I wanted to share some thoughts that may be useful to others contemplating changing things up a bit. My background – first visit to the BVIs was in 1981 (as a teen …) and we have chartered many times out of BVIs – we have bareboat chartered with the big companies, little companies, monos and cats – we have largely been agnostic as to who we charter with but we do have a preference for cats at least while the kids are still with us.

We have always chartered as a family (myself, wife, and 3 kids – now 22, 20, and 16). We were looking to do something different this time as the BVIs were becoming a bit too familiar and routine (i.e., Norman 1st night and go CCW or hit JVD and go CW). We wanted to make some stops that we never seemed to have time for as well as keep some favorites such as the BBQ and Moko Jumbies at Leverick that have become a tradition for us. Also, we are sailors who drink as opposed to drinkers who sail – this usually influences our itinerary as well.

Based on TTOL posts (thanks RickG, Twanger, and others), we decided to charter a 44’ FP Helia Cat (Big Papa Lulu) with CYOA out of Frenchtown, St. Thomas. This would allow us to avoid the ferries (never had a problem but they are an annoyance that add one more leg of travel where things can go wrong). Below is a summary of our trip with some information that will hopefully be useful to others.

CYOA – Wow! Jay and his team are amazing. I have never experienced this level of service with any other company (and we have used many of them big and small). The personal attention to detail, chart and boat briefing (about 2.5 hours) were extremely thorough. Also, CYOA provided a quick check out sail with a captain to ensure that all was in operating order – main and jib raised, lines all okay etc. This was very useful.

Big Papu Lulu (BPL) – amazing boat with 3 cabin/3 heads – the master cabin was huge! This was our first experience with an icemaker and watermaker – wow! Freshwater electric toilets and full size showers and a water tank that never runs dry – what more could you want! At the end of the cruise, the heads did not smell like a harbor. This boat had obviously been cared for very carefully as it was immaculate and all systems were fully operational and all manuals were present (I’m the geek that spends time reading the manuals). If you are an owner with CYOA, your boat is in great hands.

Saturday May 6 – Drive from State College, PA to NYC and stay at JFK Airport Hilton. 8 months ago Delta had pretty good JFK-STT fares.

Sunday May 7 – Fly JFK-STT and arrive on time at 12:30. Pick up Avis at STT (select drop point at Seaborne Air terminal which is <5 min walk from CYOA). We booked a night at Mafolie hotel – hung out at pool and had a great dinner at their restaurant. The view is amazing. If you drive, be prepared for steep roads and a few switchbacks.

Monday May 8 – Checked out of Mafolie after breakfast. Dropped bags at CYOA (they said that they would load them onboard – no worries) and gave us directions to Cost-u-less (think Sams Club or Costco). We bought our provisions and did some additional shopping in downtown CA. Dropped of the provisions at Big Papa Lulu and my son and I returned the car and walked back to CYOA. We had a great dinner at Hook-Line-Sinker while looking at BPL sitting at the dock waiting for us. Moved aboard and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and unpacking.

Tuesday May 9 – Finished up the paperwork with CYOA and did our boat chart briefing with Brad and Jay. One of our goals was to explore St. John so Jay spent some time recommending anchorages and hikes. We did a quick sail in the harbor with Brad to ensure that all was good. Called for a dinghy to pick him up and we were off.

The weather today was pretty unsettled, squally, and generally pretty poor visibility so we decided motor and pound east. It was a bumpy ride until we were able to turn north around Dog Island and get in the lee of St. John. We motored up the Pillsbury Sound, turned east again and grabbed a mooring in Maho Bay – what a beautiful place to settle for the night. We had some drinks, made dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching turtles pop up and swim by.

Wednesday May 10 – Original plan was to head to JVD and clear in to the BVIs, but St. John really intrigued us. We had breakfast and moved one bay over to Leinster Bay, grabbed a ball and settled in to explore. We dropped the dinghy and headed over to Waterlemon Cay for snorkeling. This was some of the best snorkeling that I have ever seen with lots of healthy coral and sea life including rays, turtles, and lots of fish. We had lunch and dinghy’ed into shore, tied up and hiked the trail to the Annaberg Plantation Ruins – very cool. Headed back to BPL, fired up the grill and cooked our steaks and drank our wine. Day could not get much better.

