HIGHLIGHTS

We were thrilled with the beautiful, warm weather and slight breezes during this early March visit. The warm (80 degree) water invited us to float and play (SUP, Snorkel, Scuba and Sail) every day.

We were also relieved to find the anchorages/mooring fields were all very well protected and our boat didn’t move much once we were in them, so we didn’t experience any seasickness!

Restaurants/Bars that stick out in our memories: Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke Island, The Rum Bar on Cooper Island, and Tipsy’s on Anegada Island.

The Baths on Virgin Gorda are so beautiful, and provided a unique experience to swim and explore along and through the boulders.

Renting Mokes and driving around Anegada was a fun experience and let us get a feel for the whole island.

The beauty and relative isolation of Key Cay on the backside of Peter Island was exceptional.

Check out images of our boat/lodging for the week here: Peacemaker - Conch Charters

OUR NOT-SO-FAVORITE THINGS

Road Town - although it was functional for the start/end of trip, it wasn’t particularly endearing and we didn’t feel any need to hang out there.

The harbor/mooring fields of both Anegada & Great Harbour were both busy and had questionable water quality for floating in. There isn’t much of an option at Anegada, but would recommend checking out Diamond Cay as an alternative on Jost Van Dyke.

The process of provisioning was a little bit of a challenge - from estimating the amount of food and water we needed, to actually getting said food and water from the store to the boat. It all worked, but we definitely had to be flexible on food choices and needed to use taxi’s and marina wheelbarrows to physically transport our purchases.

General hospitality of workers on these islands was lacking (with the exception of the staff at Soggy Dollar, who were all very engaged and courteous!). Interestingly, this is similar to how we felt interacting with workers in the Bahamas.

A lot of pre-travel anxiety was around where we’d stay for the night, and making sure we were able to get a mooring ball in all the places we wanted. As it turns out, we did end up creating 3 accounts on Boaty Ball - their paid mooring ball system - and having 3 people be sure they were awake at 7am, logged in, and trying to claim a ball for that night. Each day we were able to get a ball in the anchorage we wanted, however within minutes, they were all reserved. That said, there were always first-come-first-served balls (which still have a fee, just a little cheaper than the reserved ones) available wherever we went, OR balls available in the next cove over, OR the option to anchor. So we probably didn’t need to worry about it - and certainly if you pay for a crewed charter the crew would take over this task. We were there the week prior to, and including the first main week of spring break, so it could have gotten busier as we were leaving.

WHY WE PICKED THIS LOCATION (BAREBOAT CHARTER)

The British Virgin Islands is a world renowned destination for sailing due to its often-calm waters, consistent weather patterns, and nearby island locations with bars, restaurants, secluded bays, and mooring balls available.

Equally as important, the infrastructure for chartering boats (monohulls, sailing catamarans, and power catamarans) is quite well developed. Whether you’re looking to bareboat charter (rent the boat, and captain/crew it yourself), or do a crewed charter (hire a Captain and/or Chef to come along with you for the trip), there are plenty of great companies to choose from here.

We were fortunate enough to have someone in our group who is an extremely skilled sailor, and was willing to be our Captain - navigating the boat into/out of mooring fields, along narrow harbor entrances, and to/from busy marinas where we’d refill gas, water and provisions. In addition to our Captain, we had another group member who was very knowledgeable about the mechanics/electronics of boats, so the two of them really took charge of turning on/off the generator, troubleshooting a bilge pump problem, emptying toilet tanks, fixing a rudder issue, adjusting sails, etc.

With this in mind, we felt very comfortable bareboat chartering a sailing catamaran and enjoyed setting our own itinerary, cooking onboard, checking out local bars and restaurants, and exploring this beautiful island nation on our own!