I think I will finally take my son (who will be 5 at the time) sailing the BVI next year. I have always spent my trips relaxing without the boy in the past. Besides the obvious water-based activities, I would appreciate some suggestions of other activities to keep him interested. I just found a great nugget about horseback riding in Tortola. Any additional ideas would be appreciated!

spend some time on various beaches and climb through the baths on Virgin Gorda

Take him to The Elm on Sunday nights in CGB where he can dance with the other kids..James and Laughlin and their pals who will be 5 or 6 by then..and those kids love to dance to the Elmtones..he'll make friends..

Do it! Our daughter was 6 on our first charter and we've had a blast each time. Your son will be writing class stories about it for the next couple of years. Immediate thoughts include.

Reef tour with Gumption to see the turtles
Hike the trails above BEYC
Tarpon feeding at Saba
Hike around Sandy Cay to see the crabs and wildlife.
ATV ride around JVD
Ice cream treat in West End (or anywhere)
The big hammock in Trellis
The pool at Leverick.
Of course, the Baths
Michael Beans at Leverick is a must if you time it.

I'm sure I'll think of other highlights later. Here is our video from New Years 2013/2014.

BVI Video

Get him to the level of a good swimmer for his age and then take him snorkeling.

My son loved swimming with the fish at that age.

Fishing and preparing the fish could be fun.

He can help drive the dinghy.

You should have a blast.

Met a four year old on our last trip who had just discovered snorkelling. Couldn't get enough of it, and the fish! He had started at Marina Cay just off the beach: nicely shallow and lots of stripey fish (sergeant majors) he delightedly told me.
Could also try the bubbly pool, provided it is fairly quiet, lots to look for on way there too. Always goats and generally spot a mongoose or two.

Taking my 5 year old in December. He just swam 100 yards from my boat to the shore on Lake Norman. He was wearing a PFD. I intend to wear his butt out with swimming, snorkeling, sailing, fresh air and sun.

Brilliant. Have fun.

Your 5 year old will think everything is cool!! Have a noodle handy for him to snorkel with, my daughter liked that at that age. Let him help start the charcoal you'll cook the fish you catch! Non reef fish of course. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/toast.gif" alt="" />

All of the food establishments we took Lilly to always had a kids option at dinner. The issue we found was by dinner time she was too wiped out to eat and we just created a pallet for her to sleep somewhere. Unless there were other kids around, then she was too busy to eat.

Shallow beaches work best, we found the short drop off at the Anegada beaches were a bit much in the younger days. Pirates beach seems to be a great beach for kids, always kids around and things to do. The Baths in the late afternoon is great as there are few people, during the day it is too busy for kids.

Saba is Lilly's favorite in North Sound, fun to walk around and there is a new cat (lilly knows every cat in the Eastern Caribbean). Prickly Pear also has a good kids beach. The beach at Sidney's on Little Harbor is also a fun beach for kids.

It is a very different trip with kids, been dragging Lilly around the Caribbean since she was 7 weeks, now she is 10 and dive certified. Unrelated to BVI, she leaves the 18th to do 2 months of 5th grade outside of Madrid.

I also had a inflatable pool in out cockpit as well as a monster cooler she could bathe in. We would also rig a boson chair on the Clew of the headsail as a swing. Playing in the stackpak is also fun.

Lilly also survived well without a lifejacket....I know what horrible parents we are.

We took our kids to the islands since they were infants. Like kneafseym, my youngsters were crashed by about 5PM even with naps. We just lived according to the wee ones schedule, up at dawn and planned the big meal around lunch time. I wish we had the eno hammocks back then. Our mexican string hammock was great while it lasted for beach naps.

In the water, 5yo was when my girls really took to snorkeling. We started with just mask and fins and then added the snorkel when they got comfortable.

Cheers, RickG

You have been given some great suggestions here Mark.

One place my 2 year old nephew really liked was Spring Bay National Park on Virgin Gorda. There are huge boulders there that a 5 year old and his Dad would have a ball climbing all over. There's also a swing set, a picnic area (out of the sun) and some great little nooks and crannies to discover.

This is a path less traveled than the baths and the little ones love it! Highly recommended. Accessible by land or by sea. The path in by land is a lot easier to negotiate than the one at the baths.

Bury some treasure in the sand and let him discover it. Small fake gold coins are fun to find.

5 is the perfect age to start a child in the BVI. I took my son the first time when he was 5 and just took my granddaughter. She arrived on her 5th Bday. Snorkled everywhere and was jumpin from the top of a 4800 cat into the water. The best prep you can do is get them comfortable swimming face down in the pool with a snorkle. Other then that they will be a self entertaining unit in the BVI on a boat.
G

We started bringing our son at 4 months old. (Land).

In addition to the great suggestions, I'll expand on thing our now 9yo loved over the years -

Michael beans show. Rocked his world. If you are there during high season, make reservations and tell them you have a little one and ask for a table close to the stage.

In addition to the tarpon feeding, our son liked the "tank talk" afterwards on Saba.

Jumping off the rocks at Spring Bay. (Personally, I think it beats the Baths many times over)

The Copper Mine on VG. We went twice when he was nearly 4 yo and we pulled him away in tears each time because he didn't want to leave.

If your child likes pirates, pack swords, eye patches, loot bags, telescopes,etc. $20 worth of gear provided hours of daily entertainment. I swam to shore at Sandy Cay with a bag of costumes and we all dressed up and had a pirate adventure on the island when our son was 5yo.

