TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands First time captain

Hello all:

This will be our 4th time sailing in BVI but the first official bareboat. Laid out the following itinerary but looking for an tips/tricks/places to eat, snorkle, etc. Whatever you can suggest!
Trying a clockwise direction this time, on a Moorings 433PC, with our teenage children. Lots of snorkling required to tire them out.

27 July (Sat) Fly into STT, Fast Ferry arrival around 5PM
28 July (Sun) Sail to White Bay or Great Harbor, JVD Snorkle Sandy Cay or Watermelon Cay (is this allowed?)
29 July (Mon) Anegada best places to snorkel?
30 July (Tue) Snorkle the Dogs then Leverick
31 July (Wed) Baths then Cooper Island
1 Aug (Thu) Indians then Norman Island
2 Aug (Fri) Return boat, Ferry, overnight in STT, fly out Sat

Do not moor at Leinster Bay to snorkel Waterlemon Cay without first legally clearing into US Customs & Immigrations! You're considered to have entered the USVI when you moor.

At Anegada, I find the best snorkeling at the large reef directly in front of Flash of Beauty restaurant. Massive elkhorn coral. Regular sightings of nurse shark, large barracuda, schools of tarpon, sea turtle, eagle ray, southern sting ray, and schools of larger reef fish hiding in shadows of the large overhangs. Be aware there can be a string rip tide if there is a heavy swell or near the full/new moon.

Chimney Rock at Great Dog is a great snorkel in settled conditions and often exceeds The Indians in the number and variety of fish.

Suggestions interlaced below for readability.....IMHO on the snorkeling

27 July (Sat) Fly into STT, Fast Ferry arrival around 5PM

28 July (Sun) Sail to White Bay or Great Harbor, JVD Snorkle Sandy Cay or Watermelon Cay (is this allowed?)

I have done both and would skip both...Waterlemon requires Customs and not much at Sandy and Waterlemon hit or miss especially for starfish

29 July (Mon) Anegada best places to snorkel?

Either take a day trip with Kelly or Sherman or go to Flash of beauty and then walk to Loblolly and try snorkeling there (see previous posts on how to snorkle each)

30 July (Tue) Snorkle the Dogs then Leverick

OK

31 July (Wed) Baths then Cooper Island

See the baths and SNORKLE Cooper

1 Aug (Thu) Indians then Norman Island

Indians is great snorkeling

2 Aug (Fri) Return boat, Ferry, overnight in STT, fly out Sat

Thanks for the quick and excellent replies!

Obviously want to be mooring and not anchoring considering this is our first "official" solo trip. I think most of the overnights have mooring balls, any tips?

Any suggestions on snorkeling day 1 near JVD?

One our fave snorkel sites is

MONKEY POINT, Guana Island.

Few National Park Moorings, with their usual 1.5 hr time limit.
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THE INDIANS AND PELICAN


The other Fave , that you have , The Indians and Pelican.
a few N.P. moorings, same time limit, but we get there early
as later on, the small mooring field is packed.

We also honor the 1.5 hr time limit to allow others to enjoy the excellent snorkeling there as well.
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The Caves:

For us, we would pass on the caves. Water is clear but pretty light on marine life. But, that is
our opinion. Also, the day snorkel boats arrive with loads of visitors . We would pass on
all that, and snorkel at some of your other selections.

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Watermellon Cay is in the USVI......St John......one trip we sailed over after clearing out
of Sopers Hole, West end, Tortoal...... Cleared in at Cruz Bay..... Snorkeled Water Mellon Cay, and
returned back to the BVI the next day, , cleared back in at Sopers . Personally, not worth the
effort and never did that again.
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ANEGADA FLASH OF BEAUTY

I really like Baards idea of snorkeling at Anegada...in front of Flash of Beauty...
we missed that on our Anegada visit pre Irma.... sounds super.

You all are going to have a fantastic BVI good time.

The snorkeling along the south side of Little Jost and the cut between Little Jost and JVD can be decent if the visibility is good.

Thanks again. We may just grab a ball in White Bay and have the kids swim on the beach and relax, while we have our painkillers! Does the Soggy Dollar rent chairs?

Is there a good up to date website with functional moorings in the BVI's?

Chairs are free at Soggy Dollar.

This site is pretty good:
www.bvimariner.com

Eagleboy, I just sent you a private message.

Keep an eye on water with a new crew. Usually conserving water isn't a priority. The only stop I see on your route is Leverick. Not sure I'd change the route because it's only 5 days but you may want to make sure you can top off there.

We're not out there for long, so we didn't plan on stopping at a slip but may consider it.

Thinking that Monkey Point may be a bit out of the way on the first day, but we do have a power cat. Any other suggestions near JVD for snorkeling?

Diamond Cay if you like Green Turtles. They are very hard to not bump into! Not much else there to see...but worth it for them in our opinion. And lunch at B-Line...a 'proper' Caribbean beach bar!