USVI or BVI bareboat chartering

[Quiet Magic]

more ?s

I was also wondering is it cheaper to provision yourself using local gerocery stores or to provision with sunsail. And do you know if this time of year is a really crowded time or is it more low key? Thanks for all the help so far, Im sure I'll need more. :nerd: FUN IN THE SUN IN 19 DAYS!! Chris, I leave on the 29th there for a week. How long are you going?

 

[chrism]

I leave on the 15th and arrive home the 23rd.

Regarding provisioning... On past charters we've allowed The Moorings to provision for us, and we've ended up with more food that we can deal with. The Ample Hamper in Road Town will deliver food right to your boat, and you can order what you want right from their website, http://www.amplehamper.com/. That's what we're doing this go-round. In the Abacos, we just went to the market and picked up what we needed. I'm not sure about the price difference, but I think it is worth it to have the food that you want.

Chris

 

[therapidone]

I thought I'd throw my $0.02 in here...we went thru the Moorings in the BVIs 7 or so years ago. Every time we dropped anchor rather than catching a mooring ball, I just put on my snorkle mask & fins & checked that everything was okay rather than wait and wait to see if we were going to drift. Of course, when you do anchor remember to leave enough room to swing around with the given amount of rode that you've dropped & not endanger the vessels that have already anchored before you.

We had the Moorings do a split provisioning and we had enough food (for 4) that we could have eaten all of our meals on board. Pay really close attention on the run down they give you of the boat; somebody didn't pay as close attention as he should have when it came to switching the valve configuration for the secondary water tank. We've vacationed on St. John a couple of times and fell in love with Francis Bay, but you may run into customs procedures if you sail into the USVIs & anchor or get out to go on the beach. Despite all the folks who go to Norman Island (Treasure Island caves, Willie-T's, etc.), there are some really nice, quiet bays in which to anchor and snorkle (or so I was advised by a resident and charter captain from St John, USVI, as we sailed around Norman Is. on his vessel, Breath) that can be found north and east of the Bight. By the way, we left Road Town & made for the Bight as our first day's sail like so many other bare-boaters!

Our best day of sailing was spending all day in the Atlantic north of Tortola while we sailed from North Sound of Virgin Gorda in a generally southwesterly trip (with mostly trailing winds) all the way to Jost Van Dyke. Because the Moorings doesn't outfit these charters with spinnaker poles to aid in a wing-and-wing downwind sailing configuration, we doused the main & just sailed with the genoa.

We made our trip at the end of May & beginning of June. The one thing that surprised me was how windy it got just about every night...blew like heck. One or two of those nights the wind was accompanied by some torrential rain--which necessitated closing up the hatches/ports & stewing in our own juices in the humidity rather than having to deal with soaking wet berths from the rain.

One other thing surprised me, more than any other type of libation, I got really silly when imbibing fruity, rum drinks! Enjoy your trip!

 

[chrism]

Figured I'd pop my head in and say hello to all from Cane Garden Bay, BVI. The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful... The wonders of WIFI.

Quite happy with Tortola Marine Managment thus far... Grocery stores seem to be everywhere, although smaller, they somehow have everything.

For the first time, we were taken out a "check sail" with the manager of the charter location. TMM does it with everyone... I must admit, five minutes out with him saved him from 30 minutes of explaining systems. Quite awesome.

Hopefully this weather holds over for you, Steve.

Chris
(temp) s/v Dav n Joy

 

[chrism]

Hello all - landed in San Juan from Tortola a few hours ago... Hanging out here until tomorrow morning's flight to Boston. Figured I'd post our itineray.

4/15 - Arrive Road Harbour, Tortola
4/16 - Boat check out/briefing - short sail to Cay Key. Great anchorage.
4/17 - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola - Eat at Myetts!
4/18 - Lunch hook at the Baths, then to North Sound, Virgin Gorda - Avoid the Bitter End! $$$$$$$$$$
4/19 - Anegada - Get permission to sail there. Quite awesome, great snorkeling. The Anegada Reef Hotel has great food and a great atmosphere.
4/20 - Soper's Hole - Ate at Pusser's, aka the Applebee's of the BVI's!
4/21 - Peter Island, nice and quiet.
4/22 - Quick power over to Road Harbour

Enjoy your trip, and be sure to post details of your travels. If you have a laptop, BVImarinewifi.com has service in many harbors. Be sure to pick up a high power wifi card if you want to use it, though. I have the digital charts of the Eastern Carribean, email me if you'd like a copy of them.

Chris

 

[Gordon McKenney]

Bareboat chartering options

We've chartered many times in the Virgin Islands and prefer chartering in the British Virgin Islands for several reasons. First, you'll want to spend most of your cruise in the BVI. Secondly, if you charter in the USVI you'll have to check in to customs and immigration upon entering the BVI and pay a cruising fee, which is already included when chartering from a BVI company. You'll also have to check out of BVI and check backin to USVI. However, if you are going to visit St. John, one of the USVI, you'll have to go throug this routine anyway.

If you're chartering for only a week, visiting Norman Island, The Baths on Virgin Gordon, The Bitter End Yacht Club, Cane Garden Bay, Yost Van Dyke, etc., you'll probably not have time to visit the USVI, although St. John is worth visiting.

As far as credentials, most charter companies ask that you fill in a form detailing your experience. They have never questioned my credenials, but I do have a lot of experience. I notice that when they check you out on the boat you've chartered and during the briefing, it probably would become obvious to them if you didn't know what you were doing. Hope this helps.

 

[windjunkee]

My wife and I chartered in the BVI a couple of years ago and a few notes:

1. We used Conch Charters in Roadtown. They have a fleet of older boats, not the same as Moorings. In our case, we chartered a Catalina 42 which was well maintained, completely operational. No problems at all and the staff there was amazing (although the hard fiberglass dink they gave us absolutely sucked, since it was so small, had a tiny engine and they had no options for us to even pay to upgrade to a better dingy) Their prices were almost HALF that of Moorings.
2. We did the split provisioning and didn't use even close to all the food they provided. Now, there were good restaurants at virtually every mooring and we just ended up eating out way more often than we had anticipated.
3. Be careful about anchoring. When on a mooring at Marina Kay, there was a Beneteau 50 anchored in the mooring field. During the evening, the wind clocked 180 degrees. The Beneteau's chain got tangled with another boat's mooring and they banged together for HOURS. I sat on deck with a flashlight and a boat hook, as the Bene was trying to break free and was revving the engine in reverse, with the stern aimed directly FOR THE BEAM OF OUR BOAT. If that thing had broken free, it would have rocketed toward me. The moorings are set for prescribed swing radius' and I understand that drastic windshift like that are not uncommon down there.

Looks like I will be going with Moorings, however, next year when we do a two week charter in Tonga. Except for Sunsail, which I understand to be on shaky ground there, Moorings is the only game in town.

Jim McCone
Voice of Reason E-32-2 hull #134

 

[chrism]

Conch Charters looked to have all ex-Moorings/Sunsail/Footloose Boats. Tortola Marine Managment has a bunch of boats, but they weren't built for bareboating.

Our boat, a Hunter 386 was BAREBONES. It had a fridge, depthsounder, speedometer, CD player. Autopilot and GPS? Nope!