TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands January trip - draft itinerary

Heading back down to charter for a week late next month. 45' cat out of TMM. This will be our 7th charter/trip - 2nd with the same crew. Coming up with our tentative itinerary so we hit the spots each person has on their list. All subject to change with weather etc. This is our first charter trip post Irma (we spent a week last Feb on Anegada so we know what's open there).

Would appreciate input on what's open, suggestions etc.

Day 1 - Arrive EIS 11:40 am. Taxi to TMM. Norman, Cooper or Peter. Norman is the easy answer. Cooper is prob a long shot if we want a ball late afternoon. Peter - thinking of anchoring in Deadman's Bay (I know Peter isn't open with any facilities) OR Trellis??
Day 2 - Snorkel the Baths on the way to Oil Nut Bay; ONB for the night
Day 3 - Anegada - trip with Sherwin
Day 4 - Anegada - Loblolly & Cow Wreck
Day 5 - Scrub - dinner at Scrub or Marina Cay?
Day 6 - Cane Garden - taxi to Sugar Mill/Tramonti for dinner
Day 7 - JVD - anchor in Great Harbor or Little Harbor & taxi to White Bay
Day 8 - Norman
Day 9 - early return to Road Town, top off fuel, drop boat and depart EIS at 12:10 pm

Thanks!
Julie

IMHO I would snorkel at Indians instead of Baths and then stay at Norman or Key Cay Peter...maybe taxi down to Baths from ONB

Enjoy The Sugar Mill..I would book a table upstairs ( Mary and Dennis are the owners and Andrea and Rupert their new managers). They will appreciate a heads up by booking..IMHO they make the best margarita at the bar upstairs I have ever had!

Don't be surprised if you don't get off the dock the first day. If you are landing at 11:40, it will probably be 1:00 before you get to the boat. Then you will have to do a boat and chart briefing, that can take several hours. When are you getting provisions?

Manpot - thank you! We met you at the Sugar Mill a few years ago - LOVED their food.
Colleen - we’ve checked with TMM about departure day of arrival. They actually suggested we get off the dock and not spend the night in the marina. Working on provisions next!
Bailau- Key Cay Peter? Seems like a taxi from ONB to baths would be loooooong

On leeward side of Peter towards the west is Key Bay and a little cay called Key Cay. We have stayed there a couple of times as it is secluded and they did have a few mooring balls. Thought on that first day you could hit Indians to snorkel and then go to Key Bay for the evening...beautiful secluded spot.

https://latitudes.space/quiet-anchorages-of-the-british-virgin-islands-bb46b2b8d95

I have only taken the taxi from Leverick and yes it is long...it will be a great day when I dont have to showcase the Baths at all to someone new...:) but my preferred method now is by taxi and then dinner at Coco Maya...still need to get to Hog Heaven

The two Mooring balls in Key Cay are for diving only not overnights.
G

OK...we had anchored there so didnt pay attention to what they were for

The old WillyT is underneath them!
G

There was room in Key Bay to sink the Willy T II?

I believe she's a bit SW of Key Cay, in about 60 - 70' if I remember correctly.

Can't get there from here -- not by road anyway.

Dan

If over night in SJU, perhaps check with airline (puddle jumper) and see if any seats available on the early morning flight (ie 7:00) and if so, how accommodating ($) they can be to moving up. This could allow you to get to TMM by 9-9:30. Have provisioning from Riteway arriving that morning or depending on your needs, you can provision from the small Riteway located next to TMM. We take a cooler of frozen/vac-sealed meats so that helps.
Upon arrival, place personal bags in cabins (can unpack later). Inventory provisions if present or send shoppers (Only part of crew to small Riteway) while Capt/Firstmate begin check out with TMM Staff.

I think very reasonable to get off by 2pm-3pm, assuming you arrive TMM by noon, but need to have a game plan with delegation of duties. And be mission oriented.

It’s possible to be off the dock at 2 but it would mean cutting corners. With. 11:40 arrival they will get to TMM about 1. Maybe 12:45 if no cruise ship is in and customs quick. Maybe 1:30 if things bog down. A proper boat briefing should take at least a hour. You still need to provision, inventory the boat, have lunch and accomplish all the little things that pop up getting off the dock. 4 would be a better target and still allow time to make it to Peter or Norman.
G

GeorgeC1,
Agree if arrival to EIS is 11:40... (And being late by 45 minutes would not be unusual). Getting thru customs may be time consuming, so helpful to "walk fast", be at front (Although number on planes tends to be fairly small).

