Chartering in the Virgin Islands

We have a 51" Powercat booked through The Moorings for fall of 2019. For a bareboat powercat, they have a questionnaire you fill out to qualify for the bareboat option. They are looking for your experience with boats of similar size (within ~10'), twin engine experience, and general off-shore boating experience/ knowledge.
 
If you get a captain they will sleep in the small crew quarters generally in the bow, however if you get a chef you need to give up one of the main cabins.

My family looked into this for a family charter, we would need all the cabins for the family but we wanted a chef. That made it impossible for us all to go together with a chef.

Also, as mentioned they wont care if you sail or motor a sailboat, your paying for fuel anyway, but you do need to show sailing competence. They will base their initial decision off your resume, but they assume you will embellish it so the final decision usually comes as you go through your briefing, blank stares or odd questions will result in them sending a captain out with you to your first destination, they wont stay overnight but may require more days of assistance. Of course you pay for this so if you embellish your resume, plan on the expense at least for the first day.

If you don't know how to sail I suggest either getting a captain, or get a power cat.
 
swaterhouse said:
If you get a captain they will sleep in the small crew quarters generally in the bow, however if you get a chef you need to give up one of the main cabins.

My family looked into this for a family charter, we would need all the cabins for the family but we wanted a chef. That made it impossible for us all to go together with a chef.

Also, as mentioned they wont care if you sail or motor a sailboat, your paying for fuel anyway, but you do need to show sailing competence. They will base their initial decision off your resume, but they assume you will embellish it so the final decision usually comes as you go through your briefing, blank stares or odd questions will result in them sending a captain out with you to your first destination, they wont stay overnight but may require more days of assistance. Of course you pay for this so if you embellish your resume, plan on the expense at least for the first day.

If you don't know how to sail I suggest either getting a captain, or get a power cat.
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Whether you are chartering a sail or powercat keep in mind that misrepresenting your experience can void the hull insurance if have an incident. If you hit a reef and sink the boat the insurer will analyze your resume or other experience provided information seeking to avoid coverage. The big charter companies (Moorings/Sunsail) are pretty lax in verifying experience. If you are not sure of your experience be honest and request a check out captain. Usually they will stay on board for a few hours until satisfied with your command of the boat. The charter companies have the right to require that have a captain on board if you cannot handle the boat.

This video off Setting Point in Anegada would be hilarious if it was not a common problem. Many boats out there with dummys that can't drive. There are only a few spots where actual docking is required. I have seen numerous "captains" come in on 40-55' boats who can't dock under normal conditions.

 
We did Sunsail Sailcat out of Tortola. It was easy and Navigated the whole trip off the Navionics app on Iphone. They maneuvered the cat out and into port at Tortola. The rest of trip was on the mooring. We had 2 dinghy's so if a people didn't want to go at a certain time or do something different they weren't stranded on boat. The sail never went up once. We had no clue how to put it up if we wanted to.
 
You can go to the moorings website and “book” a boat to see the costs. It’s all dependent on dates and boats and options.
 
We have two power cats booked through MarineMax for 8 couples arriving on the 18th. It will be our first time in the BVI.
 
Pierpressure1 said:
We have two power cats booked through MarineMax for 8 couples arriving on the 18th. It will be our first time in the BVI.
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We are getting off the boat on the 17th. We have never been there either but we have talked to the staff at the marinemax where we used to dock and they have nothing but good to say about the BVIs. We have 3 couples total and have booked the 44. We chose to not go on the group trip they offered in November and to just go by ourselves also. I have been on to many trips with multiple boats and it gets a little to crazy for me. Everything being line of sight I don’t foresee it being to difficult. Have fun on your trip!!!!!!!
 
Just did a bareboat 51' power cat over Thanksgiving week. We were through The Moorings and had 4 couples. If anyone has any questions, just ask!
 
douglee25 said:
What is the relative costs for a trip like this?
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Many variables - size and age of the boat, time of year, length of charter, which charter company you book with. Go on the Moorings website and enter your trip parameters to obtain a quote.
 
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