I will be captaining my third bareboat BVI charter 6/27 - 7/7 and have a few questions for the knowledgeable and helpful denizens of TTOL. The trip will include my family of 4 and friends of ours, also a family of 4. Two of them are experienced sailors. We will be on what looks like a gorgeous 2014 48 ft Oceanis 4 cabin/4 head monohull from Dream Yachts. I have not read much about this company here or elsewhere. Can anyone comment on Dream Yachts - their boats, service, briefings, overall experience etc? Also, are crowds from cruise ships an issue this time of year? The bviports.org link shows no Roadtown activity during our trip but another site, ports.cruisett.com, shows 3 ships in Roadtown. Which site do I believe? If a cruise ship is in port, what should we do to avoid the crowds? Lastly, any thoughts about cruising the BVI in late June/early July? My prior charters were early June. Will most restaurants and services be open? Sailing conditions generally good?

Thanks so much,

We've sailed at the end of June/beginning of July and really enjoyed it. The cruise ships will bring crowds to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, the Baths on Virgin Gorda, and White Bay, JVD to name a few places specifically. They are generally gone by mid-late afternoon. White Bay can still be really lovely early or later in the day.

We really loved sailing the Oceanis 41 and friends of ours have sailed the 45 and loved it so I can only imagine the 48 is going to be fun and fast as well. You will likely have a serious draft so if you're planning on Anegada, keep that in mind and check out the anchoring options since the mooring field there will likely be too shallow.

Most closings don't start to happen until August, I believe, so you should be just fine at that time of year.

Don't know much about Dream Yacht Charters as a company but I'm sure someone here can weigh in.

We chartered on owners time out of Dream Yacht Charters last year during the same time frame that you are going. The experience was fine, except that they had to exchange the Lagoon 520 we were supposed to be on for a Saba 50 due to apparent issues with the Lagoon. Those things happen I guess but it would have been nice to know ahead of time. Maybe because it was owners time it wasn't communicated to us effectively. The boat was well equipped and the check out and check in went without a hitch. We had one service call due to a bad fuel filter while we were motoring from St. Thomas into fairly rough swell. They sent someone out to meet us at Soper's and had it fixed within a couple hours. Overall, our experience with DYC was on par with other charter companies we have used (aside from the boat exchange which I consider an anomaly). We are chartering with them again this June but out of Antigua.

As far as conditions, we were there for three weeks. The first half was perfect 10-15 knots most days and small swell. I was expecting it to be super hot and humid but it wasn't bad at all. The second half the wind kicked up to 15-25 knots and 6-8' swell. While we enjoyed those conditions, it was a bit rough for a few people that were down with us. Nothing unmanageable by any means. Not sure if this is normal for June/July as I've heard the winds can get light, but it was great for us.

We were told that the second half of June can be like a mini high season as families come down once school is out. However, we found that with the exceptions of Cooper and Anageda, mooring balls were generally easy to come by well into the afternoon at most spots. Pretty much all of the bars and restaurants were still open but reservations were easy to come by and generally not even needed. It was nice that there were more boats with kids compared to other times we've gone that were not during a school break. We didn't run into any cruise ship crowds, though I know there were a few down there on certain days. Not nearly as many as winter and spring time though. Not sure which schedule to look at to determine when they will be there.

All-in-all, we had a great charter and I wouldn't hesitate to use DYC, or to go at the start of summer again.

Late June/early July is mostly past the mini high that has been mentioned. But is still a little busy because the Porto Rico Navy show up in droves for the 4th of July week.
Everything is open. Conditions are just fine.
The Oceanis 48 has a shoal draft (very likely what your boat will have) of 6 ft 0. Anegada should be fine.

Thanks for these comments. Dream's website states the 48's draft is 7 ft (2.15m). Their customer service in Annapolis says Anegada is OK but from what I've read and per Winterstale, the mooring field sounds too close for comfort. Should I anchor of Pomato point or the commercial dock rather than take a ball in the mooring field? If so, is there depth to motor around and approach the anchoring site form downwind? Any other anchoring advise for Anegada?

If your boat is a deep draft I don't think I would go to Anegada. My personal boat is 6 foot and some change and I have to be very careful about Anegada. You will not have many options on where to anchor.

You might just get on one of thr Northern most balls but I suspect you will be touching at low tide. I would anchor off the commercial dock. You will also not make it into White Bay JVD so plan on Great harbor and dinghy or cab over.
G

CaptainJay mentioned our boat, 6'5" per manufacturer. I hug the south side of the channel going in/out. I anchor off of Setting Point in 10'-12'. The main anchorage with mooring balls has been silting up this past year, so we don't even try in there. In November we anchored east of the last red channel marker and had a half dozen boats as company.

7'? Its possible, but I would double check the draft, depth gauge and tides and anchor at Pomato Point.

I remember a blog post by Zanshin about his shortest ever visit to Anegada.

Cheers, RickG

I visited Anegada a few years ago in a boat with a 6' 11" keel. I mudded her briefly two times in a matter of a few minutes. If you know what you're doing it's probably not a problem. It was my first time there so I wasn't very familiar with the landmarks. I've been there since that time with shoal keel boats with no problem. I seriously doubt I'll ever make that trip again with a keel over 6ft - just not worth the stress.