Thursday May 11 – Beautiful day (unfortunately the wind was nearly non-existent). Anyway, we put up the sails and motorsailed to Great Harbor JVD to clear into the BVIs. Process was very straightforward and CYOA had prepared us very well. Grab a mooring and the Captain (me) heads in to the dinghy dock by the Government Building next to Corsairs. No waiting – they asked how long we were going to be in BVIs (5 days) and then said cash or credit. For those interested, cost to clear in (less the BVI National Parks Permit) was $155 ( $35 commercial license, $100 cruising permits ($4/day x 5 ppl x 5 days), $10 customs services, $10 “other ports” – whatever that is). 20 minutes later I’m back on the boat. Quick lunch and we rode the dinghy over to White Bay. It was extremely crowded and a beautiful day. We hung out on the beach, had a few drinks at the Soggy Dollar – made faces into the web cam, ran into some fellow Penn Stater’s and had our fill of crowds and went back to Great Harbor. Another dinner on board and then had a quick stroll through Foxy’s and back to BPL to turn in.

Friday May 12 – Another gorgeous day (some wind at 5-10kts). We had reserved a slip for 2-nights and a car with Nick at Leverick Bay. This is by far the best deal in the BVIs ($35/night and $20 if you need/want electric and $65 for a car from L&S for 24 hours). We got settled on the dock, hung out at the pool. The BBQ and Jumbies were great as usual – as I said, this has become a tradition for us.

Saturday May 13 – We had the car delivered on Friday night so we could get an early start on Saturday and that we did. We drove to the baths and were first on the trail down (reminder to others – bring your National Parks permit – we did). We did a total of 3-trips back and forth through the caves, snorkeled and climbed all around the rocks on the other side of Devils Bay. Eventually, the day tripper tours (groups of 20 or so) drove us out. I still recall my first trip through in 1981 with no steps and very few ropes to guide you – and no crowds!

A quick stop at Top of the Baths for a drink and a rinse in their pool and we headed to Savannah Bay – another favorite of ours. We had a beautiful beach to ourselves and did some snorkeling. We continued our trek around the island and ended up at Hog Heaven for a drink and to get some BBQ to bring back to the boat for dinner. We had the pleasure of meeting the owner (Blondie) and he gave us a tour of his new addition and a walk through the grounds as he described his plans to expand. We then went back to the boat to eat great Hog Heaven BBQ and chill out.

Sunday May 14 (Mothers Day) – We said goodbye to the best dock crew in the BVIs, motored out the channel, raised the sails and had a great straight shot down the SFD Channel. Our plan was to stop at Cooper to snorkel at Cistern Point. At 12:30, Cooper was full and several boats were circling in wait – really? This I don’t understand. We moved to our Plan-B (and glad we did) and headed over to Lee Bay on Salt Island. We did some snorkeling (fish were good – 2 small squid were really cool to watch) and had lunch and listened to a loud goat on shore.

We have never been to Peter Island so we decided to rent a slip and check it out ($125 for the slip and $70 for electric). Their slips were not wide enough to accommodate a cat so we were given a space along the pier between two 100+’ megayachts. As my crew (and the crew from the megayachts) nervously watched, we were able to dock between them with no issues – much credit to the Peter Island Dockmaster for success. We spent some time at the pool and exploring the resort and hiking over to Deadman’s Bay. While I have checked our Peter Island Resort on the web over the years, the place remains a mystery to me. We saw at most 10 guests on the property the entire time. After grilling on the boat, we explored the resort some more. We found a beautiful game room/movie room by the pool and watched a movie and played pool. Again, it was very erie (spooky?) that nobody was around. As we pulled in to the dock earlier, some departing cruisers recommended the 5 mile loop trail. We got up the next morning and did the trail – this has to be one of the most beautiful hikes I have even done in the BVIs – it is hard and steep but the views are amazing. We swam in the pool one last time and departed at noon. If I did Peter Island again, I would anchor or grab a ball in Sprat Bay and not dock. If we are going to rent a slip on an upscale dock, I’ll do Scrub over Peter – YMMV.

Monday May 15 - We did a quick motor over to Norman Island for our last night in the BVI. On the way we grabbed a ball at the Indians and did a quick snorkel and had lunch. We did dinner on the boat and went in to Pirate’s Bight for drinks and desserts and then headed back to the boat to turn in.

Tuesday May 16 – We awoke to a good breeze (~15 kts) and had a quick breakfast. We put up the sails and set a SW course to take us on the south side of St. John. As we turned north into the Pillsbury Sound, we started the motor and motorsailed to Lind point. We grabbed a NPS mooring and took the dinghy around the bend to check in at Cruz Bay. We tied up the dinghy at the NPS pier. Again, CYOA had prepared us well and this took all of 5 minutes (we were the only ones checking in). We had some ice cream and stopped by the NPS to get more St. John snorkeling recommendations. Back at the boat, a quick lunch and we motored over to Hawksnest Bay. Imagine pulling into one of the most beautiful anchorages and you are the only boat there – that was us! Turtles all over the place and the snorkeling was great! We found a very cool secluded beach to hang out on. By 7pm, there were only two other boats present. We spent the night counting stars – no light pollution here.

