wondering how long the sail is from stt to the svi?

20 Miles give or take from our base in Frenchtown. It takes three to four hours on an average sail boat.

We did St. Thomas to Culebra, Puerto del Rey, Vieques and back last October. It was a great trip with excellent fishing between St. Thomas and Culebra. It was 3-4 hours there and a bit longer coming back. We loved and will try and fit in another visit as soon as possible.

Printed guidebooks are pretty outdated. I found the free cruising guide from Frank Virginitino usefu - http://freecruisingguides.com/free-cruising-guides/puerto-rico/

Here's a post about the trip:

https://dinghylife.wordpress.com/2015/11/23/culebra-4-nights-october-19-22-2015/

Cheers, RickG

Rick/Jay - We're looking to visit the SVI in November and clear in at Culebra. If it happens that we are requested by C&I to present ourselves, where is the C&I office - at the airport in Ensenada Honda?

C&I is at the airport. It is about a 20-minute walk right (north) from the town dock. The office is open until 5ish when the officer flies back to PR. There is an after hours number you can call to check in. The information on noonsite is current.

If you do not have a current DTOPS decal you will need to buy one. We own De Life, so we (mostly) keep the DTOPS renewed every year.

Cheers, RickG

BaardJ - I've played this game a few times. I've won a couple and lost a couple.

So, the right thing to do is to sail to Dewey, drop the hook and call customs to check in. Custom's is located at the airport.

However, We like spending the first two days at Culebrita. Trouble is, the cell service in Baya Tortugas is very bad.

Soooo... if you want to squint it a little, call customs (877-529-6840) when you're about two miles east of Culebrita. Note that this actually gets you a custom's office in PR, not Culebra. Have all passports in hand. Tell them you left St. Thomas a few hours earlier and you're approaching your SVI anchorage and are calling to clear in. Hopefully they will check you on through and let you stop at Culebrita.

If they tell you you have to go to Dewey it takes about an hour to get there from Culebrita. If you arrive about 3:30pm it's HIGHLY UNLIKELY that customs, who is way out at the airport, will want to visit your vessel so close to closing time (5pm). We've played this game twice.

So we dropped a lunch hook in Dewey, cleared in by phone and then beat feet back to Culebrita (another hour). The great thing about Culebrita is that about 4pm just about everybody leaves and you'll probably have your pick of mooring balls. It's not like the BVI, where you can be sunk trying to get a mooring after 4pm.

Good luck!

(P.S. we had a great vacation on Cuvee about a month ago!)

Why would a US citizen have to check in if coming from STT?

That's actually a good question, one that I have not heard a really good answer to.

What I've heard is that "It's a different economic zone."

In actuality I think there's a lot of drug traffic in the area being moved by small craft, and they want to know about everybody out on the water.

I've had C&I go-fast boats come blasting out of Rosy Rhodes to check up on us. It seems like once they realized I spoke English with a Yankee accent they lost interest in us.

That's good info. I have SVI on the to-do list and it never would have occurred to me to check in. I'm sure the charter co would make me aware of it, but otherwise, I'd just have sailed on in.

We have gone to SVI at least 5 times and we never had to show up in person, always checked in on the phone. We do have a DTOPS decal.

When you leave the US Virgin Islands by air everyone goes through US Customs and Immigration because we are considered outside the US Customs Zone and duty free.
But if I sail straight to the Mainland -- Newport, Charleston, Cape May etc. I do not have to check in with C&I??

Twanger posted:
"once they realized I spoke English with a Yankee accent they lost interest in us."

I find it hard to fathom that there are not any Yankee drug traffickers!

Thanks Twanger. Any recommended restaurants in Dewey (Heather's Pizza, Zaco's Tacos, Krusty Krab, Dinghy Dock, etc)?

I have the following itinerary in mind:
Day 1 - morning arrival in Ensenada Honda, lunch and stroll in Dewey, then either taxi to Playa Flamenco or head to anchorage at Bahia de Almodovar.
Day 2 - morning trip to Playa Tamarindo or Playa Carlos Rosario (depending on north swell) then afternoon/overnight at Cayo de Luis Pena.
Day 3 - spend day/overnight at Culebrita (or Ensenada Dakity if large north swell).
Day 4 - back to USVI

Will probably visit Vieques on a subsequent trip.


Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip on Cuvée - trip report?

Thanks Rick. We have the sticker.

I THINK the food at Dingy Dock is very good - think so as we were never able to move pass the appetizers, they are THAT tasty. Grouper fingers. And you're welcome.
We'd go with 2 other couples and just run the app menu, sharing the plates. What cruising should be.

