Land or Sea: British Virgin Islands
 

Hello. My husband and I are planning our 10th anniversary trip to the British Virgin Islands. We are currently debating between chartering a crewed sailboat or staying on one island. Recommendations? We are age 30, LOVE snorkeling, are learning scuba, enjoy beaches, relaxing, naps in hammack, sunning, discovering private spaces/beaches. If we stay on one island, we need recommendations for accommodations that are private, have great service, good food, and can fulfill the interests listed in previous sentence. If we charter, we will go through Sherry Yates and are debating between boats such as Corus, Blu Moon, Windwalker, and a few others. Do you recommend staying on one island or sailing between many islands??? Budget for vacation is $6000 including air.

ABSOLUTELY Island Hop. My husband and I have chartered a catamaran for the last 3 years. We bareboated, but still, a crewed charter in my opinion is far better than staying in one place. There is nothing better than having everything with you as you sail from place to place, at your own liesure or waking up in the morning without having to fix yourself and just jumping in the beautiful caribbean water! We have consistanly used BVI Yacht Charters in Roadtown, on Tortola. [email protected] I have found thier prices to be the best and the folks that work there are great.

No question- - charter a boat and I agree - a catamaran. We've chartered for many years and our experience has lead us to cats - very stable - lots of room. Make sure to snorkel Monkey Point - and day anchor in Savannah Bay on Virgin Gorda. Bring passports.
Enjoy!

What Cats have you chartered?

It's an ideal area for sailing.

Why not do both? The Moorings does packages that include a 4-day crewed charter with a stay on land. (I'm guessing Sherry Yates could arrange for something similar.) If you've never chartered before, you may not want to commit to a full week living aboard a boat. 4 days is plenty of time to give you a taste of what the islands have to offer (you could probably spend months exploring every nook and cranny...), and then you have time to spend on land.

My first vacation sailing experience was on one of these Moorings packages (back in 1993), and it totally won me over and I've done a dozen charters, crewed and mostly bareboat, since. But with a tendency to get seasick, I was not willing to commit to a full week on a boat until I knew I could survive 4 days.

That is a great idea. I will email Sherry today to ask about this for 2005.

I agree that personally I would sail, but that if you've never sailed before you might want to think twice before signing up to spend your whole vacation on the boat. The Francis Drake channel is relatively calm and protected, but one person's calm can be another person's chop, and space is at a premium on a boat. But personally I would love to be on a boat!

We do both, PharmGirl. Fly into St. Thomas, spend a night or two there, embark for a week's prowling around the USVI and BVI, particularly the many deserted beaches and dive sites. Drop off the boat at St. Thomas, catch the ferry over to Tortola (BVI), stay at Frenchman's Cay (our favorite)a couple of nights, then walk back to the ferry and head back to St. Thomas to catch our plane.

Have you sailed before? Even a 1 hour trip around a bay somewhere? If not, do so and find out quickly if you are a sea salt or a land lubber! Most of my family never get sick at sea while me and our youngest daughter turn green as soon as we board the boat, even a big cruise ship!

If you don't know... then book a land vacation and go out for several day cruises - snorkeling or just roaming around the BVI. There are quite a few of those available.

If you go by sea, make sure you drop by Anegada, northernmost of the BVI's. On this island you will find deserted beaches, friendly locals and fantastic snorkeling/diving.