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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: mayjong1]
#65793
08/24/2015 03:20 PM
08/24/2015 03:20 PM
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Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 124 Georgia
cruzdoc
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 124
Georgia
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I also am looking forward to an SVI trip at some point. I can not provide any direct knowledge or help except that your best chartering locations are Fajardo, San Juan and CYOA in St. Thomas, unless you have a more than 10 days to charter, in which case you could probably work your way over in a boat from the BVI. The cruising guide linked below, which someone posted here previously, has a great deal of information for you to look through. http://freecruisingguides.com/puerto-rico/
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: CaptainJay]
#65796
08/24/2015 07:38 PM
08/24/2015 07:38 PM
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 886 Louisville, KY
NoelHall
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 886
Louisville, KY
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We had a very good experience with Sail Caribe near Fajardo, chartered a bareboat sailing catamaran.
Noel Hall "It is humbling indeed, to discover my own opinion is only correct less than 50% of the time." www.noelhall.com
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: CaptainJay]
#65797
08/24/2015 07:43 PM
08/24/2015 07:43 PM
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Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,154 Ontario, Canada
warren460
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,154
Ontario, Canada
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I had a terrible experience with Caribe looking after our boat. I don't want to go into much detail here. Best charter with cyoa as they have a great reputation and are always helpful on TTOL
Last edited by warren460; 08/24/2015 07:43 PM.
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: warren460]
#65800
08/25/2015 08:09 AM
08/25/2015 08:09 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953 St. John, USVI
RickG
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953
St. John, USVI
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We're planning on spending the first half of our four week fall trip in the SVIs and eastern PR. The Frank Virgintino free guide is the most recent writing we've found. The Van Zandt book has a detailed discussion of the west to east routes from Fajardo. The Pavlidas guide gets criticized for inaccurate charts and skinny info. The Street guide was last updated in 1995.
We are bringing the NOAA paper charts and chart books to augment our aging Navionics charts on our chart plotter. Backups are Navionics, Garmin apps on ipad/iphone and a handheld Garmin GPS. We'll plot our routes on paper with compass first.
The best resources have been the trip reports and local knowledge. The CYOA folks have done this exercise many times, Capt. Jay and Kimber on here. I'm looking forward to reading Twangers report.
This is our first trip outside of the Chesapeake and the VIs, so we're taking things pretty conservative with a lot of respect for weather.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes, 2003 Beneteau 423 Grenada
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: JohnV]
#65802
08/30/2015 10:48 AM
08/30/2015 10:48 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953 St. John, USVI
RickG
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953
St. John, USVI
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A couple of friends mentioned that I was going way overkill. Sounds like getting to the SVIs from the VIs is a milk run, with a good bit of upwind working getting back. Well, I like the navigation and want to keep my skills up. Doing the pre-trip research, I'm pretty surprised at the lack of current info/cruising guides for an area so close to St. Thomas. As I mentioned, the Frank Virgintino free 2012 guide is the most recent information we've found. it looks good. http://freecruisingguides.com/guides/Puerto%20Rico%201.3%202012.04.19%20wADS%202014.01.20.pdfI'll write an SVI trip report after/during our October trip and focus a bit on resources and my favorites. We're pretty excited about this trip. 29 days does not suck, Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes, 2003 Beneteau 423 Grenada
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: Buddy]
#65808
08/31/2015 11:52 AM
08/31/2015 11:52 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953 St. John, USVI
RickG
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953
St. John, USVI
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Thanks for the ideas! This all lines up with what I've been hearing. We'll be leaving from Water Island for Culebra. We plan on hitting Puerto Del Ray in Fajardo and Vieques, but we're skipping STX in order to get back in time for Cat Fight. I haven't seen Fajardo since my last gig at Roosevelt Roads, so I'm looking forward to that as much as the nature and seclusion... all weather dependent.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes, 2003 Beneteau 423 Grenada
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: warren460]
#65818
09/01/2015 08:02 AM
09/01/2015 08:02 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953 St. John, USVI
RickG
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953
St. John, USVI
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DTOPS is quick and you need the decal # for your SVRS application. We got our decal # same day and the decal arrived in the mail the same week.
Cheers, Rick
S/V Echoes, 2003 Beneteau 423 Grenada
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: Knotthead]
#65823
09/01/2015 10:06 PM
09/01/2015 10:06 PM
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 414 Memphis, TN
beerMe
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 414
Memphis, TN
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Funny how different people have different experiences. For example, July 2015 we went to the SVI from the BVI with a Cyprus and Greek citizen. We cleared into the USVI in Cruz Bay. Since I was unsure about the non-US persons and my ability to buy a sticker for a charter boat I just decided to show up. For whatever reason he charged us $37 for the French registered boat. I said I brought change because I understand you can't make change, he said he could. He also said since we had cleared into the US at Cruz Bay the non-US citizens were not a problem. Does anyone know if you fly into STT from a foreign country do you have to go thru C&I?
The time before that, 2007, we had a boat from Island Yachts (USVI) with the sticker. I called in, everything went well until he asked for the expiration date of the decal. I said 2006, he said you mean 2007, I said 2006, he said are you sure, I said oh, yeah 2007.
Although the stroll to the airport was only about 15 minutes and we did have some fun taking pictures and at a roadside eatery on the way I think I'll go ahead and get the decal next time. Thanks to everyone that added info I had not seen before!
Life involves risks, take some prudent ones (NOT with the BVI ferries)!
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: Buddy]
#65824
09/02/2015 08:10 AM
09/02/2015 08:10 AM
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953 St. John, USVI
RickG
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,953
St. John, USVI
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....and the DTOPS sticker is a prerequisite for registering your vessel on SVRS. I've got the DTOPS sticker for our fall trip and have applied for SVRS.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes, 2003 Beneteau 423 Grenada
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Re: spanish virgin islands info?
[Re: Buddy]
#65826
09/02/2015 09:14 AM
09/02/2015 09:14 AM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
sail445
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 3,003
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Buddy said: No confusion. SVRS and DTOPS are two different animals. One is USCG the other is Homeland Security. SVRS is the old Local Boater Option which is still grandfathered if you happen to have been registered prior to the change in the rules at least mine still works. Interestingly, the DTOPS sticker is not effective on going from the BVI to the USVI. But it is as to the SVI. Go figure. Too many initials makes it all hard to understand sometimes. The reason the custom decal doesn't work from BVI to VI is because the VI is a Tax Free port the SVI ( Puerto Rico) is a regular US port so merchandise over the allotted quantities or cost can be assessed by the U.S. Customs.
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