StanKase

Short Version; Launch over from Tortola handled well. Our reception was with Michael and he was first class. The Island itself is beautiful. I am told it is almost as large as Virgin Vorga and the only places on the thousand plus hecteres is the resort accomodating 100+/- guests and 1 private home. The vista's of rolling green hills down to numerous beaches is quite impressive. The lobby is nicely done-not over-the-top. Our room an OceanView #128 was nice but surprisingly less understated elegant than I had imagined for what everyone had said was a very high-end resort. The good news is that if you enjoy the the pool, right in your backyard, you will not spend much time in the room. There was nothing wrong it was Hyatt-average but with a tropical flair. I would say a little nicer than a Deluxe rooms at Little Dix or Caneel. Maybe I would say on a par with Biras Creek. Because there is so much land some things are far away. The beach which is nice but not as nice as Scott Beach at Caneel but much nicer thn Biras Creek and equal to Little Dix is a solid 10-12 minute walk and in the heat it is no fun. But you can call for a pick-up and if they are not busy with guests arriving they are there in 5 minutes, other times a bit too long. Matybe because it was in the so-called shoulder season they had less staff, because the golf carts were not the problem it was staff to drive them. This was not a problem but a minor annoyance. What was an annoyance was if you wanted the front desk and they were busy you got voice mail or you just held-on sometimes for 4-5 minutes. The equipment at the pool and beach was more than adequate and in good condition. The Dive Shop offered a snorkel outing from 2:30-4:30, not the best time fortr snorkeling, on a nice-enough power boat. You were in the water for a little over 1 hour. Each day they tried to go to a different location of the 4 major ones. Though 4-5 years ago a lot of the coral in this area was dead or dying it is bouncing back and Norman Island and the Caves had the best. I would say it is as good as Grand Cayman (now after all the hurricames), equal to Bonaire and better than Curacao but NOT as good as St. John around Caneel but pretty close. Another good spot but not equal was the Indians. A lesser quality outing was to the Rhone shipwreck and a spot called the Coral Gardens. The last spot, Copper Island is good but not nearly as good as Norman. It cost $60/person which we thought was very reasonable. They take divers out in the AM when we would have preferred snorkeling but there is a beach on the Island called White Bay where they can drive you and pick you up in 1-2 hours where the snorkeling along the sides of the bay is pretty good for off beach snorkeling. They also offer to take you to a smaller beach with a box lunch and pick you up 3 or 4 hours later if you wish. It all sounds quite lovely, But, Peter Island is know for very good food. We are not gourmet diners so our tasts are not that refined which was good because 5 of 7 dinners were at the Deadman's Grill at the beach where the food was not very good. Average for most meals would be a fair representation. To make matters worse it is very hot with no A/C and insuffucient fans to make dining most nightnot really pleasant. All lunches were served there as well. If you stuck with pizza and hamburgers the lunches were good but the Club was made with pressed turkey or if not it tasted that way. The 2 dinners at the Trafewinds, their formal dining room, was air conditioned and has a different and far better chef. Unfortunately one of the 2 dinners there was a buffet which was satisfactory but hard to judge by but the other ala carte dinner was very very good. This is in comparision to Biras Creek where the dinners less 1 night both entrees were not very good the dinner meals are excellent. Tough Biras' lunches and Peter Island are both weak in the luch department. The breakfasts, all at the Tradewinds, were very good. You could order off the menu or from the buffet or a little of each. I would say the breakfasts were very good to excellent with the exception of the danish and such. But that was just as well considering we had already had good hearty breakfasts..Biras, Caneel and Little Dix all have good breakfasts as well with Biras maybe a bit ahead of the rest.They had different dinner chefs at the Deadman's beach Grill and Tradewinds and we wished as did others that Tradewinds chef worked at the beach also but it was not in the cards. In the Romance Package they gave us a ride around a part of the island and left us at a high point to enjoy the sunset witn champange and cheese though we requested wine so the bottle went bak to the bar un-opened, But the idea was a nice touch.Over all we though our 7 night stay woukld have been very disappointing but we paid a significantly discounted price and the snorkeling was the highlight of our trip.

