BVI TRIP REPORT

This is a quick recap of last weeks charter

Background

I’ve been chartering in the BVIs with my wife for 25 or so years (15 charters?) ALWAYS guided by TTOLers (you are the best). Last time was 4 years ago. We decided to charter this time only 2 months ago and had 4 others with no BVI experience to whom I promised the perfect BVI trip. I read the boards, got back up to speed and we were off!

Charter Details

A long time fan of BVI Yacht Charters, I chartered a Fountaine Pajot 42 Catamaran from them. As usual they were personable and great to work with. The boat was perfect and fully loaded: AC, generator, water maker, four heads 2 showers, wi-fi etc etc. An embarrassment of riches lol.

The Players

The Captain. We happened to have a licensed 100 ton captain and 10 year former full time sailing instructor from San Francisco aboard. We elected him captain unanimously. Yay, First time in BVIs I don’t have to run the boat.

Captains wife: trip instigator and my partner in trip planning and culinary director par excellence.

Me: Navigation, Safety, and Expedition planning Officer

My Wife: Experienced certified sailor looking to read and relax

Rest of Crew: Captain’s in laws, both experienced small boat sailers Chesapeake Bay

Ages 65-73 so very young at heart

The Itinerary

Roadtown: AA 11PM Redeye SFO to MIA To STT arriving 12:15 PM Sunday. Smiths Ferry (2PM) to Roadtown, Customs/Immigration were fairly quick and then a taxi to the boat at Ritter Marina across from The Moorings. Provision preorder from Riteway was already on board. Met up with charter base folks, got ice, set up the bar and buffet, socialized, examined the boat, and went to bed.

Day 1: Cooper/Marina Cay. Great boat checkout from BVI Yacht Charters, fully explained all boat systems. Captain was impressed. Lost my first 7AM Boaty Ball Lottery for Cooper, motored over and tried for a FCFS ball but, as expected no luck. Reserved a BB mooring at Marina Cay. Dinner at Scrub Island Resort: casual dining food was good as were views, crew was happy.

Day 2 & 3: North Sound. Motored into 15-20 knot winds and 3’-5’ waves up to North Sound, could not stand or move around for the 2 hour trip. Rude awakening for the crew, decided to moor at a reserved Bitter End Ball for two nights. First time at Bitter End 2.0; great rebuild, nice outdoor dinner on Tuesday and I booked a snorkel trip for the crew at the new water sports shack. Nice 3 site snorkel on Wednesday (in the Bitter End Launch lol) and crew was satisfied. Dinner at Saba Rock was also nice. Used the Bitter End launch extensively which was very convenient. Please support The Bitter End Yacht Club, it’s a long way back and we’re all they’ve got for now. I was told 40 guest rooms are being built next to Water Sports.

Day 4: Anegada. Up early Thursday for 7AM Boaty Ball lottery, got one. Got permission to go to Anegada on 8 AM call to charter company after weather review (told to reef the main). It took 45 min. to get the mainsail reefed and up; really nice to have that captain . Nice 3-4 hour beam reach sail, appreciated the Walker advocated permanent channel markers and got our ball. Rented a Safari Truck from Anegada Reef Hotel for authenticity and toured the island. Cold and drizzly so no beach/snorkeling. Dinner at Anegada Beach Club next to Cow Wreck. Excellent. Grim dingy ride back to boat in the dark with rain and a few waves coming over the side of the dinghy.

Day 5: Jost Van Dyke. Boaty Ball lottery at 7AM secured a ball at Great Harbor JVD. Very nice 5 hour downwind sail averaging 6 knots. Dinner at Tipsy Shark (good but loud) walked to and through Foxey’s, back to the boat.

Day 6: Norman Is. Up early but no BBs installed at the Bight . Motored up to Sandy Spit, anchored, swam, snorkeled, walked the beach. Sailed, then motored over to The Bight, Norman Island; grabbed a remaining ball. Some checked out the Willie T, then we all headed to Pirates Bight restaurant. Nice dinner, good time! DJ music had the whole place singing along on a busy Saturday night.

Day 7: Roadtown. Sunday morning at 11AM headed over to the Indians; quickly got a red ball and hung out and/or snorkeled for our 90 minutes. Sailed back to charter base for our last night cocktails and dinner aboard. Monday morning we took the 11:30 Smiths ferry to St Thomas, did the various multiple passport immigration and security checks and caught a 3:55 flight to Miami, arriving midnight at SFO on the connecting flight.

The captain noted his two thumbs up for BVI Yacht Charters. Trust me, high praise indeed 😏

All agreed it was a perfect BVI sailing adventure!




Sent from my iPhone

Sounds like a great trip and mirrors part of our upcoming itinerary in March.
Questions:
Boaty ball lottery loss at Cooper - were on right at 7:00 am and they went that quickly? We're starting our charter on a Monday so hoping it's not quite as crowded.
Good to hear about Bitter End - we're leaning toward 2 nights there. Where was the snorkel trip there?

This was my first Boaty Ball. I was on at 7 and there were balls available but each time I clicked to reserve it said no longer available. Advice seems to be select a less desirable location instead of contesting the best and move fast! I did have wi-fi.

The Bitter End snorkeling was in Eustatia sound all in sight of Oil Nut Bay; locations depend on weather - they have a chart showing all potential sites. $50 per person.

Thanks!!

Nice trip report! Glad you had a good time. Did you feel you had to return the night before for an 11:30 AM ferry or was it a preference?

Some of the BBs will show as available at 6:59AM but have already been reserved the day before by folks paying the extra $550 or so for the week.
If you have the misfortune to set your eye on one of those you'll lose out no matter how fast you are. BB claims to sell only a limited number of advance bookings, but it would be a lot more transparent if they were distinguished in the interface.

Thanks for the trip report - great info for our upcoming trip in June.

Coopers seems to be such a crap shoot. Could you not have anchored in one of the bays a bit further south - Carver or Haulovers - or is it not worth it if you are not in Manchineel?

The crew decided coming in on departure day was too stressful with refueling and boat checkout so voted to return the night before. The captain would have stayed out!

I usually use Marina Cay as backup for Copper bing full so had preplanned that as backup and reserved a ball when Cooper was sold out.