I'm planning a 7 day bareboat chartering in BVI with my wife and a friend with his wife. My wife is an average sailwoman and my friends are unexperienced (all between 55 and 60 yo). We are chartering a 40' monohull.
I'm trying to plann our itinerary but looking for mostly uncrowded and quiet places. Can you gave me advice and suggestions?
Thank you
Dog bay and Little Bay in Virgin Gorda, got to be real careful going in but we did some incredible snorkeling there and it was completely deserted... A local guide did look at us funny when we said we snorkeled there cause they call it shark bay!.....
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a great location to spend a week on a boat. you will get the full range from quiet & tranquil to full on party... and oh yes some great sailing as well
The other posters are right, it is hard to find an isolated anchorage. That being said, Benures Bay on Norman Island was our favorite (only one to two other boats both nights we stayed.)
Try to get up early and get going, and you will have the least congested visits anywhere (we were usually up around 6 local time and underway by 7am.) We were usually the first boat in anywhere, and it worked out well - it was especially easy as our bodies were on Alaska Time still.
If you haven't gone, a couple things NOT to miss:
-Scuba Dive the Rhone - INCREDIBLE
-The Baths on Virgin Gorda
-Lobster dinner on Anegada - one of the most memorable meals I have ever had - you have to order dinner early though (I think by 3pm) so they can go and catch it
-The Bubbling pools on Jost Van Dyke - only good if there is a swell coming in from the north-northeast though.
-Snorkling Loblolly Bay on Anegada - straight out of a Corona commercial.
During your chart briefing, ask for recommendations on less-visited places. That's how we found Benures Bay and a couple of others (I don't remember the names and I'm not where the scrapbooks are). Stay away from the bays with the big bars. And if you can find any bays that don't have moorings, and you're comfortable anchoring, it's likely to be less crowded (most people prefer moorings).
Have a great time!
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+1 on the Lobster Dinner on Anegada, superb !
+1 on Loblolly Bay, it's the most picture perfect place you'll ever see.
If you truly want to get away from the crowds, Anegada would be it, but on a 7 day charter it's a bit tough to get there and back via VG and also see the other great sights in the BVI's.
Also ... be aware that a lot of the charter companies are very funny about you going there. Moorings won't let you attempt it unless you had a briefing from them in the last 24 hours. The entrance pass makes the Bahamas look easy, I arrived in the bay after a stressful hour winding my way in with less than 2" under the keel.
I'd highly reccomend a trip to Salt Is. take the dink and look around there, it's fascinating.
Also ... be aware that a lot of the charter companies are very funny about you going there. Moorings won't let you attempt it unless you had a briefing from them in the last 24 hours. The entrance pass makes the Bahamas look easy, I arrived in the bay after a stressful hour winding my way in with less than 2" under the keel.
Duncan
Interesting. When we went with Moorings in 2009 they just said to follow the buoys in for the marked channel. Easy and no problems, but we were in a cat that only drew 2'. There was no 24-hour briefing requirement then as well. Was there some shoaling or did a hurricane take out the buoys?
Excalibur, maybe they dropped the briefing requirement. Admittedly it's a few years since I was there, but surprised as they were very hard on this for insurance reasons.
There would be a big difference between navigating the channel with a cat and and a 40ft mono though.
Don't mean to put anyone off trying this though as it's a one in a million place to visit.
Excalibur, maybe they dropped the briefing requirement. Admittedly it's a few years since I was there, but surprised as they were very hard on this for insurance reasons.
There would be a big difference between navigating the channel with a cat and and a 40ft mono though.
Don't mean to put anyone off trying this though as it's a one in a million place to visit.
Duncan
I went there in the 2001. It was a just follow the buoys in. Not difficult. I was in a 40 footer.
Dave
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One of the problems with the entrance and channel to Anegada is that the GPS chartplotters are inaccurate (following the chartplotter will put you in close contact with the "twin sisters" (two coral heads). So one needs to either follow the instructions on the chart (Imray charts have pretty good directions). There are only 2 sets of markers and they are rather far apart. There is usually a bit of sand shoaling and I often had 0-2 feet under the keel with my 7+ foot draft.
By far the best method is to follow someone in or out who (a) knows what they are doing and (b) have more draft than you do.
The second best method is to use BVI Pirate's charts and instructions. My days of going inside at Anegada are over, the new Zanshin has 8.5 feet so I'll be anchoring outside.
My actual position is about 80 feet north of the reef, in a direct line between the pier end and the last red marker.
The comments about the BVIs being pretty crowded are true, but you can find some relatively uncrowded spots if you try. Here's our boat in Oil Nut Bay, which is on the NE tip of Virgin Gorda. I'm told there's been development on shore there since we visited, so it might not be quite as "pristine" as we found it.
You'll need to thread your way through Eustatia Sound to get there, but it's worth it. You can get into the Sound from the passage between VG and Necker Island. If you don't have the stomach for negotiating the coralhead jungle in the east end of the sound, simply anchor in between Prickly Pear and Eustatia Islands. There might be two or three other boats there, but nothing like the crowds in the more popular spots.
You can also pick up a mooring amongst the Dogs (several small islands west of Virgin Gorda) and be in a much smaller crowd. Nice snorkeling there, but these are day moorings only.
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