TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Chartering out of STT vs. BVI?? Help

After chartering out of BVI 3 times this past year I am wondering if it would be better to charter out of St. Thomas? We were stuck in very long customs lines on both ends after taking the ferries. The water taxi is no longer an option due to changes in BVI customs. Has anyone chartered out of STT and then gone to BVI? There seem to be a lot more charter companies on BVI vs. STT What is the reason??

There is very limited dock space in St.Thomas. We kept our boat in St.Thomas for several years. One thing I can tell you customs into BVI on a boat is a piece of cake with no waiting. You do not use the ferry entrance, but a private entrance in the back of the building.

No reason not to look at the options in St. Thomas if it will make things easier. For that same reason I'd look at options to get into Tortola. Whether or not its viable really depends on where you are coming from.

check out Island yachts in Red hook...after 5 years chartering in the BVI's we switched.... a lot easier and less stress.

There are several ways to get to the BVI's.

This is one of them,

This is another,


Drive your own ferry, because friends don't let friends ride on ferries.

So in the interest of full disclosure I am part of the management team at CYOA in St Thomas. Having said that, given the choice of sailing to the BVIs with a pit stop or two in ST John or riding a ferry to the BVIs and burning a day on either side of my trip with hotels and cabs. I'm sailing, just my way of thinking.

I think you have a lot more destination options sailing out of STT. - a few days in St John or the outlying USVI cays - at the beginning, end or split at both ends of your BVI sailing days -- the option of St Croix or the Spanish Islands to the West is another option easier from STT.
No ferny rides - easy and probably cheaper provisioning - you can be at your boat within an hour of deplaning - a lot more direct flights into STT can make your travel days shorter - all things to consider.
You will have BVI and USVI C&I to clear but as mentioned it is much different than the ferry experience - and there is that cost to figure on too - there is likely to be more time spent underway as the distances covered are longer - that doesn't appeal to all charterers <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" /> - many of the non-BVI anchorages are quieter and there are fewer bars and restaurants just a dinghy ride away.
Overall it worth a try if the circumstances fit your needs.

There are probably? a lot more private vessels filling the available dock space in STT - certainly there are less available spaces for new dockage although 4 have been proposed in the last few months they are years from completion even if permits are obtained. The BVI has not had the kind of cruise ship traffic that STT has concentrated a lot of its marine economic development on or the advantage that the offshore companies may enjoy in their BVI based locations and those factors influenced the growth of the BVI bareboat industry in decades past - also the many beach developments that cater to boaters have made the BVI an ideal cruising grounds for the changing demographics of charterers and multiple moorings have simplified anchoring and amplified the amount of vessels that can use an anchorage.

Led by pioneers like Charley and Ginny Cary in the 1970's the BVI promoted and brought bareboating to a major industry.

There is no question if you can find the boat you want on St. Thomas that is the route to go. There are limited boats available for charter on St. Thomas. Maybe we should be keeping the St. Thomas boats a secret? The only possible downside of the issues with chartering from anyone with limited inventory is you are stuck with STT as an airport. A big plus for many but less desirable on the days and timeslots where US departure can be a major zoo of the cruise ship type.

We chartered out of USVI and visited the BVI four times in the last two years, prior to buying our boat we keep in a St. Thomas marina. We head down Saturday and arrive in time to take the boat out to St. John before we could get to a BVI charter base. We'll be checked in at Sopers Hole Sunday shortly after breakfast, unless Maho Bay on St. John is too beautiful to leave. The money we save flying into STT we get to spend on more sailing days.

Cheers, RickG

Hi, we have chartered out of BVI and St Thomas. CYOA is in a great location, 5 min or less from the airport. We rent a car at the airport instead of a cab. Take the car to the boat, drop off some peeps and then stow luggage. By then the next peeps arrive, take the rental and pick them up. Then time to go to Cost U Less and provision the boat. BIG savings on provisining, they have just about everything you need. Booze to Bacon. Then back to the CYOA docks and unload. Take the rental car to the CA ferry area and drop if off that night or next morning. Its a 5 min walk back to the marina. There are a few good resturants within a 2min walk, one is at the end of the docks!

Sail check out the morning and you are on your way to BVI! You can sail to Jost or West End to check in. We have checked in at WE, shopped, had a pain killer and then headed to Norman witg plenty of daylight and time to viist pirates beach for happy hour. Does not take that long at all. Or you could spend a night at Christmas Cove.

No ferries, more boat time.