SailBellaVita

Stan; Sound like you had a great time and that all went well. Sorry we did not get a chance to meet.... maybe next time! Capt. Derek

StanKase

Derek; We expected you to come by on June 6-7 to say hello, We We wanted to snorkel Monkey Point but that was too far and we understood PI' point of view. I assume it is no better than Norman Island.
But, you offered to even take us out gratis at one point in our emails because I thought we "hit it off" so to speak, Well... that's not "right" ot "fair" but Linda and I are taking a cruise to the Amazon makes a number of stops in the Caribbean going down and back and you guessed it we have a 6 hour stop in the B.V.I.;s but at Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda on Dec.17. We dock at 9 and depart at3 PM. So if it is practical we could be on the dock at 9:30 but would need to return by 1:30 PM. In an email we can discuss financials and Linda and I can meet you guys and get to snorkel Monekey Point and 1 other good place that is hidden from the touristo's.Chow
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ejcrowe

I enjoyed reading your TR about Peter Island and am delighted to read that you find the snorkeling much improved over your last visit to the BVI. Thanks for sharing!

martino

Stan...

We've booked a trip to Peter Island. Would you be kind enough to explain how gratuities are handled at the resort? Thanks in advance.

StanKase

They put a 10% service charge on everything from a bar drink to room charge to your meal plan and room plus the &% ( or 8%) tax. This service charge is pooled by some internal formula. That is unless you bought a package that included service and taxes. The only staff not really included fully in this is the Spa staff and the dive/snorkel are ecluuded completely. We did give the housekeeper on the second day $10 for we found that practice often insured we had extra towels and the room was made up "just right"/ The bell stff is inluded except for the taxi driver tht takes you the short trip from the airport to the launch so we gave him a few dollars.
Kalma took us out snorkeling 3 times and waas qwuite helpful and we gave ger $35 in total. I am not sure if that was the "right' amount be she seened appreciative. Hope all this detail helps.

LauraZurl

I am planning a trip to the BVI's and looking for some guidance/suggestions since I have never been there.There will be 3 couples we are power boaters and would like to stay in a Villa close to the water since they don't have overwater bungalows.We are not excited about breaking the bank if we don't have to but would like to be close to the water in a nice place. We would like to rent a power boat for the week or maybe just a few days in order to island hop...stay at that island if we like it or move on to the next island. Questions:Where should we stay?where should we rent the boat and for how long? would we even be able to keep the boat overnight where we are staying? which islands should we not miss? should we stay somewhere else instead of Tortola? Any help would be much appreciated...it's hard to plan any trip the first time.

LauraZurl

Oh, I should also mention we would like to go in February, I don't know if that matters or not. We also would like to snorkel we enjoy good dinners and much drinking!!Thanks!

StanKase

I would think that you would charter a power boat out of Tortola and spot it at the peter Island marina. they have arrangements and costs for that purpose. The location of the rooms to the boat is academic because the resort is not that large except for a few large villas if you really want to all stay together at a price. I would think that you might make good use of a power boat for 2-3 days unless you really want to make longer hauls to the area nearer to Virgin Gorda as well.But then you may have a bit of a bumpy ride based upon the waters and eat up 4 hours just in travel. assuming that is not your objective I would suggest you would want to visit Norman Island & the Indians, Cooper Islands and maybe Coral Gardens.I would expect you will pay $1500-$2000/day for a 35-38 ft. newer boat plus fuel. As for where to stay the Ocean View lower units are quite nice or for 50% more you can get Ocean Front roomns but then you are likely at $1500/day per person with the 18% service+ tax included.If you go as far as VG and you are in to snorkeling you should stop at Monkey Point and the Dogs and stop at Guana Island. There is no really good snorkeling right around VG except for a liitle in Oil Nut Bay. I hope some of the above is helpful.

LauraZurl

Stan, very helpful, Thank you. If you don't mind just a couple more questions. We really would like to go to Virgin Gorda too while we are there...I did not think about rough water & bumpy rides...how high are these waves because I also thought we could get away with a smaller boat 24'-28'. We don't all have to stay together in one place but if it would be cheaper then everyone getting seperate places and the large Villa had enough room that would be an option, do you know the name of the resort and place to charter the boat from out of Tortola? thanks

StanKase

Though the Moorings is primarily a sail/cat. firm they likely have several power boats but probably 3-4 days would be the minimum rental period. I would suggest you not rent from a "one trick pony" for you never know what you are getting and being stuck is no fun. The waves are not high but the wakes of others and 1 ft. waves can slow you down. If you go to VG you might want to head for Spanish Town pier.