BVI Itinerary/Destination Suggestions

jff

jff

Member
Mar 29, 2008
510
Atlanta
Boat Info
2017 Crest Pontoon
Engines
Yamaha
Last three ocean trips have been in my Sea Ray so I thought I'd try something different this summer - a group of us are chartering a 56' boat in the BVIs in June (bare-boat charter). We start and end (14 days later) in Tortola. I have never cruised in these waters so I've ordered a cruising guide, nautical map, etc. I'm starting to work on an itinerary based on all of my reading, but I'd love to hear though from anyone on CSR who has traveled in the BVIs. What things do we need to keep in mind? Any special preparations we should make? What destinations (including islands, resorts, restaurants, etc.) in the BVIs that you recommend, etc.

Sincerely,
Jason
 
I have chartered 15 times in the BVI over the past 23 years. Here are the must see places
-North Sound on Virgin Gorda. The Bitter End Yacht Club is beautiful. They have slips with power and moorings. Restaurant is ok, not great. Across the harbor is the Leverick Bay Resort. They also have silps with power and moorings. There are two restaurants on site. The dining upstairs is one of the best in the BVIs. While there you can taxi to the Baths which is unique rock formation for exploring.
-Marina Cay. Small island off Tortola with a good restaurant and a nice beach for snorkeling. Moorings only.
-Anegeda. This is our favorite place. Surrounded by a reef, this island has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Pick up a mooring or anchor at Setting Point. There are several good restaurants there for lobster and seafood. Potters and Neptunes are great for dinner. Make sure to spend time at the Cow Wreck Beach bar and Loblolly Bay. You can get a taxi at Potters. Ask for Mitch or Dennis.
-Jost Van Dyke. Spend the day in White Bay at the Soggy Dollar Bar, One Love Bar and Ivan's. You can the anchor or pick up a mooring in Great Harbor for the night and party at Foxys and several other bars. Corsairs has great food.
-Cane Garden Bay on the north shore of Tortola. moorings only. There are several good bars and restaurants here and decent nightlife. We always do happy hour and dinner at Myetts then live music at Quitos.
-Sopers Hole is a great day stop for lunch, provisions and shopping. I don't care for it as an overnight stop but many do.
-Norman Island. Pick up a mooring in the Bight. This is where the Willy T is located. It's a floating bar and restaurant. The food is surprisingly good. The parties at night are legendary. Pirates Bar is also here. A good option for dinner. Snorkel the cave and the Pelicans.
-Peter Island. The Peter Island Resort has a great restaurant but its expensive and so is the mooring fee.
Cooper Island Beach Club. Great restaurant for lunch or dinner. Moorings only.

These are the main spots that charterers hit on a week long cruise. With two weeks you can find many others. The Scrub Island Resort has an upscale restaurant and slips with power. The Last Resort restaurant in Trellis Bay has good food and entertainment. I would also spend some time cruising St. John. You have to clear customs when you leave the BVIs and clear into St. John but its worth the hassle on a two week trip.

Have fun. We are going down in March for a week.
 
This will be an interesting thread to follow as this is a dream of mine to do the same the same trip. I see that you hold a 50 ton master license. Does that mean you will do the charter without a local captain? Sorry if this is an obvious question.
 
You probably don't need a local captain to cruise in the BVI. You just need to demonstrate adequate experience operating a boat in the size range you will be chartering. You will be asked to submit a boating resume. The charter company will then decide whether you meet their qualifications. If there are concerns about your experience they may have you take out a captain for a day to check you out. The BVIs are one of the easiest cruising grounds in the world. All navigation is line of sight except the run to Anegada which is only 11 miles. The harbor entrances are well marked. All of the popular anchorages have mooring balls so anchoring is generally not needed. In fact, there are so many moorings in the anchorages now there is little room to anchor.
 
Jim, Thanks for the insight. Jason, will you be chartering a powerboat or sail boat? Cat or Mono?
 
You need to get John (Wet Paint) involved here. He has made numerous trips (just like JimT) there and loved it so much he left his business and bought a catamaran to charter. Between those two guys you can most likely have all of the information you need!
 
JimT - thank you SO much for all this amazing information, I am going to pour through it line by line and make notes this afternoon.

Josh - we did a 'bare boat' charter, ie. no Captain (well, one, me). I've already got nautical maps and as JimT pointed out this is relatively easy nagivation (I navigated over 1,000 nautical miles mostly solo this summer, including back/forth to Bahamas, Exumas and later on crossing the Gulf - pretty sure this will be quite a bit less effort although obviously when on the open water you always need to be prepared and have experience to match what you are doing). JimT is correct, I had to submit a Sailing Resume and the charter company gets to approve it (or not). If they don't approve then you have to hire a Captain. We are chartering a Horizon 56 Motor Yacht from Virgin Traders - you can Google those words to check out the boat. We looked very seriously at a Power Cat and there are clearly some pros/cons and significant differences, but for us the Motor Yacht seemed to make more sense.
John / Wet Paint - I'd love to hear your thoughts on my original question!