We have chartered out of STT many times - using both CYOA and Island Yachts. Nothing but positives about both of them and the whole STT experience. Direct flights, no ferries, better shopping.... :-)

One downside is the limited boat inventory on STT - but if you plan and book well enough in advance it is not an issue.

Something significant would have to change for us to go to a BVI charter.

You can always skip the lines at the ferry by flying to EIS instead of STT. Is it a fare issue?

Write out your itinerary and be realistic about check out/in times, sailing times, flights, customs etc. Chartering out of STT is fantastic as long as you don't mind spending your first night and last night moored at either Christmas Cove or St. John. Which by the way, is not a bad thing

We are left coasters and it is quicker for us to get to Tortola from Seattle than it is to go thru STT. Leave at 6-9pm and on the ground in EIS at 12:30 next day. At the charter base by 1:30, stow gear, eat, provision, sleep aboard and off the dock at 9-10am. Makes for an easy trip. It also allows for airline fubars We do not have to rely on the ferry system. We have never had an incoming flight delayed by a local airline. In fact when we had change of itinerary last trip Cape Air was great in accommodating us on a later flight with no problem.

The limited choices of yachts in ST has been a problem for us but I'm keeping an eye on expanding charter fleets there. No question, this option is looking more and more appealing.

Still, for reasons that are not always clear (and it varies), I can fly in to SJU from ATL and grab a Cape Air flight to EIS for about $100 more pp than it costs to fly into STT cab to the CA, then Ferry to RT or WE, then cab to charter base. It is also much less of a hassle. So, for now, Tortola is our go to spot.

The changes in how water taxis b/t ST and Tortola are being handled makes this option less desirable than I think it was before the changes. It was worth the extra cost to get dropped off right at your charter base. So, you're sort of getting diverted to the public ferries .... known to be somewhat unreliable.

On more than a few charters we have left In the morning on day one, cleared C&I at West End before heading to the Indians to snorkel and then spend the night in the Bight. Many people departing from FrenchTown spend their first night at Jost. It really depends on where you want to spend the first night and how organized your group is. This last trip I was on had a very aggressive itinerary because the guests wanted to be at BEYC for NYE.

The choice of departure will have varying points of view. I have been chartering in the Islands for 25 years and leave exclusively now from STT and CYOA. Since I live in a Delta hub, connections are easy thru Atlanta. The provisioning is cheaper in STT. We usually spend 9-10 nights on board and since we are retired, it is"the trip" not the destination that is important. We like the anchorages around St. John and usually spend at least 2-3 nights in them. We have found we can easily sleep aboard and be either at Jost or Sopers if we wanted to be agressive. We love Christmas Cove for a last night but also found we can stay in Lamshur and still make it back in time to fuel up and check out on the last day. The primary reason I would say that we charter out of STT is, we have a great relationship with CYOA and they have earned our loyalty.

Change the 25 years to 30 years and your post describes our experience to a T. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

We can even fly there non-stop from Dulles, VA, which is nice.

We love chartering with CYOA!

I have chartered with CYOA in CA the past three years. I have also chartered (once) from Sunsail on Tortola before that.
I have not chartered from Island Yachts out of Red Hook but most of what I mention below should apply to them as well.

Advantages:
1. For me - cheaper air travel
2. Avoid the ferry hassle and can control my schedule to make my flight with little fear that the ferries are going to blow up, sink, or be delayed (ok... the first two are an exaggeration but the latter is not) and leave me with too little time to catch my flight. Which results in stress that I would just be happy not to have on vacation.
3. Better/cheaper provisioning
4. Better boat (better equipped) for slightly cheaper than the same sized boat from Sunsail (or similar)
5. In my opinion the boats are better maintained and cared for

Disadvantages:

1. CYOA has no chase boat. I don't know about IYC. I have not needed anything that would require a service call but boats are boats and it could certainly be an issue.
2. As someone has already mentioned - you need an extra day or day and a half if your intent is to be sailing in the BVI in order to get in/out of the USVI. Solution to that is to enjoy the US side - it's really pretty nice.
3. More limited boat availability. CYOA has been adding Cats and seem to be decreasing mono hulls which is probably a reflection of the market. From what I can see, CYOA has more dock/mooring space. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about their business, but I"m still going to venture a guess that if there were greater demand there would me more boat options - they seem to understand capitalism.

That's my experience. As they say... your mileage might vary depending on what you value.

Question for those who have chartered from CYOA: Have you had to deal with any particularly rough seas going eastward from Charlotte Amalie? By that I mean much rougher than one finds in the SFD channel.