On STJ, the ruins were a big hit. Also, snorkeling with the turtles at Maho.

Have fun. Our son is starting to cross over into the older years and I wish we would have done twice the trips when he was younger and always delighted with the world.

To be clear.
The path that Liane is referring to is to the
right (north) of Spring Bay Nat. Park and she
is absolutely correct. It would be a great,
"don't miss" father and child adventure.
The beach area is also referred to as "the Crawl"
There is no land path from Spring Bay to the Baths

Mike
Just killing time 'til April

Bring some cheap, but bright colored, water paints and let her paint anything she can find on the beach. Breakfast on the boat, bigger later in the day lunches ashore, dinner and early bed on the boat. My point.. if you are an itinerary kind of skipper focused on the beach places that will work for late lunch and make that the big meal/event of the day.

AWESOME INFORMATION! Thanks folks. I think the key here is to get over the fear of his being bored and just do it! From what you are telling me he will have more than enough to keep him busy.

Mark, unless your 5 year old is different from every other child I have ever known, there is no way he will get bored.

It's been my experience that if you give a kid a bucket, a little shovel, a plastic truck and maybe a ball and a swim mask ... he will amuse himself all day long. Stir in some of the best beaches in the world and put him on a boat in paradise, well, you do the math.

If he actually does get bored, stick an ipad or notebook in his hands and head over to the bar. You won't have to worry about him moving anywhere anytime soon. Even at two, my great nephew couldn't take his eyes off his notepad (puzzle games) long enough to eat! Sigh.

We were at Tropical Fusion on Tortola's West End and (to my disgust) my niece had brought my great nephew's notepad with them. When the meal came, Julie (my niece) reached over and took the notebook away. Naturally, Miles started to kick up a fuss and started crying. He then slumped over with his head down on the table and let out a wailing noise that sounded much like life as he knew it had come to an abrupt end.

His covered his little toehead with his hands ... as though he were in agony. Everyone at the table started to giggle. Such melodrama from a 2 year old! When he realized we were all laughing at him, he looked up, tears streaming down his face, threw his hands (palms up) to each side of his shoulder, eyes wide with incredulity and declared, "I'm crying here!"

This of course was followed by gales of laughter from our table as well as the table beside us. When he realized he wasn't convincing anyone, he smiled very sweetly, shrugged his shoulders, reached across his mother and grabbed a french fry off her plate and proceeded to grin at all of us.

It's a strange new world for kids these days. You know your child better than anyone. Just be sure to bring his favourite toy, blanket or whatever it is that he just can't live without. Mother nature will provide the rest.

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Lianne, I want to tell you that this post of yours totally reset my mood after work yesterday.

I know you've worked in tourism and hospitality " forever", and I know you understand that some holidays can be pretty grim and stressful for those who MUST work to make happy times for those who aren't.

Suffice to say that when I was done yesterday I was completely done in and unable to crawl out of my very adult misery.

That is, until I read your post. POOF !!!! all gone.

Thank you.

If I can only convince Grandpa to go too!

Make sure your son is comfortable in the water. Lots of hats, sunshirts and sunscreen to avoid sunburns.
We took our son when he was 8. Took him to a dive shop here in Seattle and they had an instructor teach him how to snorkel in the pool. Best idea we ever had. He was confident and safe. He made a flotilla of coconut ships and had an epic battle on Camanoe Island, he danced and hung out with the band at Bath and Turtle. He fished off the back of the boat. You can buy a cheap fishing rod and reel at the chandlery behind Village Cay.
We bought him a gameboy and he had two hours a day he could play it. He had a Pirates Journal that we wrote in every night. He still has his pirate hat and eye patch (he is 33). Teach him how the dinghy works. We spent one day at the pool at Bitter End. There were some local kids there and he had a great time.

For the Moorings folks on here do you know if they have fins for kids? We are going to bring the mask and snorkel.

Get in touch with moorings directly and see if you can make a reservation. However, It's probably prudent to bring your own so you have no worries.

Look up Guppy swim fins, easy to travel with, easy use and dirt cheap.

We have 3 kids and waited until the youngest was 5 to bareboat in the bvi. They all loved it. The 5 year old did great! There was so much for him to see and do. He or she will be exhausted from swimming and playing at the beach. We ended up having to eat dinner earlier or having to caring him out of the restaurants sleeping. Not an easy task getting back on dingy and back to boat. You will have a blast. Pack some floaties abs you'll be good to go!

http://www.swimoutlet.com/p/sporti-training-swim-fins-(color)-23088/

If you wind up bringing your own, and space is a premium, these work pretty good and are very pack able. They're made for swim training, but are just fine for snorkeling and general swimming around. My son was five at the time and we were able to find a pair that fit him.

Those worked well for our son.

you can probably skip the fins if packing is an issue. I had every intention, upon the advice of several parents whose opinion I values, of skipping the fins under the idea that one probably isn't doing hardcore snorkeling that requires the extra power and control fins add.

However, there was no way our son was going without fins. If daddy had fins, he wanted to wear fins!

Our son was 4 yo and we started off the beach. I would think going off the boat would make getting the fins on easier since you won't be battling the sand and him trying to walk in the fins.

Great advice from all. Thanks folks! I can't wait to get him hooked on Sailing in the BVI!