TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Catamaran Charter

We are planning our 5th(?) charter to the BVI at the end of March. We've always chartered out of Tortola, twice from Moorings and 3 times from other brokers. We'll fly into St Thomas, and given the cost of flying into Tortola as well as the "unpredictability" of the ferries, we are considering chartering directly from St Thomas and sailing over to the BVI. Any thoughts? We would likely sail from St Thomas to Jost Van Dyke and clear customs there. Considering CYOA. One of our biggest factors is customer service. We had a terrible experience with the Moorings in St Maarten last year but have generally been satisfied with the service in Tortola in the past. On the other hand, we sat out three days in two different anchorages waiting for repairs with another company a couple years ago. Boats break - its part of the adventure. But we are loathe to waste three days of vacation waiting for a repair boat that doesn't come again. Would welcome your thoughts and recommendations.

CYOA has a great reputation and I used them prior to purchasing my yacht (Sea Tiger, which is based in TMM fleet.)
Obvious advantage of STT (CYOA) is no ferry. Draw back is spend a day (or 2) getting to/from BVI sailing ground... I consider that minor unless trip is short. Biggest drawback is on day 1, with seas being greatest just outside CA, your crew (especially novices) may be more prone to sea sickness. Also be cautious of days entering BVI re: customs overtime fees.

Advantages of cruising around St John and generally less crowded, but beautiful.

I am pretty sure CYOA has chase boats arranged for BVI (But many companies do not send chase boats to Anagada). . If you choose STT as your starting point, Capt Jay at CYOA will take good care of you.

Do not fear the ferry. As bad as they can be I have taken them well over 100 times since 1981 and have never missed a connection. Just give yourself time and relax. My opinion is that you will have better service in the BVI if you are chartering from a BVI company. Things do happen that require repair and local compNies are just better equipped and much closer.

The ferry is not so bad. It elimates the time spent traveling to the bvi. So the time saved might not count for much.

I have had better luck with quality provisions in the bvi.

Where do you fly to Thomas from? How early can you get to st Thomas?

Warren SV Scuba Doo

Sure you can take the ferry. Many, many, thousands do each year. If you involve the ferry in your trip? Air, taxi, ferry, taxi..... will consume a day of your time each way. In some cases more than a day of your time each way. Some love the adventure of the ferry. Others loathe anything to do with STT on the weekends or any busy day. If losing a day and hassle on the start and end of your trip is good for you? Then go with the ferry and taxi dance combos. We no longer use the ferry for anyone we are sailing with. The ferry just adds to much doubt, worry, frustration for the rest of the group traveling with us. For us we either pick up or meet the boat on St. Thomas or charter from SJU to get and comers and goers to Beef Island.

Another way to look at this. We will not give any of our crews money or credit cards to the ferry operators.

One bad trip might put me off re taking the ferry.

However, I have never had much of an issue, never missed a flight. Sometimes the ferry are running a little late.

When I use the ferry, I connect with Kevin as he is in touch with the most up to date schedule.
It has never added a day to the trip whether we take the ferry or a flight out of beef island.

For me, the ferry adds a minor complexity to the trip,

My last trip was by air to beef island and the next will be by ferry.

"But we are loathe to waste three days of vacation waiting for a repair boat that doesn't come again. "

With many 10's of charters over four decades. We never sit and wait. We either fix it ourselves, move on without it, call and let the base know we are having and issue we would like help with. We do our best to never ever stop the boat in a place we would not like to be. We enjoy each location, we leave on our schedule no one else's. Once you are more than single digit miles from any base. I would not sit and wait for anyone while I was on vacation. Move on. Tell the base where you are and where you are going to be. Tell the base how to get into the boat. Enjoy the trip and each spot to its fullest. If you really need help? Make sure you are talking to at least a boat operations manager with a cell phone who fully understands the boat and the failure. Skip trying to talk to the staff in the air conditioned office there for phone and paperwork skills. Understand who is coming, on what boat, with what abilities and tools before you "sit and wait". In almost every case. If the chase boat has not already left the dock. They are hours if not the next day away. Remember they will have to get to you, execute the repair, and return before dark or in most cases before closing time. Just like the saturday morning toy commercials the marketing brochures never match the reality. In the tropics triple that practice.