We've had some rough ferry rides from CA to the BVI, and in fact I got a bit seasick on the last one (partly because it was raining and we stayed inside). I'm not sure if sailing that route ourselves would be even less comfortable (being on a much smaller boat), or would actually be more pleasant (not pounding so fast through the waves).

Dan <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />

Pillsbury Sound is a horrible 2 miles, but that's the biggest pain. It's 6 miles to Christmas Cove and another 6 to Maho. If you are hell bent in getting to West End BVI, you can be there in 3 hours from C.A. We usually spend our first night in Maho and last night in Christmas Cove

Agri...The day we were supposed to take the ferry in back it did sink. Its in Captjays photo! So your not far off LOL..

DanS
As far as the sail/motor from CYOA to West End, we have been in some rough stuff June 13 right before the trop storm got to STT. We were in a 36 Mahe. I was worried about the wife and kids but all went well. Had a ferry or 2 pass us and they were rolling pretty good. I think the speed they transverse the swells makes it worse. Not to mention the heat and smell of diesel fuel. We were in 6 to 8 foot swells with about 2 foot chop on top. The Storm hit the next day. This past June had 2 newbies on the boat. Never been on a boat for longer than a few hours on a lake... They were fine. Been back since and its been calm, no worries.

However if you are prone to get sick the patch works great for most.

We've only been there in the June/July timeframe. Never been a problem. We've had some large(ish) rollers but they were long period. Kids were a bit scared at first but after that it was a roller coaster ride that they enjoyed. We were out of 'em in about a half hour.

Island Yachts does have a chase boat. Also, Island Packets are sweet sailing vessels...

CYOA also contracts with a chase boat in the BVI

Island Yachts is based in Red Hook so the beat up the South side of STT from Charlotte Amalie is not an issue.
I have sailed out of the harbor where CYOA is based many times and there are really 2 options - long tacks in relatively comfortable seas or short tacking closer to shore in somewhat protected water half the time and short choppy swells the other half - the ferries power through the short choppy water along the inshore route most of the way and that is the roughest option most days - many charter boats motor sail with the main somewhat on that same route just to get it over with on the shortest route, IMHO doing it under sail is the most comfortable choice but certainly less direct - unless you get a wonderful Southerly on a summer day.
Pillsbury Sound can be a rolly ride but it is usually over on one starboard tack for 30 min. into the protected waters behind STJ. Once you are abeam of Two Brothers you are out of the prevailing swell.
I sailed upwind out of Red Hook daily for almost 25 years and it was rarely anything beyond a pleasant exhilarating morning sail. The passage through the Durloe Cays can be challenging under sail if the current is running against you.

Anders,
Thanks for your support.

A couple things that I would add.

1. Chase boats, due to the distance and work permit issues for us in the BVI's we have long standing agreements with several contractors throughout the BVI's to handle these issues. We stock a huge inventory of parts that can be sent to the BVI's by ferry and have a standing relationship with vendors in the BVI's for parts as well. Also due to the added cost for us and our business model we are a very proactive company maintenance wise. We prefer to stay in front of maintenance issues. Our entire fleet was out for New Years and we didn't do a single chase call. Sure boats break but we do our best to minimize that. In either case we can handle a chase or service call in an efficient manner when the need arises.

2. Travel time, as I have said time and time again you are going to spend this time one way or the other. I would rather be on a boat than a ferry. St John is one of the most spectacular places on this planet and way more fun than two cabs and a ferry. As for the last night returning, we have a Pizza Boat at Christmas Cove, you have Heidi' and Dinghy's at water island and there are several places on St John that you can stay and return the next morning.

3.Inventory, yes we have added a lot of new cats with more to come. Mono hulls are a problem that the entire industry is having. We have retired several monos in the last year and a half and we are having a difficult time selling new ones. This is not by design as there is still demand for these boats on the charter side. People simply aren't buying many monos. A large portion of our owners are buying boats to eventually retire on. Most people want a cat for that in the current market. This might sound crazy but it's easier to find a buyer for a $800,000 cat than it is for $300,000 mono.

PS Thanks to all of our clients for your support.
Jay

FWIW - I concur with Capt. Jay's comments.

We've had a couple of minor issues over the years, generator impeller, generator fuel pump, generator wiring (notice a theme). If we can't fix it ourselves, CYOA has routed us to a nearby dock and paid the dockage fee while the problem is fixed. Once in Soapers, which was a nice stop. They have also sent a boat to our boat in Cinnamon Bay.

CYOA supports their charters!