LittleSalty

We want to head to Willy T's in the BVI--we'll be on St. John... how do we get there?

CaribbeanSoul

Willy T's is located in the Bight at Norman Island. I know of no way to get there from STJ other than renting a boat and navigating yourself there. If you are nautically inclined, I highly recommend chartering a boat for a day. It was the best day of many our last trip to STJ. www.williamthornton.com is the website. I believe there are day trips from Tortola that will get you there and back. Reminder that you must go through Customs at West End, Tortola going there and again in Cruz Bay upon disembarking.

escargot

unless you are experienced boater, you might be more relaxed not navigating the waters yourself. another good charter rental we have done is out of nautinymph, which has boats on St. johns - we've used them many times and they are excellent - they can take you to Willy T's, Normans Island, the Indians, and a few other spots on other islands (JVDyke, Virgin Gorda -to the Baths, etc) -
their actual web site is www.st-thomas.com/nautinymph - I ahve no affiliation with them other than we've used them manyt imes, but there are also several other companies on St. John that will do the same and where you are staying but have a recommendation also.

CaribbeanSoul

Unless Nauti-Nymph has upgraded their fleet recently, Ocean Runners in Cruz Bay is THE place to rent a boat from. Ocean Runner boats are of the Mako brand and are far superior and in much better condition than what I saw Nauti Nymph had. Same price, as well. That was 3+ years ago, however. www.oceanrunner.vi

escargot

I can not vouch for the entire fleet of the Nauti Nymph, but I can say we had a new Fountain, and my husbands business is boats and he was pleased with both the boats and the captains each time we used them, and the captains expertise is crucial to him since he usually runs the boats he sells back home, but likes to take the break on vacation and be able to concentrate on just the scenery! - we used them in 05, 04 and 02. I am sure the Ocean Runner company also has excellent crafts, I was just speaking from our personal experience and how pleased we were also with the personalites and knowledge of our captains and all the hidden spots they took us to as well as the regular spots.

you will likely be pleased with most companies your resort would recommend. Enjoy !

CaribbeanSoul

That's nice. Sounds like they have upgraded their fleet. I qualified my statement by indicating it was 3+ years ago. And since there aren't many "resorts" on STJ, mostly villa rentals, I suggest anyone interested do their own research. And as far as navigating the USVI and BVI...if you can read a chart and are nautically inclined, it is a piece of cake. The two times we charted from Ocean Runner we ran into Nauti Nymph boats at Willy T's....lets say we were VERY satisfied with our charter of choice! Tally-Ho!

escargot

aside from just not wanting to have to even think about running the boat, as easy as it can be, we loved having someone with us who had such huge knowledge of the history of each island, stories behind them, what is happening currently, had grown up in the area and so also knew of some short hikes and small swimming holes for some of our stops, - so in that way, if someone hasn't been before, I think with a captain gives you those options, if in fact someone is interested in that stuff - if they are not, then they could certainly tool around for the day on their own. Either way works out very well.