Bareboat Charters

ShaneOnYou

Member
Jun 12, 2013
361
Merrick, New York
Boat Info
"Shane On You II"
2009 43 Sundancer

"Shane On You"
2008 310 Sundancer
Engines
Twin Cummings Turbo Diesel Engines, 480hp
As we are taking our last few trips of the summer I start to get really depressed about what's to come... Was thinking maybe a winter boat get away would be fun... While I don't have the means to go "below deck" style and charter a yacht, is a bareboat charter a realistic an affordable vacation?

If anyone has any experience with this in the BVIs please let me know what companies to look into and stay away from...

Thanks in advance..

- Andrew


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You can't go wrong with the Moorings. There are others that are less expensive, but they are the best. Lots of sailboat and Power cat options to choose from in their fleet. And it's some of the nicest cruising grounds in the world.

they also offer crew for whatever you want. We have always bareboated, but have talked about taking a paid cook/mate with us next time.
 
We just returned from doing this exact trip earlier this month, and have now been 2 years in a row. We chartered both times from "The Catamaran Company" out of Tortola, BVI (I heard them referred to as "CatCo" a few times by the captain). We chartered the same boat both years, The Black Pearl, a 50' Lagoon catamaran, and had an amazing experience each time. It has 4 guest staterooms, and a small bunk room for crew. Both times we went with 3 other couples and hired a captain, so no one had to worry about sailing, and everyone could relax and enjoy (and drink).

I completely agree with Sea Gull; the BVI are spectacular! Lots of great places to visit, plenty to do, and relatively short distances to get from one amazing spot to the next. We fished, snorkeled, hiked, explored, swam, shopped, ate, drank and danced all over the BVI in a week. I can't speak for any other boats or charter companies, but I have heard good things about the Moorings fleet from others who have been.

If memory serves me, the bare boat charter rates for our boat ran from about $9,000 to $12,000 a week, depending on the season. Add in the captain ($200 - $300 per night, plus meals), provisions, fuel, water, mooring/slip fees, etc., and you're looking at another $5,000 - $6,000. In our case, this last trip cost roughly $16,000 ($4,000 per couple) for everything related to the charter. Once you throw in airfare, meals off the boat, other spending/shopping, etc. it would not be unreasonable to budget at least $6,000 if you do the trip with 2-3 other couples.

Feel free to ask more. Like I said, we've made this trip twice in the last two years, but the friends who convinced us to go have done this annually for almost 10 years now. If I don't know the answer, I can probably get it.

Hope that helps.
 
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I have done 20 plus BVI bareboats trips with the Moorings going back to 1990. We are going back in November on a 40' sail cat. There are lots of charter companies in the BVIs. The Moorings is top tier.
 
We have chartered a power cat from The Moorings many times & it's always been a great experience. Jan 7, 2017 will be our 12th time. $6,000 including air & all boat expenses for the 51' cat per couple sounds right on. You will love the BVI Islands.
 
Thanks everyone for the help... I contacted the moorings this morning...




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I would encourage you to also take a look at MarineMax Vacations. I'm just back from my second time bareboating on their Aquila 484 Powercat (contrary to what you might think, this is an exceptional time of year to go). It's a terrific, very comfortable, enjoyable cat and I'll take one again next time unless they add bigger boats to the fleet which is unlikely. The flybridge is huge, the foredeck can be accessed from the bridge, there's a hydraulic swim platform and, perhaps at the top of the list of must-haves for me on this kind of a trip, it has a watermaker. We shoved off and didn't tie to a dock until our return ten days later. We also had a 2016 model which has a terrifically redesigned aft deck featuring barstools and a huge opening window creating a bar and easy pass-through from the aft galley (this may not be shown on the virtual tour on the website). Moorings has a great rep and is ubiquitous down there - their fleet is ten times bigger than MarineMax Vacations - but we had a terrific experience each time with great customer service (it's mostly run by former Moorings employees) and, not that it really matters, a great boat that didn't feel like it was a dime a dozen.
 
To many variables to answer that question. Time of year, age of boat, special discounts greatly impact the weekly rate.
 

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