Chartering in the Virgin Islands

Were headed to the BVI this November and rented a 2018 48’ Benetau from BVIYachtCharters. Used a broker to search places with newer equipment from after the storm and shop prices and this was one of their top recommendations. Its a smaller outfit, but has been great so far working with.

About 15 years ago two of us did a 40’ from the Moorings...also a great experience.
 
LUnaCY said:
Were headed to the BVI this November and rented a 2018 48’ Benetau from BVIYachtCharters. Used a broker to search places with newer equipment from after the storm and shop prices and this was one of their top recommendations. Its a smaller outfit, but has been great so far working with.

About 15 years ago two of us did a 40’ from the Moorings...also a great experience.
Click to expand...

Kirstie in the office will take good care of you. I chartered from her half a dozen times when she worked for Conch Charters. She comes to the Annapolis Sailboat show every year (where we usually book our charters)
 
Following this thread. We have booked a 51' powercat through Moorings for next year. We are going bareboat with 3 other couples. It's over a year away, but I am counting the days already!!!
 
Last spring (before hurricane) we chartered a 51’ power cat from Moorings with one other couple. It was a great experience and I would use Moorings again without hesitation. There are so many things that can go wrong or not be as expected I would go with the best you can afford and not scrimp on quality.
 
Thinking of doing a trip after first of the year.

Can you all give any updates on your experience.

Do I go with a captained boat or bare? For everything I have read it is all line of site and pretty straight forward. Some friends did it with a captain and said it was a good experience and that at each stop the captain give them all the good take in sites info and that saved time just looking around and more for site seeing.

It looks like conch and moorings seam to be the two favorites here.

Thanks for the help.
 
Last edited:
Joint Custody said:
Thinking of doing a trip after first of the year.

Can you all give any updates on your experience.

Do I go with a captained boat or bare? For everything I have read it is all line of site and pretty straight forward. Some friends did it with a captain and said it was a good experience and that at each stop the captain give them all the good take in sites info and that saved time just looking around and more for site seeing.

It looks like conch and moorings seam to be the two favorites here.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I've done both bare boat and a charter with a captain and chef. Waters are easy to navigate. It's just two very different experiences so it's more about what type of vacation you want. Having a captain and chef gives you a much more relaxed experience and we had five star gourmet meals for breakfast , lunch and dinner. It was amazing the meals that came out of the galley.
The bare boat was also a great trip but obviously requires more work.
 
First off Conch is on the low end of the spectrum as far as quality. Older boats, base is nothing special. Moorings is considered premium. Newer boats and the best base in the BVI's with two hotels on site and two restaurants.

There is a difference between having a captain on board and a crewed charter. With a captain only he drives the boat and you do your own cooking and cleaning. With a crewed charter their is a captain and first mate/chef. You get pampered. Great meals and drinks. There is a significant prices difference between the two. If you want the crewed charter you should use a broker. There is no added cost and the broker can find you a boat/crew that meets your style/goals.

Navigation is line of site except Anegada which is not a big deal if you can follow a simple compass heading. All of the charter boats have chart plotters and you can load local Navionics charts on your tablet.

I have been chartering in the BVIs for 29 years. Heading down 1/25/19 for a sail bareboat. Happy to provide any needed information.
 
Just got back from the BVI, bareboat 48’ JDOG from BVI Yacht Charters. Great time, we will go again.

I think it depends if you or any other of your party have sailed. They can provide a captain for a few hours to familiarize you and check you out on the boat. Thats what we did and it was sufficient.

Anegoda was closed, but we had a great time without it. Route was Norman, the the Baths, Scrub Island (Marriott Resort) just stayed at the docks and enjoyed the pool, Jost Van Dyke, and a few other places that I forgot the names of. We used moorings all but Scrub Island.

We cooked on board which was simple for 7 people, 7 nights. 1/2 of the lunches were from the bars on shore.

If you do plan on mooring I would plan on waking up early and getting there by one to 2 o’clock. The mooring fields at popular places are filling up quickly in season. You’ll find yourself racing other boats around you to available spots.

Most days we sailed 2-3 hours. The legs into the wind we decided to motor instead of tacking.
 

Attachments

  • 90E5E2D6-9A7E-4FF2-9951-67DC9240C7DD.jpeg
    90E5E2D6-9A7E-4FF2-9951-67DC9240C7DD.jpeg
    167.2 KB · Views: 151
LUnaCY said:
Just got back from the BVI, bareboat 48’ JDOG from BVI Yacht Charters. Great time, we will go again.

