Here is a short trip report from last week Jan and first week of Feb this year. Instead of including detail of all the common stops/activities, will just cover things that were new or different for us (based on 5 prior bareboat charters in USVI/BVI).

Chartered out of Red Hook, USVI, our 4th from there. This time cleared in at Great Harbor JVD, instead of the usual at Sopers. Arrived GH at about noon on a Thursday, all moorings full and had to anchor the boat while clearing in. It is probably my imagination, but seems like less $$$ paid by clearing in at GH versus Sopers... how the exact charges add up is always a little murky to me, but I am probably just not up to speed on these details.

Left for Diamond Key, arrive there 1:30 or so, again all moorings already full, plus 4 or 5 anchored in vicinity of the mooring field. We then joined about 8 or 9 other boats anchored in the area behind sandy spit. After 2 resets we finally got a good set for the night. (The little ridge that runs through that area, about 18 to 20 ft appears sandy when looking at it from the surface, but I snorkeled the anchor, it was "hard" and the CQR would not bite) There were about 3 other boats setting and re-setting in the same area, one of them was still trying to get a set after dark, we were a little worried about them, not sure what they ended up doing that night. I have never seen so many boats out on the water, in 5 prior charters we never had problem getting mooring at Diamond Key if we arrived by 2 or 3....
Stayed at Scrub one night, very nice and they offer a great breakfast at reasonable cost, typically we have a simple breakfast on the boat, but would recommend it as a little something different.

We enjoyed Anegada island for the first time. Rented car from Dean W., stayed there for two days/nights. Really enjoyed cow wreck beach and loblolly. We took most all of the advice listed on Walker's "anegada website", we intend to return there. Dinner there at Wonky Dog, best meal of the trip (closely followed by upstairs at Leverick).
Two nights on mooring at Saba, the dinner salad bar and buffet were very good that night.
Two days/nights at Cooper with a dingy trip to Salt, with hike to the top of the hill above wreck of the Rhone.
A night at Norman and a night at Maho after clearing back at Cruz Bay. This time we went to dingy dock near the ferry at Cruz Bay and walked over to customs, we liked doing that as opposed to tying onto the end of the concrete dock at customs, because in the past we have always went over to the shops at Cruz Bay after clearing in (and moved the dingy to ferry dock after clearing in).....
Perfect weather for 13 days, a perfect charter. No problems with the boat, what else could we ask for?

Thanks for the report!

Who'd you charter from, and how was the boat?

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

We went with Island Yachts in Red Hook St Thomas. The boat was perfect, a 44ft Island Packet. Just the admiral and myself....
The thing I noticed different on this trip from others, it seemed like the moorings filled up everywhere we went by 12 or 1 in the afternoon, this includes Anegada, Saba Rock, Cooper, Great Harbor and Diamond Key. We noticed Marina Cay full by lunch time when we were staying at Scrub Island Marina. Seemed very busy....

It's weird, because when we were down through the second week of January everywhere we went was MOBBED, but last week it was like a ghost town everywhere.
We were the only boat on the dock at Scrub & Peter, I heard Beans say one of the nights that it was his smallest crowd all season, and we didn't even have to climb over multiple dinghies at Willy T this past Saturday. Maybe we just take a weird route compared to everyone else, but it seemed like everyone just disappeared the weekend of 2/6.

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

How was that boat briefing at IYC? we ended a many years back with..."OK, we got it...can we leave?" after it was clear that we were the only thing he had to do that day.

Great boats, great staff.

We noticed that too.
The Bight on Jan 26th was as empty as I’ve seen it in 15 years. Weird
Lind Point on Feb 5th – Take your pick
On Feb 6th and 7th Water Island was standing room only.

Hallucination -- the briefing is about 2 hours, maybe a little less.... I am probably in the minority, but I appreciate the thoroughness with the boat briefing. They go over all the systems on the boat in great detail, at the end you will know not only where all the switches are but also how each system works and, if there is a problem, where to find the source of it and maybe even how to fix it. For me, much easier to get on with vacation if I can just quickly fix any small problem that may pop up versus calling for outside assistance.
Having said that, the biggest problem we have ever had on one of the IYC Island Packets was a shower drain that started draining slow, but, since they showed me where the strainers were during the briefing, I took care of the problem in a couple of minutes myself. I think that was about 2 or 3 charters ago...
They have some pretty cool people working there at IYC.
Just be patient during the boat briefing. They way I look at it, if I am going to spend 10 or 12 days "out there", it is worth a couple of hours to understand everything about the boat.