the emphasis is not on sailing. The boats are part of the beach toys.

[Hud3]

BEYC came immediately to mind when I saw the title of your thread. If you just want to day-sail a small Hobie cat, the various Sandals resorts have those. They have three resorts on St. Lucia and one on Antigua, I believe.

[TaoJones]

Peter Island had something they called the "Ashore - Afloat Plan" that was a combination stay at the resort combined with a stay aboard a captained vessel. It was twenty years ago when we did that, but it was nice to get on the water with an experienced captain aboard a virtually new 50'+ sailboat and be chauffeured to the various sites around the BVI. Not cheap, by any means, but very pleasant and memorable.

TaoJones

[LtBrett]

Scott,

I would classify the entirety of the BVI's as a resort with a heavy emphasis on sailing. For the price of a BEYC vacation, you could charter a boat with a captain. I enticed my non-sailing wife to do just that a few years ago. Now, we're regular BVI charterers. If you get a cat, it's sort of like sailing around your living room and deck. You just look over at the next island you want to visit, sail a couple of hours, then you find another beautiful beach, an assortment of restaurants, and good snorkeling. Have a painkiller or three and repeat the next day.

That said, BEYC is a great vacation spot, and even when sailing for a week, I try to spend a couple of nights in the North Sound.

Brett

[Gudgeon]

Mooring years ago had a package where you could pick an activity each day diving sailing. They gave us a check out ride in there small boats so we could take them out each day if we wnted not sure if they have that program any longer. Sunsail also had one.