Unless pushing arrival up, I would agree 4pm would better target for most. (I have been off the dock in much less time, however I as owner, do not need boat briefing (agree 1 hour should be allotted for this, simultaneous with separate group getting off the boat and provisioning, which also helps with boat briefing). Also, less experienced will likely take more time with each task(inventory, purchasing provisions, stowing provisions, etc).

Practice speeds up the process, so your 2020 goal should be to charter more often to improve efficiency ;-)

Wes - good idea to check the earlier flight, although there are 6 of us on that flight. We will definitely have the “divide & conquer” plan in place. Like I said, we may not be experts, but have chartered 7 times with TMM so I think we’ve got a good game plan. :-) Think we’re going to make Trellis our first stop.

We’ve done the cooler thing before - if not for our overnight in SJU I might consider that. Just means one more checked bag and over 24 hrs before refrigeration.

More than getting off the dock, looking for any info/experience on Trellis Bay dinner options and Oil Nut Bay experiences?
Also, is taking a taxi to & from Great Harbor or Little Harbor to White Bay pretty easy? Just ask a bar/restaurant to call a taxi or do we need to set that up ahead of time?

Trellis has some options. Had good BBQ there. ONB marina is nice such stop and nice, but pricey drinks. Chill in small pool. Previously experienced ONB resort which was great, however now a $75 per person access charge for day.

Taxi on JVD can be summoned by bar or call. There was one taxi on JVD that tried to overcharge me and my group. Gov't sets fees and they are per person. Bar /local can tell you rate or find on Google.

Doing overnight at SJU would not deter me even without dry ice. Ideally, 2 pounds dry ice.

I would not recommend anchoring in Deadman’s Bay on Peter Island, as you questioned on Day 1. The holding there isn’t known to be good, and i can say from experience it isn’t fun waking up to your anchor dragging at 3am. Many others on this board have echoed similar sentiments regarding anchoring there in the past. Why not consider Great Harbour right around the corner, or just head to Norman?

Day 5 you ask about dinner at Scrub or Marina Cay. There is no longer a restaurant on Marina Cay, as they closed and moved a couple months ago. I haven’t heard word of anything else opening on the island yet, though others may have some knowledge of current status.

Wes - thanks! The email from ONB says with doc jags we have use of the marina village (small pool, lounge chairs, bar and Nova restaurant). The $95/pp is for the larger Beach Club. Thanks for the taxi info.

Sonofthesea- thanks for the anchor info. We’re goimg to make Trellis our first stop!

We did ONB on our last trip in November. We were the only boat on a mooring that night and we tried twice to find someone to pay, but nobody would take the money. Dinner was expensive, but good. Everything on their menu is tapas portions so you'll want at least 2 per person. I think we split 5 between the two of us.

Sunchaser Scuba picked us up in the morning for two great tanks if you're certified or want to try a beginner dive.

After diving, we went up to Anegada and picked up a BoatyBall, since we knew we were going to arrive late.

Kryssa - thanks for the info! We too are headed to Anegada after ONB. :-)

Hi there! We are chartering a power boat with Moorings with a captain. We will be arriving in STT around 1:00ish on 4/3/20. We will ferry over to Road House, stock boat and get to spend the night on boat. We will leave the following day for 5 nights. So things we really want to do are:

Anegada
The Baths
Jost Van Dyke (is there a full moon party 4/7 at Foxy's or Soggy Dollar. (want JVD to be the last day/night)

What else is a must and doable for only a 5 night trip? We have to give charter company some kind of an itinerary.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

I heard that since Dalton left the Road House Brad Wesley is running the show again, so be careful!

Another option on Peter is Lee Bay. Anchoring only, I believe. This is my back up if the Bight is full... However, on 12/30 I rolled into the Bight at 5:30 PM and got a FCFS ball. Wonders never cease...

It’s very rare to find the bight full. Outside of a regatta I can’t remember seeing all the balls taken accept when there was a forecast for 30 gusting to 40 knot winds and everyone jumped in there for protection. Great storm party on the WillyT that night!
G

I have overnighted in SJU and still had frozen food on our arrival to the boat more than 24 hours later using a Polar Bear Cooler. I would suggest renting a car in Virgin Gorda. It is an easy drive from Leverick, most car rentals will deliver and pick up the car when you are done and it is much cheaper than a taxi. Plus you can explore more of the island than just the Baths and you can stay at the Baths as long as you like.

We too have a polar bear cooler and have had great luck with it keeping things frozen for long periods!
This trip we’re trying to travel as light as possible - plus, believe it or not, our local airport doesn’t have an X-ray machine for checked bags. So they open every checked bag and rifle through it “wanding” EVERYTHING. Total pain in the a$$ with a cooler of carefully packed frozen foods.