The British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) Sailing Itinerary
Overview
The BVI is classic; basically, the OG of chartering and boat life. Many freshly minted bareboat chartering graduates head here for their first charter on their own. It’s easy as all the sailing is “line of sight”, meaning you can see each destination that you want to go to. The winds plentiful, typically easy conditions, and lots of mooring balls (although we will get into why anchoring can often be better). There’s also a tremendous amount of marina infrastructure available to boaters, things to do ashore, and a community that thrives around boating.
Special Note: our trip to the BVI was done in December 2018, a little over a year after Hurricane Irma inflicted significant damage to the islands. Many facilities have been built and upgraded since our experience. We hope to return and will provide an update to this!
Itinerary Stops
An overview of our BVI itinerary with locations
Charter Company - BVI Yacht Charters
I went with the well regarded BVI Yacht Charter, which didn’t disappoint. The team there was efficient for check in and our boat clean and in good shape.
At that time, with a limited formal track record of chartering, BVI Yacht Charter asked me to do a check out sail with one of their captains. It was actually pretty good to head out on the bay for a few hours with the same boat we were going to use, get a feel for the set up, and ask any questions. So long as you aren’t fumbling around trying to tack, jibe, and motor through a marina, you should be fine.
Vessel Selection - Lagoon 450S
The largest catamaran I had learned on was a Lagoon 42, so I felt comfortable going a few feet larger for a crew of eight. Having the benefit of hindsight, I would say it was the perfect size early in my chartering history, but now that I’ve moved to larger vessels, if I have a crew of 8, I prefer at least a 47-foot catamaran for the space onboard.
One thing to note when you do your checkout. I didn’t notice during the checkout sail that there was a slight rip near a batten. I reported this on the first day to the charter company to ensure I wasn’t charged and if they preferred to have someone come fix it in case it got worse. It was minor though and they addressed it when we returned.
Day 1 (Saturday): Road Town Marina
Strategy
Our first day we arrived and got situated around Road Town. For provisioning we went to RiteWay Pasea Estate, which is a large grocery store with plenty of food and drink. With any charter, if there are specific items you would like, you may want to bring them as island grocery stores can be very expensive. Later that evening we went across the marina to see the other side and had a great lobster dinner right on the waterfront. We think the restaurant we were in is no longer in existence after Hurricane Irma, so unfortunately do not have the name listed.
Day 2 (Sunday): Road Town Marina to Norman Island
Road Town Marina to Norman Island: 7.0nm
Strategy
Given it was most of the crew’s first time out on this size and type of boat (previously we sailed a 37-foot FP Mahe), our first sailing day was going to be very straightforward sail over to The Bight at Norman Island, with a brief stop at the Indians for snorkeling.
However, the sailing gods would not have this and the Christmas Winds kicked up on our first day with ~35 knots of wind. The charter company generally didn’t want sails up when the wind is in excess of 25 knots, so we were well in the “no sailing” zone. We also skipped the snorkeling stop at the Indians as it was very choppy cutting across and planned to snorkel the caves, which were well protected.
View of Norman Island, around the corner from The Bight
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
There are tons of moorings in The Bight and we had our pick of the litter. The wind angle was coming in from the Northeast and we found one that felt more protected than others given the topography of Norman Island’s hills.
Onshore
The two main attractions for Norman Island are the Willy T and cave snorkeling. While we were there the Willy T had been moved to Peter Island and it wasn’t until 2019, they moved it back to The Bight. Instead, we focused on cave snorkeling, which was phenomenal. The images show the location of the caves and a blow up of where you can tie your dinghy up (you can easily dinghy around if moored at The Bight).
Day 3 (Monday): Norman Island to Cooper Island
Norman Island to Cooper Island: 8.5nm
Strategy
Our next planned stop was Cooper Island as we had a rum aficionado onboard, and we heard about a rum bar at the Cooper Island Beach Club. We were also told the food was really good and to book ahead for dinner, so we were sold on this idea!
As promising as it sounded, Cooper Island turned out to be near disaster for us, which we will discuss in the mooring section. It largely was due to neglected moorings caused by Hurricane Irma forcing widespread displacement and economic hardship. Regardless, we needed to rethink our strategy next time as the mooring field was absolute madness at the time we arrived and literally only one mooring ball available (looking back I should qualify it as “suspiciously available”) by 2pm.