I think it depends if you or any other of your party have sailed. They can provide a captain for a few hours to familiarize you and check you out on the boat. Thats what we did and it was sufficient.

Anegoda was closed, but we had a great time without it. Route was Norman, the the Baths, Scrub Island (Marriott Resort) just stayed at the docks and enjoyed the pool, Jost Van Dyke, and a few other places that I forgot the names of. We used moorings all but Scrub Island.

We cooked on board which was simple for 7 people, 7 nights. 1/2 of the lunches were from the bars on shore.

If you do plan on mooring I would plan on waking up early and getting there by one to 2 o’clock. The mooring fields at popular places are filling up quickly in season. You’ll find yourself racing other boats around you to available spots.

Most days we sailed 2-3 hours. The legs into the wind we decided to motor instead of tacking.
Click to expand...

Anegada is not closed. Your charter company may have redlined it but the island is fully open for business.
 
I stand corrected and apologize for the misinformation.

Anegoda was closed to us (that part is correct) for either a special event or our personal charter reasons. Either way we hadn’t planned on going.

Good lord.
 
The larger companies typically only allow bareboats to Anegada if you have a long history of charters with no incidents.
 
Perhaps a silly question for you guys - if you do a bareback charter can you chose to exclusively motor to each destination vs go under sail? Obviously the expense increases (fuel) but is this discouraged?

I've got some friends that would consider this type of arrangement but none of us have ever sailed. Zero experience. We're competent power boaters but I wouldn't even know what to call half of the bits and pieces on a sail boat.

Just curious. Thanks!
 
You can motorboat wherever you like. We actually do a powercat so no sail at all. On the other hand, bareboating is different then barebacking and I would hate to explain.
 
Stee6043 said:
I've got some friends that would consider this type of arrangement but none of us have ever sailed. Zero experience. We're competent power boaters but I wouldn't even know what to call half of the bits and pieces on a sail boat.

Just curious. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Yes you can just motor around and no one will care, but the charter company may not rent to you without sailing experience.

I've chartered sailboats in the BVI, Florida several times, and Lake Michigan. The charter company always asks for a sailing resume to gauge your sailing expertise. If you haven't sailed, they will either not let you charter or they will require that you take a captain at your cost. For my my charters they also "tested" our knowledge by asking us to rig the boat and take it out for a short trip. Once we had a few charters under our belt they just asked for the charter company contact info. The last time was about 10 years ago, so this may have changed.

For the record, I have always bareboated, never barebacked, even in the Keys. You probably want some experience before you bareback, and you want to know your captain really well.
 
Last edited:
yobub said:
Yes you can just motor around and no one will care, but the charter company may not rent to you without sailing experience.

I've chartered sailboats in the BVI,, Florida several times, and Lake Michigan. The charter company always asks for a sailing resume to guage your sailing expertise. If you haven't sailed, they will either not let you charter or they will require that you take a captain at your cost. For my my charters they also "tested" our knowledge by asking us to rig the boat and take it out for a short trip. Once we had a few charters under our belt they just asked for the charter company contact info. The last time was about 10 years ago, so this may have changed.

For the record, I have always bareboated, never barebacked, even in the Keys. You probably want some experience before you bareback, and you want to know your captain really well.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is correct. You cannot bareboat a sailboat unless you can competently sail it proven by your sail resume or prior experience. If you meet the criteria to charter the boat it's up to you whether you sail or run the iron genny. There have been weeks and/or days in the islands where we have been on a sailboat when there was no wind or way too much wind to sail. We have also had many mornings toward the end of a charter when we have been too hung over over to pull up the sails. Again, run the iron genny.
 
Thanks for the info, gentlemen. Sounds like the captain'd sail would be a requirement for my crew. Not a sailor amoung us. The captain makes these trips a LOT more expensive from what I've seen. Bummer.

Bareback and motorboating all in one thread. This one got a little more risque than I was expecting.
 
Last edited:
Stee6043 said:
Thanks for the info, gentlemen. Sounds like the captain'd sail would be a requirement for my crew. Not a sailor amount us. The captain makes these trips a LOT more expensive from what I've seen. Bummer.

Bareback and motorboating all in one thread. This one got a little more risque than I was expecting.
Click to expand...

Just find an outfit with power-cats and remove the cost of the captain.
The last time we went we had a 58 sail - cat with a captain and crew, we only "sailed" one afternoon, the rest was all motor
 
Moorings and marine max do power cats. That’s what we are doing this fall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,172
Messages
1,427,835
Members
61,084
Latest member
AntonioJamm
Back
Top