First, I want to thank the contributors to this forum for many ideas that helped to make our trip a success.

I’ll try to be brief, and focus on what might be useful to those planning BVI bareboat cruises. The itinerary below is fairly easy, and somewhat optimized for those who prefer spending time at destinations rather than sailing. We did not go to the North Sound (had been there on two previous cruises), and sought out the less-crowded anchorages as much as possible.

We chartered a Moorings 3800 (exclusive line, and in fine shape). There were 5 of us: myself, my long-suffering spouse, daughter (23), son (18), daughter’s boyfriend (now fiance—he proposed in Savannah Bay) (also 23). This was our 3d BVI bareboat, and first ever in a cat. After 30 years of sailing only in monohulls, we’ll never go back. Our previous BVI charter (5 years ago) was a Moorings 463. The 3800 had more room, was easier to sail, and easier to maneuver. I think it was slower than the 463, but that was not an important factor given the short distances involved. People may complain about the windward performance and tacking ability of a cat, but in reality (unless you’re a glutton for punishment) there is really no point tacking upwind in a cat in the BVI—it’s much faster and simpler to use the “iron jenny” (those twin 40hp diesels). In the entire week, we never tacked once, and jibed only 3 or 4 times. This was also the first boat I had sailed with a GPS chart plotter and autohelm—both of which make sailing and navigating very, very easy.

Day 1. Road Town to Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island. Arrived by 1pm, still plenty of mooring balls left. Nice dive and snorkel at Cistern Point, and nice dinner at the Cooper Island Beach Club. But a hot, windless evening, which made sleeping difficult. I think that is a general problem with Manchioneel Bay.

Day 2. Manchioneel Bay to Cam Bay, Great Camanoe Island. On the way we stopped at a mooring at Marina Cay to dive and snorkel Diamond Reef. Cam Bay was well-protected, but with a nice cooling breeze throughout the night. A few Moorings crewed catamarans joined us in the anchorage later in the afternoon, and one of the captains said that this was off-limits to Moorings bareboat charters. We stayed put, but he may have been right. We took the dinghy over to Marina Cay to refill our air tanks, and it was much nicer than I remembered from our first BVI cruise 10 years ago. The snorkeling was terrific at Cam Bay (rays, turtles, squid, etc.), as was dinner at Donovan’s Reef.

Day 3. Cam Bay to Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda (via the Baths). We got to the Baths by 10am, and got the last mooring ball. Savannah Bay, which is fairly large and has a beautiful beach and good snorkeling, was nearly deserted. Had a very good dinner at Giorgio’s table, and a nice breeze throughout the evening made for great sleeping conditions. I can’t figure out why this is not a more popular anchorage.

Day 4. Cam Bay to White Bay, Guana Island (via the Dogs, to dive, and Marina Cay, for water). Went diving at “The Chimney”. The mooring balls are a long swim south of the interesting part of the dive site, and the dive was further messed up because I decided to take off and rearrange my tank and BC in mid-dive at about 45’. Took a while to get it back on. Otherwise, the dive would have been great! Anchored in White Bay, snorkeled the anchor (which we always do), and decided it was so firmly wedged between and under two rocks that we would have a difficult time getting it up in the morning. Snorkeled Monkey Point, and saw the billions of bait fish it is famous for. Snorkeled the north side of White Bay, and saw tens of billions of bait fish, along with a few sharks and tarpon, albeit with relatively poor visibility. Had dinner on the boat. Then, at about 2am, my wife woke up to find that our anchor had broken out and we had drifted about half a mile due west, and were now in open ocean on the north coast of Tortola. Very scary—the first time in 30 years I had dragged anchor. It is extremely dark in the BVI at 2am! But, with the chart plotter and autohelm, it was relatively simple to navigate back into the anchorage, where we picked up a private mooring ball for the rest of the night.

Day 5. White Bay (Guana) to Green Cay/Sandy Spit. Nice snorkeling, then went and picked up a mooring ball near Foxy’s Taboo. Found the trail to the famous (infamous?) Bubbly Pool. This is no big deal, at least when the wind is out of the east/southeast. No bubbles. My crew was quite amused. Had the best dinner of the cruise at Foxy’s Taboo. Terrific food, huge portions (took what we couldn’t eat back to the boat for the next day’s lunch). Only one other boat moored there overnight. This is a beautiful spot, and should be much more popular, given that the other harbors on JVD are so crowded.

Day 6. To Sandy Cay, did the circuit hike (very pleasant, lots of lizards) and snorkeled. Then to White Bay, JVD. Picked up a mooring ball (despite being advised by the Moorings’ briefer that there are no mooring balls in White Bay). Painkillers at the Soggy Dollar, some decent snorkeling, then a nice dinner at Sandcastle/Soggy Dollar.

Day 7. To Norman Island. Picked up a mooring ball under Water Point, somewhat out of the fray of the Bight (which seems to be filled with moorings now), and with a nice breeze for sleeping. Diving and snorkeling at the Caves, then some excellent snorkeling near our mooring. Ate the remainder of our food for dinner on the boat.

Day 8. Back to Road Town.