- Jan 26, 2008
- 2,840
- Boat Info
- SOLD 2005 420 DA w/T-8.1S Horizons
- Engines
- 2018 Sea Hunt 255se w/Yamaha 300hp
Hello All,
(PICS ADDED BELOW)
Thought I'd post this brief summary of our bareboat BVI trip for those who are contemplating it, or are just curious. (I'm not much of a wordsmith so I'll apologize in advance for the grammatical errors and run-on sentences)
Our group rented 4 boats from Virgin Traders out of Nanny Cay on Tortola. The 4 boats were Virgin Dancer (58'), Virgin Vanquish (58'), Aurora (48'), and we were on Virgin Flyer (48'). All were aft-cabin diesel motor yachts. There were 2 couples on each boat except for Dancer which had 3 couples. We arrived 5/23 and departed 6/3 spending all 11 nights on the boats in between.
As far as the boat charter goes I think the people of VT were great. Will and Amanda were attentive, efficient and a pleasure to deal with. However I think the boats were extremely tired and poorly maintained. Our group suffered generator failures (water pump), water system failures, sewage system failure, all of which required immediate VT attention. To their credit these repairs happened VERY quickly by their friendly service crew. In addition to these more significant failures we chose just to live with the numerous non-functioning controls, torn soggy cushions, torrential leaks in the main salon, non-functioning radios, etc., etc. Our boat had no working tachs on the main bridge so to sync the engines we'd get going at the desired speed and then the 1st mate would run up and down to the lower helm station (while boat is pitching and rolling) and instruct the captain to bump up or pull down on whichever engine needed syncing.
On the up side was the trip itself. Although it was very windy the entire trip, except for one glorious day in Cane Garden Bay, we had beautiful clear skies and great anchorages. We hit all the hot spots such as Norman Island (Pirates Bite & Willy-T's), White Bay (Gertrude's & Soggy Dollar), Soper’s Hole (Sugar Mill & Bomba Shack),Great Bay (Foxy's), Marina Cay, all on mooring balls. We also spent 2 days docked at Bitter End Resort and 1 night docked in Spanish Town for a day at The Baths. This gave everyone the chance to get off the boats and walk around. Many of the girls enjoyed the resort's spa facilities. One of my favorite anchorages was Cane Garden Bay. Beautiful surroundings and great wind protection. All our girls took a taxi for a day of shopping and relaxing and generally recovering from being around their husbands 24/7. Can't say we missed them all that much either. :smt001
We did the rock’n and roll’n trip out to Anegada for a day of snorkeling and the most delicious lobster dinner I’ve ever had. Spent the bumpiest night of the trip on a mooring ball as there’s almost no land mass to knock down the wind. Was well worth the trip but now that I’ve done it I think I’ll just have them send the lobster to me next time.
Due to weather and schedule we only managed one day of Scuba diving at The Chimney and The Grotto off of Virgin Gorda. It was a very fun dive but I was still pretty disappointed that we weren’t able to dive the Wreck of the Rhone. We dived with Sunchaser Scuba out of the Bitter End Yacht Club. They were spectacular. The most friendly and efficient dive crew I’ve ever experienced. Highly recommended.
During the trip we snorkeled at several locations such as The Caves off Norman Island, the reefs off Anegada, The Baths on Virgin Gorda and several no name spots around our anchorages. Word of advice, bring chips, crackers or anything to bait the fish. My wife always had masses of fish surrounding us and everyone would swim over to enjoy. We brought our own equipment but several of our group rented masks, snorkels and fins for the entire trip.
All in all it was a great trip but 11 nights on a 48’ boat with a thin mattress was definitely enough. Glad to be home and looking forward to getting back on my own boat and enjoying the murky waters of Lake Texoma, TX.
(PICS ADDED BELOW)
Thought I'd post this brief summary of our bareboat BVI trip for those who are contemplating it, or are just curious. (I'm not much of a wordsmith so I'll apologize in advance for the grammatical errors and run-on sentences)
Our group rented 4 boats from Virgin Traders out of Nanny Cay on Tortola. The 4 boats were Virgin Dancer (58'), Virgin Vanquish (58'), Aurora (48'), and we were on Virgin Flyer (48'). All were aft-cabin diesel motor yachts. There were 2 couples on each boat except for Dancer which had 3 couples. We arrived 5/23 and departed 6/3 spending all 11 nights on the boats in between.
As far as the boat charter goes I think the people of VT were great. Will and Amanda were attentive, efficient and a pleasure to deal with. However I think the boats were extremely tired and poorly maintained. Our group suffered generator failures (water pump), water system failures, sewage system failure, all of which required immediate VT attention. To their credit these repairs happened VERY quickly by their friendly service crew. In addition to these more significant failures we chose just to live with the numerous non-functioning controls, torn soggy cushions, torrential leaks in the main salon, non-functioning radios, etc., etc. Our boat had no working tachs on the main bridge so to sync the engines we'd get going at the desired speed and then the 1st mate would run up and down to the lower helm station (while boat is pitching and rolling) and instruct the captain to bump up or pull down on whichever engine needed syncing.
On the up side was the trip itself. Although it was very windy the entire trip, except for one glorious day in Cane Garden Bay, we had beautiful clear skies and great anchorages. We hit all the hot spots such as Norman Island (Pirates Bite & Willy-T's), White Bay (Gertrude's & Soggy Dollar), Soper’s Hole (Sugar Mill & Bomba Shack),Great Bay (Foxy's), Marina Cay, all on mooring balls. We also spent 2 days docked at Bitter End Resort and 1 night docked in Spanish Town for a day at The Baths. This gave everyone the chance to get off the boats and walk around. Many of the girls enjoyed the resort's spa facilities. One of my favorite anchorages was Cane Garden Bay. Beautiful surroundings and great wind protection. All our girls took a taxi for a day of shopping and relaxing and generally recovering from being around their husbands 24/7. Can't say we missed them all that much either. :smt001
We did the rock’n and roll’n trip out to Anegada for a day of snorkeling and the most delicious lobster dinner I’ve ever had. Spent the bumpiest night of the trip on a mooring ball as there’s almost no land mass to knock down the wind. Was well worth the trip but now that I’ve done it I think I’ll just have them send the lobster to me next time.
Due to weather and schedule we only managed one day of Scuba diving at The Chimney and The Grotto off of Virgin Gorda. It was a very fun dive but I was still pretty disappointed that we weren’t able to dive the Wreck of the Rhone. We dived with Sunchaser Scuba out of the Bitter End Yacht Club. They were spectacular. The most friendly and efficient dive crew I’ve ever experienced. Highly recommended.
During the trip we snorkeled at several locations such as The Caves off Norman Island, the reefs off Anegada, The Baths on Virgin Gorda and several no name spots around our anchorages. Word of advice, bring chips, crackers or anything to bait the fish. My wife always had masses of fish surrounding us and everyone would swim over to enjoy. We brought our own equipment but several of our group rented masks, snorkels and fins for the entire trip.
All in all it was a great trip but 11 nights on a 48’ boat with a thin mattress was definitely enough. Glad to be home and looking forward to getting back on my own boat and enjoying the murky waters of Lake Texoma, TX.
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