Zaco Taco is also not to be missed, the fish tacos are brilliant and if he has the pork belly version available....well you'll know what to do.

Rosies is excellent. No one mentioned Mamsitas, is it still there?

Another vote for Zaco's Tacos...

Heather's, Zaco's, Mamacitas and the vendors at Flamenco Beach. Milka's Grocery has good steaks and fresh very lean ground beef.

Cheers, RickG

Yes, another vote for Zaco's.
I heard that the operators of Mamicitas are now running the Dingy Dock.
Good food there for sure.

We have anchored in Flamenco Bay twice.
The best spot is way up in the NE corner. The snorkeling is quite good right off the boat if you get close enough.

The surge gets in there but it's tolerable on a cat. Cuvee is pretty huge, so probably no problem at all. A mono would probably have a rough time. I would not anchor there in a north swell situation. No problem with the wind even a little bit south of east.

Baard - I've been so busy since getting back that I have not had time to do a Cuvee trip report. I did facebook every day while we were underway, but that doesn't help most folk here.

some answers in-line in all caps.

Day 1 - morning arrival in Ensenada Honda, lunch and stroll in Dewey, then either taxi to Playa Flamenco or head to anchorage at Bahia de Almodovar.

FLAMENCO IS ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BEACHES IN THE CARIBBEAN. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. GOOD SERVICES THERE - DRINK AND EATS IN A KIOSK THEME.
I CAN'T COMMENT ON ALMODOVAR.

Day 2 - morning trip to Playa Tamarindo or Playa Carlos Rosario (depending on north swell) then afternoon/overnight at Cayo de Luis Pena.

IT'S AN HOUR RUN (INSIDE PASSAGE) BACK TO TAMARINDO FROM DEWEY. I LOVE THAT PLACE. THE JACUZZI'S ARE WORTH A VISIT - THEY ARE LOCATED WHERE THE MAIN ISLAND BREAKS DOWN ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE ANCHORAGE NEAR THE ENTRANCE. YOU CAN GET A DINGY IN THERE, BUT WE WALK IT IN THE LAST 100 YARDS.

GOOD/GREAT SNORKELING AT ROSARIO.

GREAT SNORKELING AT LOUIS PENA. GREAT SCUBA DIVING TOO.
I DID MY OPEN WATER QUAL DIVES THERE LAST YEAR.

Day 3 - spend day/overnight at Culebrita (or Ensenada Dakity if large north swell).

DAKITY IS SUPPOSED TO BE REALLY NICE, AND WE'VE NEVER MADE IT THERE. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU DO!

Day 4 - back to USVI

IF YOU SAIL, TACK WAY SOUTH TOWARDS STX, AND THEN BACK TO CA WHEN BEARING ALLOWS. I WAS PRETTY IMPRESSED HOW CLOSE TO THE WIND WE COULD SAIL CUVEE. MUCH BETTER THAN OTHER CATS. WE WERE GETTING 8+ KNOTS CLOSE HAULED IN ABOUT 15-18 KTS OF TRUE WIND. AVOID MOTORING BETWEEN SAVANNA ISLAND AND STT. IT'S SAFE ENOUGH, BUT THE SEAS REALLY BUILD UP IN THERE.

We liked Dakity a lot. There are some moorings there and it is very protected. The water is swimmable vs. the anchorage off of Dewey. There is supposed to be a pair of Manatees who live in this area.

When we sailed back to the USVI we took the northern route between Jost and St. Thomas and spent the night at Maho Bay, St. John. We were rocking and rolling, but it was about the same amount of time as trying to get to the south coast of St. Thomas.

Cheers, RickG

Thanks for the tips. We sailed Cuvée past Savana Island last April on the way to Annapolis. We had 20 kt SSE winds with 8' seas funneling between Savana and St Thomas and it was a washing machine in that area. I was trolling 4 lines while sailing at 11+ kts and thinking there was absolutely no way would get a bite until we got into smoother water north of Savana. Just then we hooked and landed a 20 lb King Mackeral!

For canadians going to SVI: will be in USVI for a week then heading to SVI... Any special check in? And on return do we re- check in again at USVI (st John) ? Thanks.

not sure about Canadians, but you do not have to check back into the USVI

We had two Canadians on board last time we went to the SVI.
This cause us no special worry.

HOWEVER - please make sure you have passport stamped coming into the US. Our Canadians drove across the Canuk/US border and didn't get their passports stamped somehow. When we got to Puerto Rico they were heavily questioned about "why not" and where did they enter the US, and how!