We choose a 40' Cat through Horizon Yacht Charters, Boat's Name was Double Expresso. Let me start by saying I will never charter through them again. The yacht was in very bad shape and obviously has not been maintained very well. But I will save my Horizon gripe for a separate post. But do not use them. BVI Yacht Charters last year was much better.

Trip started off with a supposed 2:30pm landing at STT but our plane was delayed out of Miami and we arrived at 3:30pm and ended up missing the last ferry to Tortolla at 4pm. All hotels were full but we were lucky enough that there were about 20 of us who missed it and we found a ferry out of Red Hook to take us over for $125 each.

Once we arrived at the base at 9:30am, Horizon had just started to get our boat ready and we were not able to leave the dock until almost 2pm because of their procrastination. We set sail for Peter Island to visit Willy T's for the first night and we had a good time. Not much else going on in Great Harbour besides Willy T's. Plenty of Mooring Balls were available.

Next day we headed to Trellis Bay for the full moon party. Still alot of boats washed ashore but very cool snorkeling because of all the debris still underwater. Plenty of mooring balls available here as well. Crowds were certainly lighter than normal and most places were pretty dead at night besides one locals spot that was packed with locals. They do have some fire balls back on the water but not the big cool ones like they had last year. Lot's of recovery still needs to be done here. We still had a good time though and will revisit.

Day 3 we headed to the Bath's which are as beautiful as ever and were not affected visually by the storm at all. One of our crew even said it was so beautiful that he had a very emotional experience and even teared up, so this is still a must see in BVI.
We ended the night at Leverick Bay where we docked and replenished the water tanks and ice coolers. Leverick Bay looks great and has totally recovered. They had showers, laundry, provisioning and pretty much have bounced back 100%. We ate dinner upstairs and had a wonderful dinner. The Mahi was to die for.

Day 4 we had planned to go to Anegada but had so many problems with the boat that I decided to stay close to the main islands so that we wouldnt be stranded out there. So we went to Prickly Pear Island and hung out on a deserted beach there. It was awesome. We motored through Saba Rock and Bitter End, litterally nothing is open there so don't waste your time. We picked up a mooring ball that evening at Biras Creek. A guy came out and charged us the $30 mooring fee but did not have trash or ice service.

Day 5 we headed to Marina Cay. The bar was open with a few food items and the dock did have ice and water. We had some very yummy pain killers and hung out there for the day. They still have a long way to go. No showers.

Day 6 we went to Scrub Island and had planned to stay there but we found out that the back side of the island was not open which was always the main reason we went there. The 2nd level bar was open but there are no swim up bar seats in the shade at all anymore which was disappointing. Their provisioning store was open and we were able to buy Carib and other essentials there. We then headed to Guana Island and did some amazing snorkeling at Monkey Point. We then picked up a mooring ball at White Bay there and walked down the beach. It was beautiful but their were a couple of resort staff members there that made sure we didn't leave the beach as it is a private island. One worker told us they had just repopened and had their first guests on the island since Irma. Beautiful beach and I highly recommend stopping here and monkey point. There wasnt much wind there at their mooring balls so we went back to monkey point and stayed on a national mooring ball overnight. (Yes, I know this is a no no) but we needed a breeze.

Day 7 we headed to Jost and went to Soggy Dollar and the bar to the left of it. Pain Killers were actually a little light on the rum side so I think they may be trying to make up some profit here. I would actually recommend one of their other drinks where you can actually see them pour the liquors. Lot's of newly planted Palm trees and we had a great time like always here. We then headed over the great harbour for the evening, at dinner at a lovely restaurant that I cant recall the name of. Went to foxy's later and had some drinks and a great time. The DJ was terrible but we managed.

Day 8 we headed to Norman and snorkeled the Indians. This was actually the best snorkeling I have ever seen there, it was amazing and lots of fish. We went to check out The bight but realized very quickly that they are not open and the entire mooring field was empty except for about 3 boats. We left and decided to head over to Peter to stay by Willy T's for the evening. I'm glad we did, because it was a crazy Willy T's night. But as you know what happens there, stays there so I'll let you use your imagination.

Day 9 we spent the entire day at Deadman's Bay on Peter Island. (this is the resort's private beach) but they have made very little progress and are a long way from opening. We enjoyed the private beach and water to ourselves for the entire day and then headed back to base at Nanny Cay for our final night on the water.

Day 10 we packed up and headed out. It only took about 15 minutes to buy our ferry tickets to Amalie and pay the departing fee. Ferry ticket was $45 departing fee was $20/pp. We cleared customs quickly at Charlotte Amalie but when we arrived at the airport, we were surprised to see a very long line to clear customs at STT. We stood in line for about an hour and a half and it was dreadful. The airport is in shambles and they have done very little to repair hurricane damage. At least half of the ceiling tiles in the entire airport were missing as well as no AC.

In conclusion, there is still a ton of work to be done in USVI and BVI. We are however glad we went as it is certainly obvious that they still need a lot of help to get back to where they used to be.

As far as mooring balls go, we had no trouble no matter where we went to get an available one. Of course this is the off season. I'll be back in December and report back my findings then.

P.S. Don't use Horizon Yacht Charters - They are not maintaining their boats properly.

We were there same weeks. I think my favorite experience of the whole trip was the night on a ball at Saba where we had the place nearly to ourselves. Just us and the moon and an unblocked view into Eustatia Sound. Alone in paradise. Only one other boat in the distance occupied by some workers. It us great that the BVI csn be different things to give each the vacation they need.