New to USVI.

We have been on many sailing trips through the BVI but several weeks from now we will be starting our first USVI based sailing trip from St Thomas.

Looking for recommendations on where to go and what to do fwith I’m the TTOL experts.

Thanks!

this is a good place to start.

https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Which direction are you thinking of going? You can go west to SVI or you can go east to St. John either as a destination all on it's own or on the way to the BVI.

Thanks LocalSailor!

Agrimsrud, we have no plan at all other than Christmas Day in Christmas Cove. I mean, why not? It’s our first Christmas in de ilons mon. 😉

We would like to explore both coasts of St Thomas and St John. No plans to go to BVI this trip.

If you stay st thomas and st john you will on most days not be sailing very far. Where to go? That's entirely dependent on what you want to find. We don't tend to spend much time on St. Thomas because it's not what we're looking for. Nonetheless, I think Magen's bay and the Christmas Cove area are nice. St. John is more my style but if solitude isn't what you are looking for you may be disappointed. Far fewer eats/bar places than you will see in the BVI. My favorite St. John places are Cinnamon, Maho, Francis and Leinster bays on the north side. On the south side Little and Great Lameshur as well as Salt Pond bays. You might venture in to Coral Harbor to find some eat-ashore establishments. Many years ago we stayed a night in hurricane hole but I don't think you can do that anymore.

Thanks!

St John has a lot of beautiful bays and the island is loaded with excellent restaurants and bars and unlike the BVI the service is tenfold the BVI
Only thing is around Christmas if you have north winds the anchorages on the north shore will be super rolly and you’d have to moor off Caneel, Leinster or the south shore where you’ll be more isolated.

There are 21 brand new mooring balls in Christmas Cove. That said it fills up very quickly with crewed charter boats and liveaboards. We motored by there late afternoon this past Sunday and all were taken plus several boats were anchored. If heading out late afternoon, you should have a backup plan that gives you an extra 20~45 minutes of daylight to get to Caneel Bay or further to Francis/Maho Bay.

Have to agree with the service aspect.