Here is what the Moorings says the food will look like...

Done it both ways. I'll take the ferry over the time in the SJU airport and puddle jumper any day. I don't understand the "doubt, worry and frustration" you associate with the ferries. The ability to fly into STT vs. SJU is a big deal as I'm not fond of the mess that the SJU airport can be, particularly when you hit it with cruise ship passengers. And any time on the water...even on a ferry...beats time in an airport.

Highly recommend the CYOA option. Sure... as several have indicated - the ferry is part of the adventure. When I'm on vacation I don't really like "adventure". Here are some reasons you might consider CYOA:
1. It's six or seven minutes (depending on the red lights) away from the airport.
2. Nearly all of the boats are near new at present. These are not cookie cutter "charter fleet boats" - these are all boats custom built by their owners and placed into the hands of the folks at CYOA.
3. All of the boats are well maintained. I have chartered with them multiple times and have seen/used boats that were near new and boats that were close to being sent back to their owners. I have had zero problems with any of them. ZERO! But of course boats are boats and I'm willing to accept that they break because I'm fully confident I'll be back up and running very shortly via help from the competent folks at CYOA.
4. Much better/cheaper to provision on St. Thomas. In fact I rent an Avis car at the airport, move my crew, provision the boat and hand it back in at the float plane terminal next door to CYOA. That costs me something like 70 bucks. Then I put the meat in the freezer - yup... all of the boats I've had have a freezer.
5. The other posters seem to indicate that you'll spend an extra day on each end dealing with traveling to/from St Thomas to the BVI. Simply not true. I can leave CA and arrive West End in about two hours. However, the anchorages of St. John are spectacular. So what exactly is the hurry to get to BVI? Even if the ferry situation was all sorted out I would still pick up the boat in CA if possible.
6. I have the option to sail to the Spanish Virgins.

And I can think of several other reasons as well but that's enough.

I had the same miserable ferry experience as you may have had. You will see on this board that many recommend tacking on an extra day so you can overnight on St Thomas before catching your flight home the next day. Huh? I overnight in Maho Bay on St. John and bring the boat in, refuel, and I'm on the CYOA dock by about 10:00 leaving me plenty of time to clean up and catch my afternoon flight.

After several charters at CYOA I bought a boat and placed it into charter with them. My ownership of a boat may seem like a reason to dismiss my input. I'll leave that up to you but I can honestly say I would have the same exact input independent of my boat ownership. Give it a try - I don't see how you can possibly have anything to loose.

Maybe? CYOA could add or double the fleet by adding great boats with watermakers on Puerto Rico. There are at least three fleets there now. Has anyone done the math with spending the first few days of a ten or more day charter in the SVI then making a long day sail to the North Sound when the ice aboard runs out. From North Sound or Anegada you could sail the BVI downwind until it was time to return to Puerto Rico. You would have to have crew who actually wants to sail. The distances would be long by BVI standards but the cruising norm in most of the other Carribean bases.

We always plan to take care of the boat ourselves when we leave the dock. Even if that means paying a local where we happen to be to deal with it. The "chase boat" is never part of our expectation. If one works out and delivers great. Otherwise we treat any issue just like we would on our own boat. I believe we will always charter the largest, newest boat we can find in a location where the flights will work for our dates. Like many others, we have not had a bad day on the water. I think starting a charter on Puerto Rico would work for us just as well as the charters we have started on St. Lucia and other islands.

