TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Trip Report - Early Season Obervations

We just returned from a one week trip (4 couples on a Moorings 5000). Here are a few observations:

This is the 3rd time we have come in mid October and have had great success with weather, most places were opened or were opening as we arrived, but was still very quiet and felt like we had many places to ourselves. We plan to keep this timing in the rotation.

Provisioning went fairly well (with typical substitutions) and was delivered on time. We did Riteway and Carribean Cellars. Also Island Surf and Sail (BVIwatertoys.com) is alwas reliable for SUP rentals and other water toys.

We had a great experience with the Moorings and enjoyed the catamaran. Easy to handle and operate. Check-in and check-out were both very efficient. One issue with the davits which was fixed in 5 minutes. No complaints.

We picked up our crew in Trellis Bay which was so convenient. We had drinks and a delicious lunch ready for them right off the plane. Lemongrass Catering met us with the meal at the dock with easy instructions for preparing. We will defininitely use them again for special meals.

We enjoyed all of our meals at Pirates Bight, Saba Rock, Bitter End, and Cooper Island. But many said their favorite was Tipsy Shark in Great Harbour.

We hit White Bay during a little patch of sargassum, but otherwise it was not an issue anywhere else we stayed.

The Baths were not enjoyable. We arrived early thinking we would do a quick run through and back with our newbies. As we spotted a cruise ship expedition boat, I suggested we hurry up to get ahead. After a longish swim to shore, we attempted to enter the caves by Poor Man's bar. They are now enforcing a one way trip and insisted we had to go back up to Top of the Baths and back down to Devils Bay and then through. OK - so we hiked in barefeet still thinking we can get ahead of the cruise expedition. Nope - we got sandwhiched between 2 massive groups and spent an hour going through the caves. I won't do that again.

Other than our Baths experience, the trip was perfect, the weather was great, and the people were wonderful as ever.

What 5000 were you on if I might ask?

Mad was the name and she is on the newer side.

Good report. I didn't know about Lemongrass Catering, good information. They might come in handy in the near future.

Thanks for the report - headed down on Nov 11 so this was a great update - not a fan of the Baths anyway.

One way at The Baths ??? Just Crazy World Now.

Thanks for the report! We are headed down in a few days as well.

Can you confirm that Bitter End has switched to more of a "share plate" style menu? We were there when they just opened last year and had a great lunch but it was more sandwiches/hearty offerings. The menu online looks completely different now.

I don't recall if there was a difference in the menu this year vs. last at Bitter End. We had dinner there after drinks much of the day at Saba Rock, so I may not have been in the sharpest mindset. I did have the pizza there which I enjoyed.