TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Southern Caribbean From BVI for August,September, October?

Grenada or not? Just starting to investigate the possibility:
Lagoon 46 in charter fleet in BVI. Considering taking to Grenada mid to late August and returning midOctober. Obviously would want a weather window free of significant weather for this 3 day passage. The back up plan would be to put boat in standard BVI charter company base hurricane plan, and I would return home. If in Grenada for this time period, I would stay aboard entire time. Thoughts and comments

Hi Wes... When my boat was at TMM, many years ago, I went down to Grenada a few times. Usually island hopping but a straight run to Grenada is very easy to do. If Island hopping I used to offer cabins for the trip here on TravelTalk. Always got people and made many great friends. I'll bet if you do you same you'll get plenty of interest, probably from some of the same people!

You'll need to be lucky with the trades if you want to island hop the first bit without taking a bit of a beating. The best course I made during the summer without motor sailing was towards St Kitts. My suggestion if you want to take in all the islands is to get the main up, stick the motors on and head to St Martin. You might be able sail part of the way but more likely you'll need the motors most of the way.

Once you've made St Martin, life gets much easier. St Barts is good fun at that time of year because the big boats have gone to the Med and you can just park up on the dock, right in the centre of town. I wouldn't bother with Antigua on the way down. Tough to get there, much easier on the way back. St Kitts is a good visit. Real Caribbean and some old forts and plantations to see. Save Nevis for the way back.

You HAVE to go to Montserrat. Very little in the way of facilities last time I was there but there was a new commercial dock being constructed which may be there now.

Next up is Guadeloupe which has two must visit places. Deshaies on the north west coast (home to the BBC TV series Death in Paradise). Very pleasant little village with great shelter. Then down to Isles des Saintes. My favourite place. A bit of the South of France but in the Caribbean.

Dominica is an experience. Very poor compared to most of the windwards/leewards but beautiful interior.

Martinique is like Guadeloupe but without anywhere particularly memorable. St Lucia not one of my favourites but good facilities in Rodney Bay if you need to refuel or source any spare parts.

Skip St Vincent and head straight to Bequia to clear into SVG. The Grenadines are worth spending some time, particularly Mayreau.

Then down to Grenada. Clear in and spend a day or two in St George's then head for the south coast which is where all the cruisers hang out for the summer (and longer, sometimes they never leave). Lots of protected anchorages and small, basic, marinas. A couple of ones with more facilities. Le Phare Bleu was one of my favourites. This is a great area to just sit on your boat, at anchor, and decide whether the cruising life is for you. Very friendly community of sailors and also locals. You can get ANYTHING done to the boat and at far cheaper prices than the BVI.

If you have the time to spend the summer on the boat in Grenada I highly recommend it. No more worrying about the next red blob coming of the African coast. If by any chance something comes the way of Grenada, just pull up the anchor and head out a little further south with the rest of the cruisers to Tobago.

We just sailed from the USVI to Genada in 3 days on the rhumb line, arriving on April 28th, on an Island Packet 380.

Winds this time of year are E - ENE, 15-17 knots with seas 5-7 feet. It was a close reach for us and pretty uncomfortable most of the way.

In the summer, winds are typically E-ESE so you will be beating a lot more, as a rule of thumb, heading south. Tropical waves stream across every 3-4 days during that time so just allow for those nasty things.

Grenada is a good place to be on your boat, safe from hurricanes. You can base either in a marina or anchored in one of the SE Bays.

I would definitely prefer to be in Grenada for hurricane season, rather than risk losing my vessel or damaging my vessel in the BVI during hurricane season.

Passage south is a piece of cake...take your time, no need to dead head to Grenada unless you really want to. Grenada is great, you will love it.
While there you are in easy reach of some interesting and fun destinations.....Trinidad, Los Roques, etc.
Much rather be on the boat down south than haul and put up in BVI or PR.
Need help for the passage, south or north bound, let me know.

Thinking of doing this in our boat this October. Sailing it north from Grenada to SXM then jumping off. Love the tips here. I had always thought the trip north from GND to SXM was easier than the reverse course (South from SXM). Is this correct? Going to make 13 nights out of it with some old college pals.

I'll second Isle De Saints off Guadeloupe. That was a favorite stop of ours when we moved our boat from St. Lucia to the BVI. I'd also suggest taking a look at Marigot Bay in St. Lucia. We were last there in 2016 so it could be VERY different, but we stayed at the Marigot Bay resort docks for a pretty low daily cost, even with power (under $50 if I recall correctly). And with our dockage, we had access to the resort and pool. The resort is now a Hyatt so I don't know if the same offer is available but I would stay a few nights there in a second if it was. We were there in July 2016 and it was so quiet it was like we had the resort to ourselves.