TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI to St. Croix/SVIs?

Hi All,

Thanks very much for all your help so far with my charter plans. I have another question. Does anyone know if Moorings, Sunsail or any other BVI based charter company allow bareboat charterers to sail to St. Croix and/or the SVIs? I've been trying for days to get in touch with Moorings/Sunsail about this, but they aren't answering the phone or responding to e-mails so I figured I would try you folks. Thanks!

Regards,

Matt

Matt - I asked my longtime good friend your question because I knew he would have an answer! His suggestion below:


QUOTE:

"I have sailed to St. Croix several times. I always used either Moorings or Sunsail since they were to only charter company that allowed sailing to St. Croix.

Almost all my trips were ASA teaching trips. I liked sailing from the BVIS to St. John’s to clear customs making it easier when you arrive at St. Croix.

In St. Croix, customs is at the airport.

Option 1 - clear out of BVIs and spend the night at the Bite. Then head out early for St. Croix to clear customs after arriving.

Option 2 - clear out of the BVIs and sail to St. John’s. I think you can now clear customs online. I always stayed at Little Lamshire Bay on south St. John’s. This is a beautiful place and you will be all alone.

Then sail to St. Croix. This is a better angle of sail. You will have to anchor in Gallows Bay.

We always took a day ashore touring St. Croix. It is a really great place. "

I would suggest that one review the allowed sailing area in the charter contract. Depending on the term of your charter you will need to account for the customs issues, clear out of BVI, clear in to US, clear back in to BVI. Though I have not tried this with Moorings/Sunsail, I have seen other contracts that limit the sailing area to no further than 5 miles south of Norman, and no further south than Cruz Bay, St. John.

Look at https://www.virginislandsyachtcharters.com/

They list USVI, BVI, and Spanish VI on their website. Great people and boats.

SailATX

Way points, previously CYOA allowed qualified crews to sail to St Croix. They also allowed boats to visit SVI.

According to the internet, there is a customs and border protection office in Christiansted. If you clear into the USVI in St John, then there is no need to clear into St croix.

This trip would be easier if you chartered out of St Thomas.

Thanks everyone. Totally agree that St. Croix and the USVIs are easier out of St. Thomas. I started with the companies there (and still have some hope Island Yachts may work out), but availability is extremely limited for my dates. To share what I've learned so far about the BVI-based companies in case it is helpful to anyone else in the future, both Moorings and Sunsail allow sailing to all the USVIs (including St. Croix), but not the SVIs. Horizon is the opposite, they allow sailing to the SVIs but not St. Croix. I was surprised by Horizon's position, since it seems to me that Tortola to St. Croix is an easier trip than Tortola to the SVIs (especially on the way back). I suppose the SVI trip is less open water and doesn't need to be a direct shot since you can stop in St. John and St. Thomas on the way.

Happy Thanksgiving to all (except Capn_mark and Warren, for whom I'm about 6 weeks late).

Regards,

Matt

You should also check out SailCaribe out of Fajardo, PR. We've chartered through them a few times and we were allowed to sail pretty much anywhere between mainland PR and the BVIs. Also nice that you get the tough part out of the way first and the return sail is downwind. And you fly into San Juan which tends to be easier than EIS or STT, not to mention provisioning options are very abundant in PR. If you don't go to the BVIs you don't really have C&I to deal with except for a quick check-in when you return back to PR/SVIs from the USVIs. If you do want to make it to the BVIs and back (or vice-versa) I would give yourselves at least ten nights and ideally two weeks, otherwise you are basically just overnighting at a lot of places.

edit> I should add that it's been several years since I've chartered with them and perhaps their rules have changed. I didn't see anything about the BVIs and actually not even the USVIs on their site. Maybe they don't allow it anymore with the BVIs adding so many restrictions. And they aren't showing any boats in their charter fleet. Still may be worth a call or email though.

Thanks, snmhanson. I have done several charters with SailCaribe in the SVIs and have been really happy with them. Really well run operation with well maintained boats. They used to permit their cats to sail to the USVIs (but not their monohulls). They no longer permit any of their boats to go to the USVIs or the BVIs.

We sailed from BVI to St. Croix 5 or 6 years ago. Never got an okay from Moorings as far as I recall. We knew there would be no chase boat support and we had a few issues to deal with (including a broken traveller). We cleared in at St. John, stayed a night at that anchorage near STT after a couple nights around St thomas, then off we went. It was a fantastic sail and we loved Christiansted (stayed one night there (crowded anchorage) and spent 3-4 nights at Buck Island (not to be missed! -- permit required to anchor there which we got at the NPS office in town....I think you can get a permit now online). Sailed west to Salt Bay one day, but decided not to stay....hot muggy, buggy and unmarked VERY shallow entrance...hit sand a few times coming in. Sailed back to Norman Island on a nice beam reach. Cleared back in to BVI the next day at Spanish Town (memory is hazy on that, tho). Then up to Anagada. It was an amazing 2-week trip. I think we did a total of 300NM. Next time we get a 2+ -week window we plan to do the BVI - SVI - St. Croix - BVI trip.