TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico USVI & SVI bareboat trip countdown

Just inked the contract for an early November bareboat trip out of St. Thomas. Got some inspiration on the itinerary from several TTOLers, so appreciate that! Especially this one from BaardJ. Hopefully we can hook a mahi as big as his!

It's a guys fishing trip, so the plan is to cover a lot of ground. I've done SVI before, but this is my first time to USVI.

Here's the plan, let me know what you'd do differently! Also, our flights after checkout aren't until late in the evening, so what would you do for ~5 hours on St Thomas?

1: Sleepaboard
2: Upwind motor to Salt Pond Bay; Ram Head hike
3. Early am crossing to St. Croix, weather permitting; fish seamounts on the south drop; late lunch in Christiansted; overnight anchor at Buck Island
4. Early am departure; fish drop on north shore, then cross to Culebra; clear-in; anchor in Dewey or move to Dakity
5: Motor around to Flamenco Beach, weather permitting; backup plan is to stay in Dewey and rent golf carts to check out the beaches; overnight at Culebrita (also weather permitting)
6. Hang out at Culebrita all day, hike to the lighthouse; explore some of the nearby cayos by dinghy to snorkel and spearfish
7: Upwind motor to Magens Bay; one of the crew has a relative that runs the beach bar there
8: Back around to Honeymoon Bay for our last night
9: Check-out procedures

Sounds pretty ambitious, but a group of young guys could do it. A few comments:

Salt Pond fills up fast, so have backup plans (Lameshur or Coral Bay).

You need a permit to overnight at Buck Island.

If you're all US citizens, use the CBP Roam app to clear in at Culebra.

Thanks Jim - yes, planning on one of the Lamesurs as back up and we are working on the permit. Unclear if they are allowing overnight, but we are going to give it a shot.

Looks great. May want to try to head from STJ directly to Buck I and spend the day there, then a late afternoon downwind jib sail to Christiansted. If winds are heavy from the SE, then you'll probably get set to Christiansted leaving a 45 minute uphill motor to Buck.

What type and size vessel are you on?

After your return, I hghly recommend a taxi ride psst Drakes Seat to Mountain Top if the weather is reasonably clear . Great views of Magens Bay, STJ and BVI, and the banana daquiris are delicious.

We'll be on a Lagoon 46. Thanks for the tip about Mountain Top. Have you fished Lang Bank or been around the south side of St. Croix?

From Point Udall I've seen local fisherman working Lang Bank. I've not fished it nor the south shore.