TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands USVI Trip Report Oct 16-25th

(thought I would post in both forums, if ok)

Like several who have recently reported, we had a terrific experience with a USVI only charter 2 weeks ago. I would encourage other BVI lovers who have not chartered there to give it a try. This was a make-up trip from July where we encountered the only real storm of the season (Isiais). We never left the marina and made for a short 2 day trip. This time it was just Jessica and me and left the kids at home to fend for themselves. Here are the highlights:

Chartered a well-equipped FP Lucia 40 with Virgin Island Yacht Charters (Compass Point Marina). Had a great experience with VIYC and the boat was ideal for the 2 of us (owner’s version). It did have an icemaker which is very helpful for sailing around St. John.

We rented a car and did most of our provisioning at Cost U Less (Like a CostCo). Really good pricing and selection – particularly booze. Grabbed some other items at Moes at Redhook. We had great delicious sushi at Raw in Redhook the first evening. Paradise Car Rental picked the car up from the marina the next day.
Enjoyed staying on mooring balls at Maho, Honeymoon/Caneel, Lamshur, and Salt Pond – basically had a lazy week around St. John. Only boat at Great (or Littlle) Lamshur for the evening. Only one other at Salt Pond.

Snorkeling highlights were Waterlemon (Leinster), Lamshur and Salt Pond. Coral and sea life were abundant.
Hiked Ram Head (and Salt Pond to Drunk Bay), Maho to Annenberg, but otherwise fairly lazy with plenty of swimming and paddle boarding.
While we had a great time just the 2 of us, we also had plenty of “beach bar” time at Maho Crossroads, Bikinis on the Beach (Honeymoon), Cruz Bay (High Tide and Beach Bar), and Lime Out (floating taco bar in Coral Bay).

Since we really stayed around St. John, there were plenty of things we missed (Christmas Cove – Pizza Pi was not open yet, and Water Island will definitely be on our next trip).
Sails were somewhat short and many without a purpose (i.e. head out and back just to get out on the water). But we thoroughly enjoyed them. Winds were down during the beginning of the week and picked up towards the end.

General takeaway was that it offered an excellent change of venue (from the BVI) and there was plenty to keep us busy (or countless beautiful spots to do nothing). We just cancelled our February BVI trip with the kids and moved it to USVI - they are excited for the change. Also, we are headed to the SVI over Thanksgiving for the first time, and will report on that.

Thanks for the details. Sounds like a great time.
I assume you were traveling from the US. Were you able to see what if any protocols there were for people arriving from other countries? Meaning what steps there were from the time you land?

Asking for a Canadian friend

Thanks for the report. I think the USVI will definitely see some increased business even after Covid is no longer an issue. (Whenever that might happen to be!! )

Seems more reasonable than the BVI protocols

More importantly the protocols seem to be working fine!

Thanks for posting here, enjoyed the overview and tips. Please let us know how the SVI trip goes, interested in going there someday...

Not sure of the protocols from other countries, but the process was simple and well done. Got a test within 5 days of arriving. I registered through the on-line portal and attached the test results (easy). I printed out the confirmation and test results and was glad I did. We exited the plane and everyone got their temperature checked and showed the appropriate paperwork. This process maybe took 10 minutes. Then I went to grab our rental car while Jessica got the checked bags and I met her back at curbside within 10 minutes. All very smooth. Folks wore masks inside, and restaurants everywhere were very cautious, insuring that all had masks on. Easy social distancing on beaches and while on the boat. Senisble and safe.

As someone who has chartered both ways , out of St Thomas and out of Road Harbour, take which ever is most easily open to your calendar and available for your plane-fare and then make any other operator down range ask for your business if you want to do a similar trip after your first.

Unless, of course, your wallet makes decisions without consulting your Admiral, in which case your charter vacations probably need to be guys-only or ladies only and then you can explain to the Admirals exactly why you feel that way..

Smile. Book a USVI charter. If you've not chartered out of the USVI since 2002, and perhaps never before that, chances are you've been leery of the whole C&I dance, and you've never visited Waterlemon Cay, or either of the Lameshur bays, Christmas Cove or any of the iconic St thomas sail destinations.

Now is a great chance to break out and just do those things. I know you might not miss them if you stayed away, but how honest a traveler could you be if you only flew in and out of St Thomas and never saw anything else than a view from a taxi window ?

Hi Rush- we just got back yesterday! We did the same trip! Agree with your thoughts, we loved it, our report above. Thanks, and best wishes- JAM

We are also chartering a FP Lucia with VIYC. Did you have Discovery? We are there for 10 days around Thanksgiving.

We almost didn't do this trip. It was originally scheduled to be out of Martinique to see our new boat (for the first time) that we purchased in March. When that was not looking like Americans would be welcome, we moved it to the BVI thinking that they would HAVE to open by Thanksgiving...we all know how that went. Then rescheduled to be on my brother's boat that was supposed to come out of charter at the end of July and into private charter in the USVI. Unfortunately, it is still in the BVI getting the work done that was supposed to be done in July. So...even though we own 2 boats we chartered through VIYC! They were offering some great deals and it ended up being cheaper than renting a villa for 6 for the 10 days.

caribbeangirl13... I see from your ticker that you've recently sailed in Tahiti. Are you planning a trip report, photos?

Happy to do a trip report but there isn't a Tahiti section! I'll write something up today and put it in the General Travel section.

caribbeangirl--Please post your report in the Worldwide Forum. Thanks!