TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands October??

Planning a charter in later part of October. Never been during this month. Anything I should know? I am not too worried about hurricanes by then but I have heard it's one of the more rainy months. Are we talking frequent quick showers or total rain days? Will the northern swells be coming in then? Will most bars/restaurants be opening back up?

My favorite month by far...

Last year dead calm ocean trip to Anegada and only 3 boats at Moorings. We were first boat out of Moorings at the end of September. We went about 5 days too early as Cooper & Cow Wreck were still closed...

No north swell and 1 day rain for 1 hour

We will be back 2nd week Oct 19

I've been down in October several times - one time constant rain another beautiful sunny weather though a bit more humid - don't think there is such a thing as a normal month any more. cheers Brian

We have sailed in October several times. Never had good luck with the weather. Varied from heavy rain every day and a hurricane to unsettled weather with frequent showers. We decided our vacation time was too important to play the weather odds and moved our schedule to late November. Rates are still off-season, lesser crowds and everything is open.

Foxy's Cat Fight and their big Halloween party are on Saturday, Oct. 26th. We'll be there!

You do need to be concerned about hurricanes in October. I've been too close for comfort to three hurricanes in total, all of them in October. They also tend to come from weird directions and pop up with less warning at that time of year, that's why I got caught!

We go somewhere in the Caribbean every October. As @Jeannius says, you do need to be concerned about Hurricanes by having a Plan B for a location further south. One thing not often thought about is not that there's a hurricane when you are scheduled to go, but that a hurricane came through *prior* to your trip. 2017 is the primary example. Irma did so much damage in early Sept, there were no charters available for months from Dominica north through pretty much all the islands. We ended up in Curacao.

Another note on this is to check your trip insurance. If you go with a travel insurance company there's a 30 day window after the hurricane for which they'll cover. Irma hit St. Martin on Sept 6/7. Our scheduled charter out of St. Martin was Oct 8 - exactly 30 days from when Irma hit. Initially, they did not want to cover but a short letter from my attorney took care of that. I suspect if Irma had hit a week earlier we would have been out of luck. Now we use the credit card insurance which doesn't have that time limit.

Lots of different ideas on October. Kind of looks like you " pays your money and takes your chances."

Our personal feeling, and that is a very individual choice, we stay clear of the Caribbean during hurricane season. September is usually the worst month. SEPTEMBER REMEMBER is a saying in the Caribbean.

OCTOBER ALL OVER. ( end of october ) .... and sometimes into November.

I do remember when FOXY would have the Wooden Boat Races in September, and very clever since it is hurricane seasonan and biz falls off. . Also the bare boat charter outfits will many times give you 10 days of sailing
for the price of 7 days.

To us, that is a big time warning that there is a reason for those discounts and promotions. It certainly isn't because they love us.

Some people get away with it, and others, as noted in some of these posts, have not been as lucky.

We have had very good sailing weather in May, it is before hurricane season and before the kids get out of school. And the cruise ships have whittled their visits down to three days in that month .

Also, the intensity of the hurricanes is increasing, Irma ....180 to 225 mph winds.

And as mentioned by others, we need to think about the effects of any hurricane damage in the month or so before October.

Of course as usual, those are some of our thoughts , everyone can chose their own special sailing vacation times .

May you have bright and sunny days, and fair winds, great sailing, and good times.

September most everything is closed...including Moorings historically. I guess we have been very lucky weather wise in October (absent Irma) historically

We had 3 trips cancelled due to Irma et.al. and just ended up somewhere else

I like the May and October trips...

Be careful not to plan around this advice. There are 6 ships scheduled in Tortola alone in May and likely other smaller ships at the other islands. When the official port schedule is released, I expect there will be more than 6 in Tortola too.

Jason,

We actually do plan ahead, and we are aware of the cruise ship schedule in May

Yes, you are correct, there will be cruise ships in on 3 May.... 7 May....and 8 May. No factor for us. Way ahead of when we even arrive in the BVI.

Others can plan accordingly by checking the cruise ship schedule dates and plan and chart their own courses and anchorages and chose their own dates..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We will be sailing for two weeks from 15 May to 29 May, 2019, With planning ahead we booked almost a year ahead with Conch Charters. We knew that, sadly , the lost many of their monohulls due to Irma.

Cruise ships will be in Tortola: Dates that would be a factor.

on 21 May , and 23 May, and we have totally planned to avoid them, especially at Cane Garden Bay ( that is two days )

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since it is a little late for people to be booking a bare boat for this month , May, 2019 at this time, common sense
would allow that they would be checking the cruise ship schedules for May 2020, or any month that they might be
sailing the BVI . Those schedules are listed for the entire year. .


Also, exactly what is wrong with sailing in May, before hurricane season, in settled weather, good sailing winds, NE to south of East at 10 to 15 plus. ( And we sail, not motor ).
Also in May, there are less boats and people due to the kids still in school and good mooring availability.
,
And, we get a very large discount from Conch, since it is past High Season that ended in March, the boat cost is much less.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have a better idea, we would appreciate you posting it here.

Even tho we have been sailing the BVI in May for over 35 years, we are always open to new well informed actual experiences.

Actually, will be putting some of those tips from this forum into practice this next trip.

The Moorings doesn't close.

They were closed Sept '19 and appear to be open for Sept 2020 so maybe it was a one off.

We are planning for Oct. 18 hope to see you down there!

I appreciate all the comments and advice! Unfortunately I usually don't have a say in when I get to go! Always depends on when my crew can get time off. It is getting harder and harder to find people to go! Thought it would get easier as I introduce more people to these bareboat trips. I looked at historical data of all hurricanes to hit the BVI in the month of Oct. and since 1929 I think there have only been 2. Yeah I'm not counting "near by" or before as in September. I'm hoping no major one's with damage beforehand. Just wondered what the weather (rain and wind) would be like. Last two charters were in July and Late Aug/Sept so I've been during peak hurricane season, infact Sept. 8th is the peak day! Winds during those months have been 25 plus and that sucks on a power cat. I don't mind a few showers, hate the wind more. Oh well, like I said, I have no choice really for the week we can all go.