St. John Day Charter & Places to Visit
 

We are a group of 8 traveling to St. John. We plan to spend the majority of our time enjoying the island, but would also like to spend a day or two seeing other sites in the area. Some in our group have expressed interested in seeing: the Baths at Virgin Gorda, White Bay, Willie T's, Normand Island and Tortola. Is there any type of charter for our size group that could get us to all of these in a day, or would we have to plan 2 days? Which would you most recommend seeing or spending time at? Are there any pre-planned group boat packages that you would recommend for seeing any of these? Our same group traveled to Jamaica last year and had a fantastic day out on a cat touring the area and enjoying the spray of the ocean through the netted area in the front of the boat. Is there anything similar available in STJ? We would love any suggestions or recommendations you can give!

caribchick; Though I cannot find a charter for 2 people at a resonable price with 8 people and $1200-$2000 you can charter a 42-48 ft. sailboat or cat and with the winds in your favor you might be able to do it all but I would skip Tortola and add Cooper Island. i say that because on such a trip at the Baths, Norman and Cooper you have excellent snorkeling with the baths being probably the least desirable from a snorkeling point of view. but, it is an unususual formation odf boulders and VG is quite lush. But a 38-40 ft. power boat that would likely cost $3000, just a guess, would not be limited by winds and could easily make the trip.
The only issue could be that a number of the boats in the Us Virgins do not go into the B.V.I.'s and visa versa but I do not have the details.On sailboat in the B.v.i.'s might be the BelleVista a 1 year old 42 ft. boat but 8 plus the Captain, derek and his crew mate his wife might be a little tight.

Here are a few charter boats for your size group. Ther would be additional people on the boats with the exception of I think Born to Rhumb.

http://www.calypsovi.com/bad-kitty.html

http://www.borntorhumb.com/

New Horizons II and their sister boat, Breakaway.

http://www.newhorizonscharters.com/

Here is another.

http://www.piratespenny.com/private.html

Many of the boats with private captains can only take 6 on their boat. Hope this helps.

we just rented a power boat for 9 people with a captain for $530 plus gas from divelowkey.com We are going in July

http://www.charterboat.vi/stormypetrel.html

Related to Pirates Penny - we went on Stormy Petrel - was so much fun. Went to Cooper Island, The Baths, The Indians - Gaylen & Brandon were our guides & they actually snorkeled with us. We explored parts of the Baths you wouldn't ordinarily go & jumped off a 12' boulder. Enjoy!

karenjo,
I'm looking into low key for our next trip thanks to your post. We have 7 people this time and don't really want to go to The Bath's because it takes up so much of the day. Post how your experience was when you get back. We aren't going to November, just thinking ahead.

Just returned from Peter Island Resort and did not charter a boat because they offered daily trips to most of the top spots for snorkeling @$60/person for 2.5 hours on each trip with about 75+ minutes snorkeling. Being an avid snorkeler I can say the B.V. I.'s have bounced back from fair to poor conditionds to fair to good conditions. Though sailing is the most enjoyable way to go you cannot ciover much distance in 7-8 hours so power boating though not thaty relaxing gets you to the spots. But I am surprised a boat in the US.V.I.'s will also go throughout the B.V.I.s. That said, in the US V.I.'s the top spots are Hawks Nest,TurTle Bay and Watermelon Bay. In the B.V.I.'s Norman Island and the adjacent Caves and Bight are clearly the top spot. The Indians would be next followed by Coral Gardens (near the Rhone) and then Cooper Island. It is likely too far to go to Monkey Point near Guana Island or to the Baths at VG. The Baths are a sight to see though the snorkeling is just o.k. and you are bound to be among 10+ other boats though at the others you might get lucky as we were and only be with 3-4 other boats.
If you can do the US VI's I mentioned ones I mentioned, Norman/Caves/Bight and the Indians in a 8-9 hour day for $600 with 40-50 minutes at each spot, grab it. I doubt the Captain will give you all that or you need all that. If I had to choose I would do Watermelon, Hawks Nest, Norman/Caves and the Indians.

I should add we went out 4 times for $480 and a total of 10 hours on a 36 ft. power boat most often with only one other couple from the resort and snorkeled for for a total of 6 hours+/- and overall it was a 5-6 in Quality (10 being highest) far better than late 2006 when it was a 4, in our opinion.