First Time Bareboat Charter in BVI Looking for tips

We are first timers chartering a power catamaran from Virgin Yacht Charters. We are looking for tips on provisioning, mooring areas and sightseeing opportunities. There are 3 of us traveling and prefer a more laid back, quiet vacation. Thank you in advance for any and all replies!!

How many days and have you thought through your intinerary?

We have 8 days 7 nights during Thanksgiving week. The charter company has provided us with a sample itinerary but we are looking for suggestions from experienced boaters/locals/visitors on must see/experience. We have 2 adults and a teenage girl who enjoy relaxing, snorkeling, hiking, and exploring. We plan on eating the majority of our breakfast's and lunches on board and a couple of dinners. We are looking for suggestions on the best place for provisions, quality over cost. We are also looking for suggestions on some good places to eat lunch and dinner, planning our itinerary around givin suggestions. We appreciate any suggestions people may have.

We have done some research but as we all know pictures/reviews on a computer are never as good as suggestions from people who actually know from experience. Thank you

How about this for starters...I am on the powercat side as well and frequent flyer

Day 1 Cooper (or even Peter as I find Cooper overrated)
Day 2 Leverick - taxi to Baths in afternoon and then eat at Coco Maya
Day 3 & Day 4 - Anegada
Day 5 Marina Cay
Day 6 - Cane Garden Bay after Guana Island snorkeling
Day 7 - Diamond Cay Jost Van Dyke - can take taxi to Great Harbour or White Bay
Day 8 - Norman island...

just throwing this out...if you PM I will send you my trip plans

Not a boater but frequent land visitor (with teens in tow)
I would probably suggest 2 days in and around Virgin Gorda instead of Marina Cay. So much to do and see there. Agree Coco Maya is fabulous! My kids really enjoy the Jumbies BBQ at Leverick too. Only runs on Friday's so you would have to consider that. My teens also love: Spring Bay, The Willy T, Horseshoe reef on Anegada, White Bay (probably because I let them drink a Painkiller there!), Sandy Spit, watersports from Oil Nut Bay Marina, Snorkeling Monkey Point, Snorkeling with the turtles off Norman, the live music at Quito's.
I am sure you will do the Baths..... Tip-plan them later in the day after crowds have returned to whence they came. And eat at Mad Dogs instead of Top of the Baths!

Thank you skipdastraw!! We will be sure to check these recommendations out. Sure our teen will appreciate them too

I second Bailau’s itinerary with a few twists: one night at Leverick to do Baths and Coco Maya and then one night at BEYC. IMHO Leverick is overrated (like Cooper). Sure the upstairs restaurant is good but the rest is average. Yes to two nights Anegada and trip to Horeshoe Reef and maybe kiteboarding at Anegada Beach Club if any of you are into that - my daughters and husband take lessons there. You can snorkel Guana enroute to Cane Garden Bay - Indigo Beach House there is fabulous. Diamond Cay at JVD allows quiet while still getting you to Soggy via taxi.

Have fun!

Thank you for the reply MIDiver. We are very excited to explore this beautiful area!!

We've not chartered in November, but generally in January. So I'd be curious whether Rick&Loni need to keep an eye on northern swells when considering Cane Garden Bay? On a cat, we've been in and had no issues, even when the monohulls around us were rocking to and fro in dramatic fashion. But we've had more that one rough experiences at the dinghy dock. Last time we were there the surges were so substantial that we nearly had to cut our dinghy painter from the dock cleat when we came back from dinner. Two dinghys on either side of us had been thrashed so badly they were flat and flooded.

Good point Shifty - we never visit CGB when there is N swell.

Are you doing a sleep aboard the night before your charter? If you are you will enjoy being at Nanny Cay. Omar’s Dockside has great food/drinks and is very close to the VCY office. Peg Legs on the Beach is at the other end of Nanny Cay and also serves good food and drinks. There is also a pool - remember to bring your beach towels from the boat.

The little Riteway at Nanny Cay is well stocked but you should not assume you can do all your provisioning there. We use Riteway to order online and have the majority of provisions delivered. They will be placed on the boat for you and all perishables will be put in your refrigerator by the VCY staff. I’m a vegetarian and I’m pretty picky about produce so I take a taxi to Riteway in the morning and do the rest of the shopping while my husband is getting our boat ready. VCY staff is extremely helpful and will arrange for a taxi whenever you need one.

We have a power cat in charter with VCY (Sandpiper) and we will be in the BVI from 11/2 thru 11/19. If your dates overlap with ours you might see us on the dock, please stop by and say hi. Which cat are you chartering?

Thanks for your suggestions Lexington14 and Shifty. We are chartering the "Tidewater" and we are doing a sleep aboard the night before. Our charter starts on 11/19 so we may cross paths at the marina? We will keep an eye out for you. Thanks again!!! :-)

I would highly recommend you purchase a copy of The Cruising Guide To The Virgin Islands, by Simon Scott. New editions are published annually and it is loaded with great information and tips. Great resource. You can get it on Amazon for around $32.

totally agree...I have a few lying aorund if you cant find it

this is where I learned what the swell is the hard way...went to bed in calm seas and woke up in the night going straight up and down...cleaned out my shorts and then as it settled went on this site and learned from the best what the h*** happened

Weather (and any predcited swell) is posted here

https://marine.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=amz715#.YwEGrXbMJ3j

OP-are you bareboating?

