TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands 7 day charter. Fly to STT or EIS?

Quick question folks. Planning a 7 day bareboat cruise around middle of June. Should I charter at STT and sail to VBI after spending a day I’m St J? Or fly to EIS and charter there?
I understand taxes will be greater going to BVI from USVI, but I would also be saving that last leg from SJU to EIS.
Any advice would be appreciated.

I suggest you figure out what kind of boat you are looking for and run the numbers of STT vs. BVI. Chartering out of STT - which I believe really means CYOA - has lower costs for air travel but has higher fees imposed when you clear C&I in the BVI. Some people here will feel passionately that if you wish to be sailing in the BVI that's where you should start. My opinion is different since I enjoy the beaches and bays on St. John which you would probably not get to experience if you started in BVI. So find a boat you like on both the BVI and STT end and run the numbers then decide if the delta - whatever it might be - is that important to you. Then look at the other advantages/disadvantages to see if they have value for you. Some issues you might look at are: boat selection/cost including age and equipment, total transit time and cost, i.e., from your door step to sitting on the boat, cost selection and ease of provisions, sailing area, hassle/expense of checking in/out of US and/or BVI. June is a great time to be down there and I'm sure you will have a great experience.

I second this opinion. We sail out of bvi and are biased in that direction. agrimsrud has his boat at cyoa on st Thomas.

Either way you won’t go too far wrong.

If you can find the boat you want/need on St. Thomas and you do not mind moving the boat the extra miles? No question St. Thomas is the way to go. If you head to the BVI from St. Thomas(some never leave the USVI) you will be sailing and covering more miles and hours moving the boat. That is not for everyone and every crew. If you do charter from Tortola and attempt to use STT as your airport? I would do the math and consider just how many hours and dollars you will spend to move the entire crew from STT to your dock and back to STT. The $$$$ numbers and hours of hassle can really add up with the STT to Taxi - Ferry - Taxi Dance and return. Usually the key limiter is finding a boat match on STT for your dates. The St. Thomas boat inventory has always been tiny.

The options right now are lax-atl-sju-eis all via plane or lax-Mia-stt and either book a charter at stt or ferry to Tortola and book there.
Either way going to Tortola is about the same price. If I charter from STT it will be a bit cheaper, but the vbi taxes fees will eat up those savings anyway.
For simplicity sake, I’m not sure what route to go.

Also, I’m not a US citizen. Just a green card holder and getting back to the US is always a hassle for me

CYOA has some available in June on their website, but I haven’t called them yet. I will do that tomorrow. I did get some good quotes from Tortola via LateSail

does BVIYachtcharter still have any boats available out of STT?

There is no special queue for citizens vs. others when you check the boat in from BVI back into USVI. So I don't think there is any additional hassle for you vs. anyone else. The longest I"ve had to spend at C&I coming from BVI back into USVI was in November when we got there right when a ferry pulled up and I think we waited a half hour. From my experience, assuming you have your paperwork ready to go, the checkin is usually on order 10 minutes - hardly a hassle. The hassle you will have coming back through C&I into US proper - either at the STT airport or San Juan will be the same. In other words - I don't think your green card situation really weighs in with the decision.

It's an extra couple minutes for a US Resident Alien to get electronically finger printed at C&I at the pre-Irma Cruz Bay office or at the Charlotte Amalie office.

Just did a little research. Flights from LAX to STT run about $500 per ticket. Lax to EIS goes for $900.

You could fly into STT and take Dolphin Water Taxi to Tortola for about $125 per person, plus tariffs, etc. You'd save over $200 per person, and depending on your charter base, Dolphin will take you directly there.

Anyone have an idea on when Cruz Bay C&I will reopen?

If you book to sju and then a separate flight to eis, it’s a lot cheaper

Yes, definitely can be cheaper, BUT! Kind of risky. If you book one ticket and your flight gets messed up, the airline(s) is still responsible for getting you there. If you book separate tickets and something happens, you could be SOL. Your outbound flight is delayed, and you are just a no-show on the second flight, and they don't have to accommodate you at all. Same on the way home. Generally not worth the risk to me. Your mileage may vary..

Interesting idea! Actually about $200 cheaper per ticket.

We did this very thing last May with success -- booked Jet Blue to/from San Juan and Intercaribbean to/from EIS. Left plenty of time to get our bags and go out to the main terminal to check in for the flight to Tortola. Carol is correct that it can be risky but it saved us a bundle. We are doing the same thing in June for our upcoming 2 week charter...we were actually discussing it just this morning because JB moved their flight time back three hours and we now get into San Juan at 8:41 a.m. and don't leave for Tortola until 2:30. Intercaribbean has an 11am and I thought about calling to try to switch us and decided.....nah.....why risk it? We can see if they'll change us day of...if not, we'll take our bags to lunch and come back....

Connections make me really nervous. On our last trip down - June 2015 - we flew US Airways (right before American discontinued them) from Boston to Charlotte and then on to STT. I allowed 4 hours for our layover in Charlotte, just to avoid unforeseen delays, planning on staying at the Windward Passage that night before hopping on the ferry in the morning. The inbound flight to Charlotte went as planned. The outbound flight from CLT to STT was delayed 3 hours because of late inbound flight crew, then another 2 hours for mechanical problems and then, as if to add insult to injury, once airborne, turned around over South Carolina and returned to Charlotte, at which time it was cancelled. Pandemonium!!!!

Managed to get on the first flight out in the morning, almost had to bludgeon our way onto the last ferry out of RT, spent the first night of our charter on board at the marina and lost a day of sailing.

I know this is an anomaly, and can happen to any flight, but connections just increase the odds of something going wrong. I'll take a non-stop any day.

Just saying.

Actually we are flying down on Saturday for a few days and flying through San Juan on American and found that the fare through to Beef Island on Seaborne was only $200 more round trip than San Juan and you have the benefit of code share and checked through baggage. Also that total was cheaper then Philly to Saint Thomas.

I usually store our bags at the airport. I think it’s in terminal D. Charge around $10 per bag. They were open last August.

Oh good to know!