Wednesday May 17 – Unfortunately it was time to go. We motored back to St. Thomas – filled the boat at Yacht Haven marina and were back at CYOA by 10:30. CYOA met with us and we did a detailed debrief of the boat – did any systems not work as expected? Were there any issues?

CYOA moved our bags off the boat while we grabbed a final meal at the Hook-Line-Sinker. We gave up doing the race to the airport years ago. We booked (through Airbnb) a 2BR/2BA condo at the Ritz Carlton for a few nights to relax a bit more before heading home on Friday May 19th.

If you have stuck with me so far, I’m impressed. Some final thoughts:

1. My next few charters will be CYOA – we were very impressed with the team and the boats.
2. We really want to spend some time exploring St. John, St. Thomas and the SVIs and CYOA is a good base to do that from.
3. I know this is a BVI forum but St. John is amazing if you are into quiet uncrowded anchorages and great snorkeling. There are limited areas to anchor but the mooring balls are plentiful ($26/night – cash or credit on the honor system) – consider a few days on St. John.
4. Like others, we have used Kevin’s Taxi many times. This time we used Mr. Wells Taxi service on St. Thomas (CYOA to Ritz and Ritz to STT). He was always early and he charged us less than what other folks paid (340.513.2722)
5. Leverick Bay is a special place with great people – as always, thank you Nick!

Cheers, LionSail

Nice reporting and sounds like a wonderful family trip!!

Great trip report--thank you!! We have considered CYOA in the past and, after this trip report, we will charter with them the next time!

You answered my questions about Peter from another post. Thank you! We agree, St. John is worth the time clearing customs if you have a longer charter. Great report!

Steve

Great report!
That master cabin on Big Papa is off the chain!
One entire hull of a 44-foot cat. An embarrassment of luxury.

We took Big Papa to the SVI a couple of years ago.

Yes, Cooper Island anchorages fill up on the weekends. I suspect it's because bareboat change-overs at The Moorings are on the weekends and everyone coming or going is staying somewhere close to Tortola. We made that mistake back in 2000.

Sounds like you had a great time! Our next charter with CYOA starts in just a few weeks.

Just fyi re Peter: Sprat is very small and no wind but if you go to Great Harbor and grab a ball on the eastern shore, and dingy into the beach, there is a maybe 5 min walk trail that leads straight to resort. So much better than Sprat IMHO.
Also if you every get back to SJU the southern shore is lessor known but very much worth exploring

"If you have stuck with me so far, I’m impressed." Are you kidding??? I didn't want it to end! I am overwhelmed trying to put together some idea of a great itinerary for our upcoming first bareboat charter to BVI trip. This is exactly the kind of post I find helpful and inspiring...thank you for sharing!!! Sounds like you had another wonderful trip!

Thanks for the trip report! We moored in Great Harbor the same night as you. We also took the dingy over to White Bay on Thursday. Had conch fritters at Hendo's (delicious), then strolled over to Soggy for a couple Painkiller's. That evening we went to Foxy's and bought some shirts and hats and had dinner back on the boat. What a beautiful night with the moon rising over the hill!

"Drive from State College, PA to NYC and stay at JFK Airport Hilton. 8 months ago Delta had pretty good JFK-STT fare"

Oh my, how long did it take you to drive to JFK? I am east of you and we have a cabin close to Coburn. We were making plans for the Arts Festival just this weekend.

Our love affair with the VIs started with STJ. There is a lot to love on the island. We enjoy Cruz Bay for the casual bars and restaurants, its a fun place to spend a few hours.

[quote]Cleobeach said:
"Drive from State College, PA to NYC and stay at JFK Airport Hilton. 8 months ago Delta had pretty good JFK-STT fare"

Oh my, how long did it take you to drive to JFK? I am east of you and we have a cabin close to Coburn. We were making plans for the Arts Festival just this weekend.


We are actually just down the road from Coburn in Boalsburg. We'll sometimes drop our kayaks in the creek in Coburn. Drive to JFK was about 5 hours. Longer than we like (we prefer State College, IAD or BWI) but the price was right. Enjoy Arts Fest - we timed the trip to be back in time for it. Cheers,

Small world, I buy my bras in Boalsburg and we have donated military memorabilia to the museum there.

If you ever want to kayak past Poe Paddy/trestle bridge and are looking for a place to leave a car, pull out and have a beer, drop me a PM.