TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands A few questions about our first post-Irma trip

Hi All,

We are days away from returning to the BVI after several years absence. I have a few questions:

1) How important is the boat name you use when signing up for (trigger alert) BoatyBall? Looks like our own new boat won't be ready and we will be on a Moorings sistership of yet unknown name. Can the boat name easily be changed later? Or with every reservation?

2) Can anyone tell what the availability of hard seltzer ( White Claw, Truly ) is? Available at Riteway?

3) Anyone have experience or (dis)recommendations regarding horseback riding on Anegada? What's it like?


Thanks!

You can use the charter company and boat size as your boat name when you sign up for BB, then change it when you arrive. We changed ours twice due to a boat switch. Just make sure it’s correct when you tie up because the BB police will come and tell you another boat reserved that ball.

This time of year, you won't even need to use Boatyball.

LOL, "trigger alert!" Let us know if you find White Claw!!!

I’d say it’s more like “this time of year it depends on the night.” Most nights its a nonissue. Some nights its booked.

Those balls may be booked, And if there's no regular balls available, There's always the option of anchoring somewhere, unless you don't know how. In that case, you shouldn't be chartering a boat.

The above statement should be repeated often. If your not comfortable anchoring overnight you need a skipper onboard.
G

They unfortunately still do not have any hard seltzer drink products in the BVI.

I saw Truly in the store today.

Riteway?

In my experience the comfort level depends on the anchorage and on the night :-)

Seltzer and flavored vodkas and rums are all sold in the BVI. Why is there a need for individual serving-size containers ?

Those are always a given however being comfortable involves looking in advance at the weather and having a plan to be in a safe anchorage given forecast conditions. I trust my anchor far more than a Moorings ball. I have ended up drifting twice at night. Both times I was on a mooring ball. One was a BEYC ball and one a Moor secure ball. In both cases the failure was in the ground tackle. I can inspect every component of my anchor system. I can’t always do that with a mooring. The anchor and the ability to anchor are basic safety items. You would be surprised at how many people sailing charter boats have no idea how to deploy the anchor without windless power.
G
P.S. Be very afraid of Moorings using sand screws with a swell running!

Thank you GeorgeC1, those are such words of wisdom. Your posts are always very informative and educational. I heartily agree that sailors should have the ability to anchor. I can't say how many times it has been useful for us!

Although I agree in general , most charter boats only have about a 125’ of chain and in most mooring fields the depths are to deep and in some cases two anchors would be necessary.

Two anchors really does not offset a lack of proper scope. I agree most charterboats can’t anchor much deeper than 35 feet of depth. In those cases you would need a mooring. The standard Moorings spec for cats is 230 feet of chain. I think Voyage was even more at 250. 125 is really not enough and would limit you to about 20 feet. I would consider 200 feet a minimum.
G

I believe the spec on our new M4000 calls for 50m of chain. I think we've always had 40 or 50 meters on all the boats we've chartered through Sunsail/Moorings/Conch.

Absolutely classic TTOL - I love you guys!

Yes it’s always been like that, maybe they’re now increasing the amount due to the lack of available mooring balls but it still wouldn’t work in the mooring fields where you would need a second anchor with enough scope to control your swinging

The spec on the M4800 was 230 feet. The M5000 is 250 feet. They might want to keep the weight down on the 4000. I should point out I am in no way advocating anchoring in a mooring area. It’s very bad form to do so and falls into the category of flying around moored boats towing water toys or running generators at docks. Your swing will be different than moored boats.
G