TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Include US Virgin Islands (3 weeks BVI-Trip)?

What do you think. Does it make sense to think about including the US Virgin Islands when planing a 3 weeks BVI-Trip?

Or is the check in and out procedure not worth this?

Absolutely worth it on a 3 week trip. I would set aside at least 4 days. Customs is 3 trips of no more then a hour each. Plan the stops so customs is a part of the trip such as a night at Jost then clear out first thing in the morning or even the night before.
G

As George said, absolutely. We often go on 10 day trips.

Unsure of what your question is meant to discover.

It is actually YOUR vacation, you can do whatever you want within the parameters of time and budget.

If you charter with a USVI company, you could easily spend a week in the USVI and never have a thought about check-in or out. If you want to go to the BVI after that week is over, and you have 2 more weeks, then you would simply go clear in, and not think about it until you needed to leave. Clear out, clear back in to the USVI and have great memories.

If you start in the BVI, then you just do it in reverse. Cruise the BVI as long as you want, check out, go check in to the USVI and stay there until your time is up. No checking out, just go check back in to the BVI.

The only reason it would be a hassle is if you want to go back and forth several times. Again, that would be personal choices, with some necessities required for the choices made.

Absolutely worth seeing as much as you can with 3 weeks. Make a plan and make it happen.

Having had to clear in and out on last 4 trips, I dont see any hassles. Yes it may take up some time if dealing with ferry traffic but overall is an easy process and well worth doing to cruise around USVI.

We made two one week trips this year spending 2 nights in St John. Very workable only you need to fine tune sailing plans. Bottom line for me is we will keep St John in our sailing options regardless of 7 or 10 day trips

Thanks for these recommendations.

So what are your favorite spots in the US Virgin Islands if we would include it for maybe 4 days?

Maho, Salt Pond, Lienster, The Lamshurs, little and big. These are all with no real facilities, bring food and have fun.

I would enjoy a half day (or more) when checking into Cruz Bay. If need a day off the water, rent a jeep or two and cruise the island with a picnic lunch.

The USVI also includes St Thomas, Water Island, St Croix and many offshore cays -- all are worth visiting as well as the National Park bays already named in St John.

LocalSailor
Some specific recommendations for St Thomas (especially) as well as others would be appreciated.

Magens Bay - Brewers Bay -- Charlotte Amalie -- Christmas Cove - Honeymoon Bay,Water Island -- some very nice STT Marinas, good for provisioning on a 3 week trip.
Taking 2or3 days to circumnavigate STT is a great trip with some very good trolling and sailing.

The Thatch cay,Grass Cay,Mingo, Lovongo and Congo cays and Carvel Rock are all very nice snorkeling stops. Or as my daughter used to call them 'the Bingo-Bongo Islands'
Buck Island has a nice wreck snorkel/dive -- Cartanza Senora

Frenchmans Bay has an interesting beach bar.

Rendezvous Bay, Hansen Bay and Genti Bay in STJ are good Southside STJ places to escape a North swell.

Thanks for these recommendations. We probably will take especially a closer look to the quieter/more secluded bights mentioned by sail2wind.

But what about having food on board when coming to the USVI? We are from europe and I am not sure if there other rules than for US-Residents. When we come to the US by plane we always have to declare that we have no food with us and as far as I remember not to carry more than e. g. two bottles of wine etc.

no worries, people go back and forth all the time

I don't recall any questions about foods/trash/alcohol when going between BVI and USVI. If any are asked the correct answer is a firm no.

Last year we had two Europeans aboard. As I recall entry into the US by "private vessel" (boat or aircraft) is different than by common carrier. Because their first entry point into the US was not by common carrier they needed visas as the reciprocal agreements do not apply. I'm sure others here can help if I got any of this wrong.