Thanks everyone!

Sincerely,
Jason
 
Great timing of your question. He have a bare boat charter booked for 10 days in May with Virgin Traders out of Tortola. We have a group of 30 going on 6 boats. No kids.

I'd like to hear about activities to do other than drinking and eating. Can you recommend any hiking, scuba or history activities that we should do?

Thanks!
 
There are several scuba sites. The RMS Rhone is a wreck dive(used in the movie The Deep). There is also the Indians which is good for snorkeling and diving. We rented tanks and had them delivered to the boat so that we could dive at our leisure. The are also dive operators that will pick you up from your boat. I suggest getting the cruising guide for the Virgin Islands as there is a lot of useful information
 
Thanks Cod - I actually ordered the Cruising Guide on Amazon earlier this week, look forward to reading it next week. The Charter company also higher reommended this guide. Still nice to have feedback from folks here on CSR though. :)

Regards,
Jason
 
jff,

You are in for a really great vacation. I have made several trips to the BVI's over the last few years. Most trips we bareboat charter a 47' sailing cat. Sometimes just my wife and I go and we get a smaller monohull. The info in JimT's post is very good. One of my favorite spots that he did not mention is the beach on White Bay which is the west side of Guana Island. You will usually have it all to yourself and it has great snorkeling from the south end of the beach down to Monkey Point. The beach has some of the softest sand I ever set foot on and also has really great sunsets. If you like snorkeling don't miss the Indians near Norman Island.

Do you plan to use a service to provision the boat or do you want to handle it yourself? What we normally do head to the grocery store just after we get our luggage stowed on the boat. We usually get enough provisions for about 3 to 4 days to begin with and then schedule stops at places we know has a grocery store and (this is important) water for our tanks. You will usually need to get fresh ice every couple of days also. My favorite spot for this is Sopers Hole on the West End of Tortola. We really love that place. Other spots for provision are Cane Garden Bay, The Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor at Spanish Town, Leverick Bay in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda. The owner of Leverick Bay is always really friendly.

My favorite place in all the world to be is sitting on the beach at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke. Some trips we will spend 2 or 3 days anchored there. Also, don't miss the Friday night buffet at Foxy's on JVD.

Robert
 
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We do our provisioning through Bobby Market. They have a great selection and a very easy to use online order form. Tell them where you want the provisions delivered and they will have them there for you on time. http://www.bobbysmarketplace.com/

If you want to provision yourself the Riteway Pasea Estate in Road Town is your best bet. It's comparable to a US supermarket. As Robert mentioned the Ample Hamper in Sopers Hole is a great place to restock provisions along the way.
 
Robert,

I knew you would see this thread and be able to give good advice. We will talk to you soon.

Gary
 
Thanks all, great advice - I'm building a great itinerary with all these thoughts/details!
 
Jason,

Some of the charter companies make a big deal about their boats going to Anegada. It was redlined by the charter companies until 10-12 years due to lack of reliable channel markers through Horseshoe Reef into Setting Point. Hundreds of boats have sunk on the reef over the past 500 years. The markers are now well placed and will get you through with no problem if you have basic navigation skills. Walker Mangum has surveyed the waters around the Anegada approach and has the most up to date chart. He lives much of the year on Cow Wreck Beach in his house Hidden Treasure. Look for him at the bar there. He is a wealth of knowledge on all things Anegada and has a great website. http://bvipirate.com/ I would encourage you to buy his Anegada approach chart. It has all the waypoints you need to get set up for the channel entrance. It also has the most up to date depths in the anchorage.
 
Jim T - thanks - I ordered the BVI Pirate's Anegada Map.

One more question for the group. We want to mix it up on the trip, ie. some nights in more remote places on a mooring ball but some nights at a yacht club/resort marina. Which of the luxury resorts with marinas (and spas/restaurants) have you guys visited and would recommend? Things like Little Palm Island, South Seas Resort, Ocean Reef Yacht Club, etc. Yes I realize those are very different from one another but just giving you examples of the kinds of places we're looking for. I've found Bitter End Yacht Club & Marina, Leverick Bay Marina, Peter Island Resort and Yacht Harbour, Pusser's Marina Cay, etc. Just curious which ones anyone here on CSR has stayed at and would recommend?

Thanks,
Jason
 
Jason....What do you and your guest want out of the trip? Party every night? Romantic anchorages? Anchor? Moor? Docks? Dinners onboard? Ashore? Sail or Power?
 
