Hi JB,

First of all, could you please reduce the size of your ginormous avatar? It's wreaking havoc on (at least) my screen. Thanks.

The BVI is a wonderful destination to explore, but not in the way that you envision, I suspect. If your notion is to hitchhike from island to island, spending a few days in each place exploring what there is to explore, the BVI is a little 'small' for that. You can spend days, weeks or even months on Tortola doing just that. Virgin Gorda to a lesser degree. After just a couple of days on JVD you will be an expert, and will have met nearly everyone on the island. All three are easily accessible by ferry, and there's camping on Tortola and JVD...at least pre-Irma (do your research). Virgin Gorda has some very reasonable accommodations. The other islands that you have heard of or read about, like Norman, Peter, Cooper, Scrub, Marina Cay are great for hiking and hitting the bar afterwards, but really won't take more than a day to explore. You will be able to get to all of them by ferry or supply boat. Again, do your research.

The bareboat scene in the BVI is NOT a 'cruising' environment. People rent a boat for a week or two, with a set group of their friends or family and enjoy the incredible ease of sailing and convenience of these protected islands. Not many would enjoy an interloper on their vacation, even with the enticement of rum or riches. It would be like expecting someone to invite you on their family vacation to Cabo.

What you might be romanticizing are the true cruising sailors - those who have their own boat and spend their lives cruising the world seeking whatever it is they're seeking: adventure, freedom, peace...whatever. Often cruisers enjoy taking a guest crew member, to make life more interesting, fatten the cruising budget, or just because they're nice people. This is NOT the forum to meet those people. Most cruisers skip the Virgin Islands these days...just too crowded and expensive. But you can meet plenty of these free spirits on other forums, such as cruisersforum.com. You can post yourself as 'crew available - willing to share expenses' and find yourself a berth on a boat virtually anywhere that there are cruisers. It may take a lot of correspondence for you to be vetted, but you will eventually find a match. (Cruisers are pretty particular about who they invite on board - I know because I was one!) But you have a few months, so it's worth the effort.

PM me if I can offer further advice. I was once young and stupid with a dream of adventure like you. Now, after a lot of adventures, I'm old and stupid, but still seeking adventures. Good luck!