Many visitors to St Thomas and St John have a day trip to the BVI (usually the Baths) on their must-do list.There are several options from bare boat to luxury AI boats with captain and crew. We have friends who wanted to bare boat and we tagged along. We had a 28' Fountain with twin 150hp. outboards. The weather was perfect for motor boating- 5-10 knot winds from the southeast and flat seas.
Our friend wanted to go to North Sound. We left the dock at about 9 after the check-out. Very interesting that they are cautioning people against going to the BVI now, mostly because of the nickle and diming fees that are being added on. They do give some good USVI itineraries including the new spot on the south side of St Thomas as an alternative beach bar.
Anyway, It took us 1 1/4 hour to get to Spanish Town, full tilt up the lake that was the north side of Tortola. We saw a friend of ours who does a crewed charter to Virgin Gorda pull in as were were leaving, so we must have made good time. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" /> We zoomed to the Bitter End for our friends to shop while we had a lovely drink with Bacchus, a bartender from St Lucia, discussing life in the BVI vs. St Lucia. We arrived there around 11:30. I didn't check the time, but we went over to Saba Rock for lunch. As an aside, this is our favorite place in North Sound, but we haven't been there in 2 years. They have made major upgrades to the place- from the bathrooms to the observation decks off the garden. They have a helipad and are redoing the rooms. Really nice job! We had lunch, a tour of the changes, shopping for the shoppers. Checked out the lion fish in the aquarium and then in was off. Full tilt boogie again. We arrived back at American Yacht Harbor at 4:30 to fill up and return the boat.
The editorial part: We spent a bunch of time going real fast to have 2 1/2 hours in North Sound. That was our friend's goal, so that was okay. But honestly, if you want to see the Baths or Virgin Gorda, go, stay a few days and enjoy. We had the perfect weather for this trip, most days it would have been less comfortable. I also would suggest a captained charter for the local knowledge edge. I know lots of people have this "I want to drive!" mentality. The cost is really not that different per person for the same size boat.
