TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip report

7 people with arrival on 1/13/2022 in St. Thomas

1/11/2022 -6pm all crew took Emed proctored test to be within the 48 hour window and submitted results to USVI travel portal with green light status in early am of 1/12/2022

1/13- 3:45pm arrival was very painless and efficient , had taxi waiting for us as we used Island Time water taxi , 5:30pm arrived to BVI customs-check in was timely but very painless - Nanny Cay for a 1 night stay with dinner at Peg Legs

1/14- taxi to Manuel Reef dropping off luggage and some crew while others went for provisions , Fly Bye was at dock with A/C and refrigeration on , crew returned with provision's around 11am , Tico deliver arrived at 12pm , briefing with Capt. Brent and off the dock heading to North Sound : Saba Rock
Saba - was very nice ,clean and new , HH with feeding of fish , was pleasantly surprised with the second floor being an open bar lounge , water tender was running between Bitter End and Leverick

1/15 and 1/16 -Anegada
Hotel - not much has changed , rented a truck with bench seats
Beach Club - only the front area around the pool and bar was open , beach bar was shut down
Tipsy's - Ann and Andrew have done a great job with a nice beach front bar and food , currently building some cabanas
Cow Wreck - Ms Belle was all smiles , still my favorited place
Sids- had a wonderful dinner and drinks with Sydney

1/17 - Cooper Island - loved the Rum bar ,great HH pricing , could not make a reservation for dinner as they were full ( thinking staffing issue as the anchorage was not full )

1/18 Norman Island -Bight- Pirates - great beach with snorkeling and drinks

1/19 Jost- Great Harbor - took taxi to White Bay (no cruise ships)
Soggy Dollar - painkillers and beach
Hendo's Hideout - great bar , outside activities , appetizers
Foxy's - same as usual

1/20- Jost - Sandy Spit- Diamond Cay - Little Harbor
Taboo- drinks and appetizers
Bubbly Pool - very active with swell
Abes - excellent dinner and service

Did Emed HH on boat , was able to test all crew with negative results in about 90 minutes - up loaded to USVI portal with some hiccups but everyone got green status after some time

1/21 - back to Norman for some snorkeling and finish provisions

1/22 - Manel Reef - returned boat - lunch at Genes - water taxi picked up at 1230pm was already cleared out of BVI - St John customs - was sitting in airport departures gate area around 330 pm

Lessons learned :
USVI portal - calendar is from Monday to Sunday , upload negative results that is not password protected
Water taxi - worth every penny (have used ferry and water taxi previously ) had customs forms filled out ,just had to sign and enjoy cocktail with boat ride
Provisions- about 25% price increase and limited choices
Airport - use porter in STT - tip them - went right thru customs line
US customs no paper declaration form

We are looking forward to Fly Bye in the spring/summer!!

Nice summary. Our time there overlapped a bit (we were there 1/2-1/18). We also feel that water taxis are great - we had our first experience using Island Time this trip (on the return to USVI) and were impressed. 1000% better than the ferry. We typically fly into EIS (Island Birds or Cape Air) but will definitely use water taxi's to return now.

Thanks for the report - looking to do a similar trip in late April - with Similar sail plan - North Sound - Saba Rock first day, Anegada, Cane Garden Bay, Jost - Great Harbour, Norman then Leverick for Friday BBQ and back to scrub. Was bitter end up and running when you were there? if so how did it look - might dingy over and check it out when we stay on a ball by Saba. thx!

Bitter End - I believe they had a gift shop and bar/restaurant open, but there were squalls going thru the night we were there so we did not venture over - they are running the the water shuttle that goes to Saba, Biter end and leverick

Great report. Question on BVI entry. Did they accept your negative results from the EMED testS or did you have to test again on arrival into the BVI?

Our Emed printed, signed lab reports were accepted on entry at EIS in November and again in January. No questions asked.

We visited BEYC in early January, staying on one of their balls (were on a ball in late November as well before they were officially open as we were diving with Sunchaser). Boat bar, store and restaurant were open. We had dinner in the Buoy room and pizza at the bar while there.

The store is open but note that it is really a grocery, not the boutique I think is planned. They had a few shirts/hoodies/hats thrown on a table but that was it. Saba's store was fully open and had some nice things.

True - not many “boutique” items but they had the food items I needed that my provisioning order didn’t - like milk, bacon, frozen fish and shrimp. AND fresh croissants, danish and baguettes in the morning. 😊

Good to know - thanks! T-3 months and this trip is getting real - will be too long since sailed in the BVI - last time 2017 Before IRMA... can't wait to get back!