TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands BVI in late June/July

I would love to hear other's experience with chartering during this time period. My fiancee is worried that this time frame is too close to hurricane season but I have taken 4 trips in June/July and had great time on all. Was I just lucky or is threat of hurricanes more likely in August/September?

If you look at history, September is the highest risk followed by August/October and then July/November..etc.

But history is that and I wouldn't base a trip on that if everything else works. Only thing I would do is get insurance in case you need to cancel due to a storm.

We've been in July the past 3 years and its been great - one trip we had a threat and we hunkered down for the night at Leverick - extra lines..etc. Ended up being a non event.

We're going again this August.

Highly recommend a subscription to Crown Weather Service to follow activity in the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea.

While I can't disagree with maytrix's post about history in the months he mentions, its way more complicated than that.

The probability of a named tropical depression or Hurricane affecting the BVI sailing grounds in any given month is very difficult to predict.

Sure, the historical likelihood of a disruptive storm presenting itself in the months of July, August and September is higher than it is in December - June, history is a poor predictor of weather in this case. There are just too many variables. Most meteorologists and hurricane specialists have a hard time with historical models but do get a idea of a season's storm patterns that are informed by both history and pertinent weather factors that are present in the now and tend to shape the outlook for a given hurricane season.

The one smart piece of advise is to insure your July - September charter trip with a company that provides refunds of air, lodging and charter fees paid in advance in case of a named storm that precipitates an evacuation notification by government authority or a recommendation for an evacuation in the BVI.

That having been said, a tropical depression (not a Hurricane) is going to be disruptive in terms of wind and rain and un-fun conditions but it may not and probably will not cause the disruption of your entire trip. As a charterer though, you should know how to hunker down (tie up your boat) in a safe haven and if you don't ask for help from dock masters that do.

Your charter company may have something to say about where you can hunker down or if you have to return the boat to the charter base and this is assuming there is not a named storm that requires or recommends and evacuation. If this happens, you WILL get some kind of charter credit. Read your contracts.

You will get special instructions from your charter company about where to take the boat if there is a mandatory or recommended evacuation due to a named storm. If this happens during your charter, the company will likely relieve you of your contract, pick up the boat and move it to a specified safe spot themselves. This situation will very likely trigger a coordination of insured costs between your insurer and the charter company.

Most charter companies will recall you to the base if things are expected to be bad. In our case even if we got what was predicted, it would still have been minor, but we didn't even get that - have had more wind some trips without any storms.

One site I like to use is www.stormpulse.com - It's free if you sign in with a linked in account and has great info with a great way of presenting it.

Ditto storm pulse. Jeff masters blog is excellent and free if you want education. I read it daily this time of year. There is a high probability of El Niño in the pacific this year. That should lead to a quiet Atlantic hurricane season. But you only need 1storm to ruin your trip,

http://www.weathercarib.com/

This is my 1st site every day and has more info than you can easily interpret - produced locally for the Virgin Islands

I have sailed July/Aug all but twice since 1981 and have diverted only once due to a hurricane threat. The wind is perfect this time of year.

I'm not trying to be nonchalant about hurricanes but personally I don't worry about it too much. Yes, if a level 5 makes a direct hit on the BVI's I'd rather not be there but...

You are only exposing yourself to the risk for the days you are there and people live there year round their entire lives.
A lot of hurricanes are still building that far out. Many of the level 4 or 5 hurricanes that hit the US were level 1 or two when they passed by the BVI's.
The smaller the hurricane is and the further away the less of an issue it is.
There is plenty of warning before it gets there.
The charter outfit will call you and tell you what they want you to do if they deem it serious.
You probably won't be able to evacuate but the charter outfit will help you find a safe place to stay.

We like May the best - no north swell, not crowded, no hurricanes and everything is open but this year our schedule dictated we'll be there June 27 - July 11. Overall, I think we're taking a low risk.

We did experience a level 2 hurricane one September that passed 75 miles south of St. Croix. We used two lines to a mooring in Cane Garden bay. During the worst of it we may have seen 50 knot gusts and lots of rain but it wasn't what I'd call scary. On the second morning I finally got to a weather map and saw a huge tail of clouds that were just dumping rain for three days on the BVI. It almost filled the dingy! On the third day we and other boats were on our cloudy way again. When we turned the boat in they said they had try to call us, I told them we had the phone plugged-in but never got the call. They didn't seem upset so I'm guessing they wouldn't have called us back to the base they were just looking out for us. Anyway, that didn't ruin the vacation for us but it might for some.

Edit to add: None of the above really matters. What really matters is if the Admiral-to-be is up for it and how you feel about that. If you can't compromise on this you will know what a force 5 hurricane is all about! I still can't really sail a monohull to it's capacity because she hates to lean but we've compromised on that.

This is our 16th charter since 1985, all have been July and August. As with Calsail, only got chased out once and that was the first charter. We love this time of year. Two trips ago we had a depression forming, and after watching it for several days BVIYC advised us to return to base. We were given permission to go to VGYH instead. Spent a two days there then continued our charter.
With the improvements in weather forecasting and communication you will have ample notice if something is brewing. I recall a few years ago the people who went in May had non stop wind and rain for days on end.
We do trip insurance because we have elderly parents here at home and because we are no longer spring chickens ourselves.

Right now..spectacular weather down here..full beach in Apple Bay..no swell and only one cruise ship a week ( Weds)..paradise..

Not that is isn't always gorgeous there but...that is good to read since we are likely looking at being there next year at this time! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Clapping.gif" alt="" /> My first trip back in 2003 was in mid to late June and one night we had a rough storm blow through but other than that it was the usual heaven!

Chances of a hurricane in late June or early July is very slim... as somebody mentioned, the frequency increases dramatically aa you get to September.