So just to clarify - we've always used the ferry and really haven't had any problems, per se. But for a Sat - Sat charter, we assume we need to fly out of Phila on Friday, and after arriving in ST, ferry over to Tortola, then either spend the night on the boat (usually not possible) or in a hotel. We arrange for provisions on Friday, hope for a Sat a.m. briefing, and try to be on our way before noon. We return to the dock on Friday night in order to be sure we can check out, ferry to ST, and arrive at the airport at least 2-3 hours before our flight (always a nuthouse at that airport). By chartering directly out of ST, we hoped we might be able to arrive in ST and leave the dock on the same day and reverse the process going home - eliminating a "travel day" on the way in and making it an easier day going home.

In terms of repairs, we fix what we can. But our last repairs included a broken windless where we had to haul the anchor up by hand, a propeller that fell off and was lost, and - believe it or not - a windless with some sort of short that spontaneously hauled the anchor back up while we were on our way to shore. My husband happened to look back, saw the boat swinging in the wrong direction, and realized what happened. We were able to race back and board the boat and start the engine before a disaster ensued (this one required a trip back to the Moorings base from Cooper and an afternoon of repair, but at least it was done promptly.) But on our non-Moorings charters we waited in Grand Bay all afternoon as we were instructed for a chase boat than never came. We then waited all the next morning and into the afternoon before the repair team came, and by the time the repair was made, it was too late to sail. A similar wait for a "no-show" chase boat occurred with the lost prop. So we aren't asking for a perfectly functioning boat, just a reliable and prompt repair team.

So the "pros" of leaving from ST may include a day at St John (which isn't too shabby) on our way to the BVI. Thanks to all for your advice - we welcome your thoughts and input

PS - Deepcut, could you clarify for me where the swells are bad on the way from ST to the BVI? Not sure I know where CA is.

I sailed several weeks out of fajardo. It's a great marina, a outstanding place to provision and most of the sailing is a pain in the [censored] up wind. Not many restaurants and bars. Little opportunity for fuel, water and calm anchorages.

For these reasons I love usvi and bvi.

If you have access to PHL airport? You should also be able to use JFK and Newark. Between those three airports you should be able to find an early morning flight any day of the week direct arriving at STT or SJU near noon. A midday arrival at either place is a reasonable chance you will make Tortola on the same day even if you are delayed. The same is true on the return. The flights to Philly leave at 2 from STT. There is ample time to get from Tortola to St. Thomas to catch a 2PM plane. Note: To many STT is a miserable place to be trying to depart on any weekend. Always book yourself on the first flight south outgoing day and the last plane of the day on return direct to any of those three airports.

Right now the JFK flights are $188 a leg leaving STT at 3:30.

Trying leave the dock the same day you land is a recipe for misery. We gave that up long ago and never rush away from the dock. We leave when the boat is ready and everyone in the crew is ready. We do try to arrive back at the base early and with zero delay moving the boat on the last morning. Have everyone packed before the boat hits the dock to be on our way home. To us using hotels on the way in and out is more hassle than it is ever worth. We will not take a charter without a sleep aboard.

It is possible to leave the dock at CYOA the same day you arrive but it depends on your arrival time of course. If you plan to provision the boat yourself I would drop somebody at the store right up the road from CYOA and have them get provisions while the other half of the party starts the check out process. The check out process takes some time - I don't think you will have the boat under your control for probably two hours. It's an hour ride to Christmas Cove - the first stop you might consider. And you're supposed to be at anchor an hour before sun set. So you can do the math on when you would have to arrive. The last charter we had in October I went a day early to provision and get everything checked out. I had the engine running for when the rest of my crew arrived the next day at 3:00 at STT. We were underway at 3:30 - the only reason it took that long is 'cause everyone had to find flippers at the dock.

CA by the way is "Charlotte Amalie", the main town on St. Thomas.

Coming back there is no problem getting in the morning of departure assuming your flight out is sometime after noon.

There can be a bit of swell for about a 40 minute stretch once you leave the harbor and up until you get to Christmas Cove. Tends to be long period. When we were there in October we had two women who were prone to motion sickness. The one gets motion sick driving her own car! Both did fine. Your mileage will vary of course but I highly recommend anyone new to sailing or prone to motion sickness get a prescription for a patch.