TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands First Sail for a new Grandma

Appreciate All Input
We have chartered 8+ times in the BVI and are looking to experience new cruising grounds.
As background I spent 6 weeks last fall doing medical relief work in Puerto Rico and now have a special place in my heart for the people of PR-not to mention the amazing coffee. This trip will be with our first grandchild celebrating her 1st birthday on board.
A lot of new cruising grounds are off the table due to the need for easy access to short passages and easy access to sold ground and heaven forbid a pediatrician. The SVIs seem like the place to go. Are there others?
How is the SVI now? Are there moorings that are easy to access?. Are there dinghy docks to come into? Are there markets with Ice and missing provisions?
Thank you so much in advance for insights on where to go and what to anticipate with a 1 year old.

First of all, thanks for your medical relief efforts in PR!

As I cobble together the crew, I presume that it's Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, and an almost 1 year old...yes? I'm not sure that a bareboat charter in the SVI would be the perfect experience. Once you finish puttering around Culebra and Culebrita, it's necessarily off to Vieques. It's only about 15 miles, but may be more exposed than you'd like. You can find all your answers as to provisioning, and dinghy docks, and the like by Googlin'. But the bottom line is that it's a bit less 'convenient' than puttering around the BVI. And although the anchorages (with mostly free moorings!) aren't quite roadsteads, they're not the protected bays that you're used to in the BVI.

Here's some ideas to consider:

Stick to the BVI, and show your new grandchild (albeit, not quite old enough to remember - but Mom and Dad sure are!) all of the great places that you love in the BVI...or

Rent a house on Culebra (near Dewey) for the week. It's cheap, and will undoubtedly have a swimming pool. Find one with a little powerboat included, and you'll have a great time going to Culebrita, and puttering around Ensenada Honda. And there's tons of stuff to do on Culebra. If you want to push it, take a plane to Vieques, and spend the day. Not super expensive.

And the best part is, Mom and Dad can put junior to bed after a nice cool bath, in a real bed, with no worries.

I've done both...sailed the SVI, and rented a house on Culebra. When the kids were young, the house rental was awesome!

Let us know how it goes!

The SVI offers exposed anchorages, rolls depending on the time of year, extremely limited opportunities for provisions fuel and water. The sailing is generally straight into the wind. Dewey has dinghy docks. Only Dewey and Vieques has restaurants. That’s about it.

Some of the anchorages are georgeous.

Personally I like the advice above. Ie. Rent a villa or go back to the bvi.

A water maker would be a big plus in the SVI.

I'm not familiar with the SVI, but given the comments above and what I've seen in the past regarding the SVI, I would probably stick to the BVI/USVI. And we've got a 3.5 year old who we've taken sailing since he was 6 months. Even moved our boat with him from St Lucia to the BVI when he was a bit over a 1.5 years old.

My main reasons - it sounds like this is her first sailing trip? Given that, you really don't know what to expect from her. She could be miserable. In the BVI, you'd have many options if she was miserable. In the SVI, fewer options. With a 1 year old, I'd rather have more options. When we did our St Lucia to BVI trip, it was my sons 4th week long plus trip so we knew what to expect. Even so, I knew if he was unhappy with the longer sailing time, that worst case we could stop along the way and I could have him fly out with my wife. Fortunately he loved it though.

We always made sure to bring what we needed. Diapers, baby wipes..etc. We also brought a small pack and play (smallest they make I think). We also tried to have A/C most of the time. Whether we ended up on a boat with genset and A/C or used shore power. My son gets hot easily like I do so it was good to have a cool place for him to nap and sleep. And finally, we brought our own life vest - wanted one we knew fit well and would keep him afloat if needed.

Thank you all! This was exactly the info I needed.Cheers!

Let me echo the comments above. We have chartered in the BVI's 6 times (including twice with 4 young grandkids), Grenadines 3 times, St Maarten 1 time, etc. Our last trip, in April with two other 70 year old couples, was to the SVI (STT to Culebra / Culebrita to Vieques to St Croix / Buck Island to STT). Loved the trip, lots of great long 5-6 hour sails, some heavy seas. Many more meals on the boat, because of fewer shore dining options. IMO, the SVI is a trip for adults and older kids (teens and up) who want to focus on sailing and more remote (less populated) anchorages. I would not take my grandkids, now 10 through 16 years of age, to the SVI.

I'm curious aarpskier - what makes you not want to take the grandkids at 10-16? I wouldn't hesitate to take our son who's 3.5. I just don't think it is a trip for a child that has no experience sailing or little experience. You really need to know they will do well under longer sails. Is that really what it does down to for you - not wanted the subject them to 5-6 hours of sailing?