TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Bareboat in October?

Thinking about planning a late season trip in October to BVI with the family. All other 5 trips to the BVI I've taken have been in February. Are there any significant differences in going in February compared to October. I am concerned about the risk of a hurricane. Thoughts? Cheers! Jesse

Late October is pretty good. No crowds and most places are open for the season. Expect more and stronger rains but they pass quickly. The last weekend is the Catfight and many of us will be down for it.

We go in October every year. Its warmer, more humid and rainier than in February with fewer days of over 15 kt winds. Places are open with a fresh coat of paint from their off-season maintenance. The best cure for hurricane anxiety is travel insurance.

Cheers, RickG

Thanks GlennA for the info!

Thanks Rick!

I've been October a number of times. I'd say I prefer it to February. Quieter and warmer. We've been lucky and on almost all our trips have had great weather the whole time with minor exceptions.

We went last year for our first BVI trip from Oct. 9th to the 29th. The weather was great, and we only ran into a few showers...mostly of short duration...but I guess you never know with the weather...

A lot of the resorts and restaurants were just reopening for the season during the latter part of our trip, and we missed out on some of the fun ones early that everyone had recommended. Many were just getting things going and had limited service.

Although we much prefer and enjoyed the fact that the crowds were few and far between; had we not provisioned with plenty of food and adult beverages, it might have been a little tough had we wanted to eat and drink on shore for most meals during the early days of our trip (actually more the eating part than drinking...seemed everyone was willing to whip up a Bushwacker or Painkiller) Going later in the month is best IMO.

Also, keep in mind that lobster season isn't open until November 1st. You can get frozen lobster, but it just isn't the same. We're heading back this May and can't wait to consume mass quantities of fresh lobster!

Hope you have a great trip!

Our first trip was in Oct. We had many hot steamy nights with several nights of multiple showers (close the hatch drills and sleep deprivation but AC would solve that. We also had what turned out to be Lovey and Thurston Howell III aboard - they don't get invited anymore. Although I call it the worst trip ever, it was the beginning of something great!

As for hurricanes, most charter outfits mention (and I guess they are not totally unbiased) that they are usually not as powerful that far east, not terribly likely to hit directly and in the event you will have plenty of advanced notice and be called back to base to wait it out in a hotel. That said we had one pass 75 miles south of St. Croix and we waited it out on a ball in Cane Garden Bay. We had two solid days of heavy rain and some wind gusts to 45-50. Not to diminish the effects of a hit of a cat 5 but my 5 experiences with hurricanes were more along the lines of loss of power, flooding and closings and such. This boat had AC, a lot of electronic entertainment aboard so we had a major card tournament and enjoyed some nice meals while we waited it out.

Normally, I would expect Oct to have a little less wind, a few more showers, a few more degrees of temperature, no crowds and a few places closed.

We last went in October in 2008. Rained every day and night and we got caught up in Hurricane Omar. We have no been back in October since. Now late November is our preferred time. Still warm with less crowds.

Relative to Hurricane risk...

It's simply a dice-roll.
Statistics have been collected on this since around 1850.
Odds are actually quite low.


The odds of a named storm coming within 50 nmi of St. Thomas is 2% per week in September, the peak of Hurricane season.

In August and October, the shoulder months, the odds are 1% per week.

In July and November the odds drop again by half... to 0.5% per week.

The odds are very low outside the July-Nov window.

One side note... Hurricane activity has been extremely low, way below average, for the last few years. There is little sign that this pattern is changing in the short term.

It was stated the lobster season does not open till Nov 1. When does it close? Thanks. Clod.

July 31.