TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip report

Just finished a trip with my wife, son, his wife, their 11-month-old daughter, sister-in-law and her 14-year-old son. Because my son lives on St. Thomas and has a toddler, I decided to charter a boat with CYOA in St. Thomas, instead of with Moorings out of Roadtown. The monohull was a 45 foot 2017 Oceanis with generator, three staterooms, two heads, and a refrigerator in the cooler in the largest cockpit I have ever had on a monohull. No stepping over feet while moving about. Excellent boat.

Getting the boat in St. Thomas made it easier to provision the night before we embarked from French Town and headed to pick up the girls at Red Hook. Made it to Jost, Great Harbor just after the customs office closed. Steaks on the grill. Customs at 8 am. Took an hour to fill out the forms for seven people. Baby had a birth certificate. $849 in and out. Stopped by Foxy's in the morning to buy some rum because we had consumed the bottle we had on board the night before. Had to buy two bottles of Foxy's Firewater because they won't accept credit cards for purchases of less than $20. Firewater is $12 a bottle.

Picked up a mooring at Cane Garden Bay for a lunch hook (mooring). Lots of construction going on. Snorkeled at Monkey Point. Spent the evening at Marina Cay. Dinner at Pusser's. Nice.

Made a flyby of Trellis. Worried about hitting wrecks in the water while looking at lots of wrecks on land. Sad.

No moorings available at The Baths, so we picked one up at Fallen Jerusalem, which I have never visited. Nice.

Picked up a mooring at Leverick because they said on the radio they had no slips available. Went ashore where we were told the guys on the dock are the only ones that really know if slips are available. There were two, so we moved to slip #13. Helpful dock hands. Tipped them $20 for their advice because i don't do docks very well. Kinda windy. (That's my excuse.) Danced with the Jumbies (Saturday night) and my granddaughter. Had a great time.

Talked to Nick in the morning. Good to see him for the first time in person. He said the slips were booked for the week, but they had two cancelations. Learned that the owner had a construction company who quickly brought in 150 workers to repair the premises after the hurricanes. Place looks great.

In the morning we cruised by Saba Rock, where my son got married two years ago. Made my daughter-in-law cry. They are making progress, though. Looks like they will be in business next year, if not sooner. Bitter End apparently will take longer. The smoke from the fire burned our eyes. Worried about wrecks under the water. Dinner at Cooper. Nice.

Of course, we had to stop by Willy T. Lots of boats apparently celebrated her arrival. They didn't look too hungover. T looked great.

On to St. John for the evening. Picked up a mooring at Caneel. Heard they agreed to extend the lease. Dinner at High Tide. Ok.

Spent the last evening at Magens Bay, which is probably the finest anchorage I have ever visited. We were the only sailboat there. Beautiful mile long beach with a few combers. Dinner on board with friends from the island. Nice.

How did the tier 2 charter company compare to the moorings?

There are several tier 2 companies around.

I wouldnt consider CYOA tier 2. New boats, great staff. IMHO

A while back did you mention having reservations about sailing with a young child? if so, how did it go? Thanks for the report!

We are glad to hear you enjoyed your charter. Thanks for your business, we appreciate it.

This fire?

Cox Heath Dump Fire is out now.

Sounds like a great time! How long in advance did you contact Leverick for a slip? I put my email and pm TTOL request in to Nick 3 days ago for July 22 and haven't heard anything yet. Also, how bad was Trellis? I have to pull into the bay to pick up a crew member flying into EIS. Will it be hard to maneuver in the bay? Hope I don't have to stay there and can pick them up and make it over to Leverick. Their flight isn't scheduled to arrive until 4pm.

I sent an email to nick@surfbvi.com about a slip reservation for next month and had a response within 2 days, so you might try that route.

I tried the email and a private message here. I'm sure he's just busy or off the island for a few days. Just wondered.

What fun! Glad you enjoyed!

[quote=Schwendy][/quote]

Hey you! Our tickers are identical! Fun Fun Fun!

Be sure to say hey when you are on/near/around Jost Van Dyke. We are the bright orange villa across from Sandy Spit on the East End!

Thanks for report. Sounds like a great trip. Did you clear back into USVI at Cruz Bay?

Great write-up, thank you! Heading out ourselves on Thursday. Very helpful info!

Bryan

Awesome! Will do!

I requested a slip for the July 24th. He's been booked out for months. July 25th and 27th are big public holidays in Puerto Rico and so the whole week becomes "Christmas in July". Even if I could have gotten one of the last slips, it probably wouldn't have been the quiet family time I was looking for. I'm happy to hear he's getting the business though! I enjoy the trip planning, so now I am getting more enjoyment making some new plans.

CYOA is pretty good. Comparable to Moorings, but don't have the facilities. Boat briefing was not as good as it could be.

Tried to, but they aren't open yet.

We had a harness for the baby, as well as a life jacket. She didn't like either, but eventually gave up complaining while we sailed. Being a baby, she always required someone's attention when awake, just like at home.

They were burning a large pile of hurricane rubble at the Bitter End.