TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico St Thomas Sail and Power Bareboat charters?

Any recommendations for Sail and/or bareboat charters in St Thomas or St John.

Also, any recommended anchorages in St John or St Thomas that have nice beaches and/or mellow night life? First time doing USVI, we usually do BVI.

Thank you!

We charter from CYOA in St. Thomas.
They do sailboats, not power.
Used to do a little power yacht stuff years ago.

I can't say enough good things about them.
It's like having family in the islands.

Lindbergh has a great beach and is little used by the cruising set. There you can visit a bar or two.
Brewers is even quieter (except for the airplanes). No amenities.
North side is Megan's Bay. I've never sailed up there, but have visited the beach. Very nice. Huge deep sheltered bay.

North side if St. John is awesome.

Besides CYOA, there is Island Yachts. Full disclosure: Skip and Andrea are old friends. But I don't get a discount... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />

On St Thomas, also Water Island, Vessup/Red Hook, and Compass Point are areas for entertainment. Mostly, places are quiet and tend to encourage self-catering. There is nothing like the peace and quiet of some St John anchorages.

Lots of beautiful, quiet harbors and beaches on St John. Checkout the interactive National Park Service marine guide:

https://www.nps.gov/viis/planyourvisit/virgin-islands-marine-visitor-use-information.htm

On the north shore we love the Francis Bay & Maho Bay area. It's well protected, virtually no wake from the passing BVI ferries, plenty of mooring balls, expansive beaches, shallow entry beach with little surge, good snorkeling, nice sundown views. Nearby Leinster Bay is also very scenic with very good snorkeling though a very small beach, and easy land access to the nearby Annaberg plantation ruins.

On the south shore, we gravitate to the snug anchorage at Salt Pond Bay, though there are only 5 moorings which fill up fast in high season. If full we head to nearby Little Lameshur Bay or Great Lameshur Bay. You also have Genti/Reef Bay with one public day mooring that gives you easy access to the short trail to the rum distillery ruins and the petroglyphs. Here's an excellent article on the petroglyphs.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...cE7BxjM6LZZ0l6A

Cruz Bay is worth at the very least a one-time visit. Take a mooring ball at Lind Point then dinghy in. Tie up either near the ferry boats on the south channel or by National Park Service dock on the north channel. Stop at The Landings restaurant for a bushwacker and excellent food overlooking the town square. Stroll over to nearby Mongoose Junction to pick up some higher quality souvenirs. A few hundred yards up the hill is Dolphin Market with excellent selection if you need to top off on provisions - probably twice the size and 3X the selection of Harbour Market in Sopers Hole, for comparison.

We love it the USVIs. Favorite anchorages on St. John are Maho/Francis, Leinster, Hansen, Salt Pond, Great Lameshure and Little Lameshure. No amenities at any of these National Park bays, except for pristine swimming, snorkeling and hiking. Cruz Bay is our favorite port town across all of the Virgins - BVI, USVI, SVI.

Christmas Cove at Great St. James, between St. John and St. Thomas, is a great anchorage with the Pizza Pi pizza boat and good snorkeling.

St. Thomas has great anchorages too - Honeymoon Bay at Water Island, Lindbergh, Brewers, Magens Bays. Abi Beach bar is on Frenchman's Bay near Green Cay on the south side.

We're partial to CYOA and now keep our boat in the same marina - 10 minutes from the STT airport, half dozen good restaurants and a very good brewery are adjacent.

Cheers, RickG