I lost my north swell virginity at Caneel Bay in '95. Same thing you described, bailau. 48 foot mono. Went to bed as peaceful as can be. Then, we'll, it wasn't. It was a wild ride for hours and I had zero clue what was going on.

Bailau - going through photos this AM and found a bunch of the June trip last year - your PC in CGB and White Bay. Nice. 🌴

Shifty-that was a wacky trip into the large world of what I dont know I dont even know

MIDiver-great time...thanks for letting us hang out with you. Need a find a way to get back AND keep my marriage together...LOL

Hope all is well my friend

On Anegada, recommend Sherwin Adventure boat tour (Horseshoe reef and conch island... and fresh conch ceviche (The best!)

N. SWELL

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/show_plot...uom=E&time_diff=0&time_label=GMT

Also a first time guy, does anyone recommend a good time of year to go? Possibly less busy/ expensive times for a beginner?

The end of October is our favorite time to go.

Hi Folks,

Thank you for all the helpful information and offering your opinions. We are down to it (very excited), have a basic itenerary and provisioning is done for the most part. We have read all your comments and done a little research on the side but were wondering one more thing. We are curious as to what would be a customary tip to leave our charter company/staff ( we are doing a bareboat charter)? We have been unable to find anything on that tiopic other than for crewed charters. Thank you all. We are hoping to/look forward to seeing some of you there.

Maybe $20 to the check-out guy. That’s all

It's customary to leave surplus provisions and alcohol for the base staff who strip, clean, and ready the boat for the next charter.

Help reading these swell charts, have gone in oct, april, may and june and never worried about the swell. Heading back in late march and have read a lot about avoiding the north anchorage swells in winter. What is swell number where you would avoid north anchorages in a 42 cat

Personally, over swell heights over 1m and period over 10 seconds and I take notice, but there are so many variables like small changes in swell direction that can affect if a particular anchorage is tenable or not.

Adding to the confusion, not all sources seem to agree: Windguru is showing me a 16 second 2m swell THIS MORNING, while PredictWind is predicting 0.6m and 9s :-/

Swell is highly variable so there is no real limit. Direction, height and both the anchorage and where in that anchorage you are make a difference. Late March it’s not likely to be a issue but happens. Of the main anchorages Cane Garden Bay is the only real problem unless it’s a really large swell over 4 feet. I would avoid CDB over 3 feet and then tuck into the east corner.

I would not discount going to Anegada. It's a great ride up, and the difficulty of getting into the anchorage is, IMHO, overrated. It's our favorite island. Here's my suggested itinerary for 7 nights:

Day 1. Motor to North Sound, catch a ball or anchor at Saba Rock.

Day 2. Anegada. Lobster at the Wonky Dog

Day 3. Explore Anegada

Day 4. Guana Island, lunch and snorkel at Monkey Point, motor to Cane Garden Bay

Day 5. White Bay, JVD. Enjoy the Soggy Dollar Bar or Ivan's (my favorite). You can then either go over to West End to overnight and have dinner at Pusser's or see if you can get ball at Great Harbor.

Day 6. Explore Sandy Cay, then snorkel at Green Cay. You can then either catch a ball at Diamond Cay or motor to Little Harbor, overnight there and catch a taxi to Great Harbor. Check out Foxy's and have dinner at Corsair or Ali Baba.

Day 7. Motor past West End, motor up to the Indians or the Norman Island Caves and snorkel/lunch then overnight at the Bight on Norman Island.

Day 8. Motor back to Roadtown.

If you'll pm me, I can flesh this out a bit for you. You actually have a big advantage being on a power cat in that you can cover a lot more ground. I've chartered in the BVI 20+ times, so I can also make some alternative recommendations.

You are motoring way to much! Turn those loud stinky things off on the downwind and reaching legs! Even West End over to Norman is very sailable!

+1 for covering a lot of distance in a powercat. Even if you drive it at 8 knots it is in the direction you want to go which is not always possible in a sailboat.

I actually prefer to watch for the storms that cause the swell. That's typically the best indicator you might have a problem and from what direction there could be sensitivity.

Swell can travel 1000's of miles as the waves of energy ripple pulse out from the center of the storm. Bigger the storm, bigger the swell.

Winter & Spring -> Swell typically from the North
Summer & Fall -> Swell typically from the East

@lexington14 How did you like Sandpiper? We have that chartered for later this year?

Lexington14, How did you like Sandpiper? We have that chartered for later this year?

I sent you a dm

https://assets.zerohedge.com/s3fs-p...es/2023-03-11_09-42-41.png?itok=_c-iNUKa

Swell will be pumping this next week.