TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Flights are a BEAR - Advice needed for meeting crew on Day 2 St. Thomas

We booked our flights two months ago and got great fares ($463 roundtrip from RDU to STT). We arrive in St. Thomas early afternoon and will do a sleep aboard at CYOA (Frenchtown), ready to leave the first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, the options for 2 of our crew coming from SFO are dismal! Because of travel time and time change, they will have to overnight (or take redeye, not a great way to start 10 days on a boat) to STT. I thought that perhaps they could overnight in ATL or MIA and we could meet them our second day either in Tortola or somewhere moored/anchored off of St. Thomas. Thinking that our first day of sailing we could sail from Frenchtown to somewhere where a taxi could bring them. This is our first time starting in St. Thomas so haven't looked to see if there is a good first day of sailing/exploring so that crew can meet us mid-afternoon the day after we leave from Frenchtown. They could fly into Beef Island but again, the fares are ridiculous. Don't really want to give up a whole day waiting for them nor ask them to leave a day early or take the redeye from SFO. Any recommendations for a good sail from Frenchtown to a meeting spot on St. Thomas accessible by taxi from STT? Thanks!

You could sail around through Pillsbury Sound and spend some time around St. John, then pick them up in Red Hook in the afternoon.

Been in pretty much that same position. First, it's not your job to wait for crew coming in late. They need to catch up. What we've done in the past is sail to Maho and spend the night there. The next day start a bit slow and take your time. Go to West End. Your friends can take the ferry when they get in and meet you there. Depends a little on what time they get there but a short sail over to Norman for the night. Everyone will be happy. Did this a couple of years ago and it worked out just fine.

Make sure you tell C&I that you have two crew coming on the ferry and that they will be coming with you on the boat back out (i.e., not leaving Tortola on the ferry). That's a little unusual so make sure they understand your plans.

Good advice, except that I don't think there is a ferry to West End yet. No ferry dock. You would have to meet them in Road Town, unless they take a cab to West End or one of the marinas. Nanny Cay maybe?

If it was me I would take the red eye flight before I missed a day of sailing...

I have to agree. We here on the east coast always envy our West Coast friend's connections to Hawaii and French Polynesia. This is their turn to envy our connections to the Caribbean.

Last summer, some west coast friends left a day early and spent a night at the Emerald Beach resort in STT near the airport to meet us. Heck they wound up being the most rested of the whole group. I have to agree with SailNow...perhaps they don't realize what a disruption they are causing. A day early or the red eye sounds like the best plan.

I would sail to north shore of St John, enjoy one of the beaches, then later in the afternoon grab a mooring ball as close to Lind Pt as possible. Have your crew taxi the ~45 minutes to Red Hook and take the St John ferry to Cruz Bay. The ferry to St John is now departing hourly, on the hour, til 10 pm.

It's a 10 minute dinghy ride from Lind Pt moorings to the ferry dock. Not sure if they have rebuilt the dinghy docks by the ferry dock. If not, pull your dinghy up on the beach on either side of the dock.

If they are arriving after dark, then I suggest you take an orientation trip with the dinghy to Cruz Bay while it''s light out. Lots of options now open in town for drinks and dinner.

We fly SFO to STT three times a year to stay at CRC..our home in Apple Bay. Sadly the redeye is the only way to go.

I'd take the red eye in a second. I'd much rather travel when I'd be sleeping vs waste a day travelling. When we traveled prior to having our son, we'd take the red eye all the time. Got us in essentially a day earlier without having to take any added time off. Instead of arriving on Tortola end of the day, we'd get there the beginning of the day and spend that first night in an anchorage vs being on the dock.

Traveled from the Left Coast for years....almost always on red-eyes from LAX. If they can get to SJU, Intercaribbean's flights from SJU to Beef are really quite reasonable if you book far enough in advance.

One of the reasons we decided on moving to Florida was its proximity to our favorite place on earth....

Thanks everyone for confirming what I was able to find as well. Trying to coordinate meeting my friends once we've left the CYOA base seems like folly. As I've experienced for years not coming from direct flight city, the BVIs are not easy to reach especially from the West Coast and now post-hurricane with limited flights. I suspect my friends will bail once they take a look at the fares and the time it's going to take. A red-eye to a 3 1/2 hour layover in either ATL or MIA isn't that compelling considering the $1,300 roundtrip coach fare.

We’re going down this week for our third trip in as many months. Some flights we’ve used miles, others we’ve bought tickets to SJU on Southwest, then a second ticket on Seaborne (InterCaribbean would also work). That has been an easy and affordable option.

Yup, coming from the East Coast is relatively straightforward.... unfortunately, not a whole lot of relevance to someone trying to fly in from the West Coast..... there are no nonstop flights from the West Coast to SJU.

We're not on the East Coast, and it takes us two flights on Southwest (or anyone else) to get to San Juan.

Sounds like it's more of a cost issue than a schedule issue. Tickets are expensive due to low capacity right now. Southwest does have better prices depending on the dates. If it's not a cost issue, tell them to GET ON the redeye and Sail Now! It won't be the flying they remember.

Hopefully this isn't redundant, since you've received many suggestions and comments.

They might be able to catch a ferry from Red Hook over to Jost. Pick them up in morning at Great Harbor dock. We did this with some family that were traveling separate so they could spend a couple nights on the charter boat while we were under way.

Not sure of ferry schedules, but did see ferry coming and going while in Jost last week.

The US C&I office is out of commission on St John so the Red Hook to JVD (via Cruz Bay) service is indefinitely suspended. All ferries to/from USVI to Tortola are currently via Charlotte Amalie.

Oh, understood...didn't realize that.

Somebody needs to create a SINGLE web page with a bunch of Red, Yellow and Green boxes on it...each box a restaurant, place, ferry or whatever.....a heat map of what's online. All the information is disjointed and in fifty different places.

Jet Blue has very good fares from JFK $185 each way to STT

wow, that's a great price today... sadly, not so, north of the 49th
such is the way it is

Westjet yyz-anu IC anu-eis 450$ one way. Off by 9am on by Tbay hh.

Naw pablum