Good question. Just to clarify (not all of this was in my previous posts) - not big on the party's, prefer upscale dining for dinners, relaxed for lunch, scenery, exploring, experiences, snorkeling, wildlife viewing, etc. We probably would ideally anchor or moor 1/3 of the time and be at slips in upscale full service marinas/yacht clubs (ideally at some kind of full service resort) 2/3rd of the time. Dinners ashore when possible, in a mix of casual and nice restaurants if possible. Power boat (Horizon 56).
 
There are two ways to see the BVI's and USVI's.......Clockwise and counter clockwise.....Depending on the wind pattern thats how I decide to go left or right out of Tortola (I know port and starboard)...For this exercise, I lets go clockwise....I will only say things I like or my guests and not plan an itinerary..You will have a great trip allowing 14 days for your journey.

Day One you will get a late start due to travel/provisioning/briefings, but the nice thing is you only have a two hour sail to my recommended first stop......

NORMAN ISLAND (Day 1)

Since you will be excited and still anxious I would sail right to a mooring and unwind. There is a restaurant there or dine onboard. You need to hit Willy T's just for the experience.

PETER ISLAND (Day 2)

Before departing, I would hop in the dinghy and hit the Caves for some nice snorkeling. You can take boat and moor, but why not make life easy and enjoy a dinghy ride. Some people might be into snorkeling others might not so just leave the boat and dinghy over.

Once all set to leave I would head to the Indians. Moorings are available and another spot you will be glad to snorkel, say you did it and have lunch. Head to Deadman's Bay and anchor. Great beach and I always use all the resorts amenities. I always get a massage here and use the spa and the facilities....There is a beach grill for dinner and drinks. Resort is 5 star so just be aware of pricing. Take a walk to the top of the island or be sneaky like me and take the sunset shuttle to the top of the island from the resort. I have no shame and just blend in with the guests paying $1,500.00 a night.

COOPER ISLAND (Day 3)

Sail to Cooper Island Beach club and moor for night. This is a good day to relax and enjoy your anchorage and Club.

VIRGIN GORDA (Day 4)

Get an early start and head for the Baths. You will need to leave early afternoon to make my next stop and one of my favorites Leverick Bay or Bitter End. I like to stay two nights here as I am usually ready for a down day to just do nothing and this warrants two days. Also if you decide to go to Anagada it is nice to do no sailing for a day. Where you stay is personal choice and you can even do one at each resort. I love Saba Rock and the bar/restaurant....Just a kewl place....

VIRGIN GORDA (Day 5)

Relax

ANEGADA (DAY 6)

A great sail (check with charter company as some will not allow you to go here due to navigation issues with reef/s) but this is a two (2) day stop for me too. Anegada Reef Hotel you will need to order your lobster or dinner by 4 or 5 to to eat. I do this on the second day.

ANEGADA (Day 7)

Relax

SCRUB/MARINA CAY (Day 8)

Another long sail, but finally the winds are behind you. I like Scrub or Marina Cay as a next overnight destination You can choose which one you like. I like Scrub.

CANE GARDEN BAY (Day 8)

Okay the loud partying begins. Fun place to enjoy all the beach bars, etc.

Jost Van Dyke (Day 9/10)

For me this is a two (2) day stay. You can enjoy Sandy Cay (pretty beach/pictures), Great Harbor and White Bay. Great Harbor has Foxy's and White Bay has Soggy Dollar. I would also venture out to the bubbling pool.....Nice to say you went and did.

Soper's Hole (Day 11)

A good day and night to get rid of the alcohol poisoning (lol). Three (3) days of solid loud partying is behind you. This is a nice place for shops, marina, fuel, restaurants, etc. I take a slip here as it is just needed to fill your water and fuel tanks.

Day 12, 13

The trip is winding down, but still great sailing ahead. You might have decided to stay 1 or 2 days somewhere else or longer at a spot you loved and have no days left. If this is day 14, you can get up early and head back to Road Town for your noon check in or if you still have a day or two left, I would head back to Normans or Peter Island. I like Peter Island and I will stay at the Marina and dine in the restaurant and really push the envelope of being a guest....Pool/Bar/Restaurant/Tea Time
If you want to hit US Waters (you need to check in/out) I would do St John. I never do a trip without hitting St John.

Whether you come from Peter or Norman, it is an easy sail to end your trip. Note I did not throw in St John as that is my favorite Island...I would make that a stop, but some people just want to stay in British waters........I would say, have an itinerary, but dont hold yourself to it....You have 14 days where most people have a week or 10 days max.....I know I missed some spots and anchorages, but this is just a good guide.
 
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