Hi everyone, my family and I will be taking our first ever sailing vacation over the July 4th week. We're doing a 5 day crewed charter on a Moorings 5800. We had originally booked it in November but had to reschedule it due to Irma. We've booked Delta flights to San Juan and then have a reservation with Fly BVI into EIS. We were originally planning to stay two nights (Saturday and Sunday) at Scrub Island before starting the charter on Monday, but I wasn't sure when it would going to reopen so we are now booked to stay at Oil Nut Bay. My wife and I have taken one prior (land-based) trip to the BVIs a few years ago and fell in love with it, but this will be our first time ever on a sailing charter. It's always been a bucket list item for me. For everyone else in our group, it will be their first time in the BVIs. I've been following this board the last several months and have learned a LOT of very helpful information but since we are completely new to this, I thought I'd reach out and ask for your advice to first-timers like us. My key questions are:

1. What are the essentials in a packing list for a crewed charter?
2. How much input will we get on the itinerary/destinations?
3. How much should we plan to tip our crew at the end of the charter?
4. A few of us are certified divers but I'm not clear on whether we will be able to rent tanks and dive equipment and store on the boat or if it's too much trouble to mess with.
5. Any other pearls of wisdom for do's and don'ts for the trip?


Thanks all!
-Jay