Our other strategy was we wanted to get far around Virgin Gorda the next day so this would give us a good jumping off spot in the morning.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
We found what we thought was the last mooring available in a crowded field, a little off Cistern Point. At nearly midnight, after everyone went to bed, we heard a loud “SLAP!”. I immediately went on deck and looked up at another boat and a woman staring at me. Neither knew whose boat had broken free, the winds were howling at about 20 knots, and it was pitch dark with no moon. I went up to the helm and saw the mooring ball that we were on and us drifting away. The crew quickly discovered the pennant that connects to the mooring had snapped off! We had crew get into the dinghy as I threw on the engines and kept us near the mooring ball. The dinghy crew connected our lines to the mooring directly, underneath the ball (which was still intact). It was a sleepless night on deck, but we held through morning!
Cooper Island was filled with mooring balls, several which weren’t maintained post-Irma. Check the moorings even if they look upgraded.
Onshore
We spent most of our time at the Cooper Island Beach Club, where we ate and then had chocolate rum balls, while tasting various rums. Their rum expertise also carries on to mixed drinks such as the infamous Painkiller.
For dinner at the restaurant, make sure to make reservations, +1 284 343 3529
Outside of our mooring incident, it was a great time!
Day 4 (Tuesday) / Day 5 (Wednesday): Cooper Island to Leverick Bay (Virgin Gorda)
Cooper Island to Leverick Bay (Virgin Gorda): 13.1nm
Strategy
After our challenging night at Cooper Island and how quickly mooring balls had been taken, we doubled our efforts for our next destination, Virgin Gorda. We found that we could reserve moorings online through BoatyBall (back in 2018 this was new) and went with one in Leverick Bay.
We anticipated spending two full days in Virgin Gorda as we wanted to traverse the island, go to the Baths, and do some scuba diving.
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
We reserved a mooring at Leverick Bay (it looks like Malone Bay on the map), but Leverick Bay Resort and Marina is right at the edge of the peninsula.
Note the approach here from the orange line on the image. We didn’t want to try and cut through the passage between Virgin Gorda and Moskito Island. There’s notes in Navionics that it’s doable, fine, etc. Best just take an extra 20 minutes and sail around without stressing.
Onshore
We spent two full days on Virgin Gorda and hired a taxi to take us the full length of the island, including a stop at The Baths. It’s definitely touristy, but worth it as it’s a beautiful, unique place to hike, swim, and snorkel.
For diving we used Sunchaser Scuba, +1 284 344 2766, info@sunchaserscuba.com, which conveniently came to our moored boat to pick up divers and dropped them back there.
Day 6 (Thursday): Leverick Bay to Marina Cay
Leverick Bay to Marina Cay: 10.7nm
Strategy
A historic image of Marina Cay
For our last destination prior to having to return to Road Town, we decided we wanted to explore the area around Marina Cay and Scrub Island. The sail wasn’t too long and with strong winds we arrived in the early afternoon to a half full mooring field. In 2018 Marina Cay was under reconstruction after getting severely damaged by Hurricane Irma. We enjoyed the history of the place and were happy to help support it’s return to glory!
Where We Docked / Moored / Anchored
Marina Cay mooring field, like all BVI fields during the holidays is popular. By 4pm the field was completely full and by 6pm we had an insane captain of a 58’ catamaran try to drop anchor in the middle of the mooring field. He later anchored off to the side of the field, the whole boat left to the bar on Marina Cay, and then in the darkness we heard their anchor drag. After a couple of hours that captain and his crew were zipping around in their dinghy trying to find their boat. It was dark, but we saw them find it, aground on the rocks! Everything goes in the BVI during the holiday weeks!
Onshore
When we first arrived at Marina Cay we were out of ice and were told the closest was at Scrub Island Resort. We took the dinghy over there, found the ice, but then were attracted to the smell of pizza. Throwing our dinner plans out the window, we ended up getting pizzas and enjoying them in a very ritzy marina.
The next day we went all around Marina Cay, including snorkeling along the shallows. As mentioned previously, Marina Cay was being repaired, so there was a lot of missing infrastructure. Regardless, we loved our time here and headed back to Road Town in the afternoon.
Day 7 (Friday): Return to Road Town Marina
Marina Cay to Road Town Marina: 8.4nm
Strategy
We made our way back to Road Town and were told to head to the Inner Harbour for refueling. Instead of the normal public fuel dock they directed us further into the marina toward a fuel dock that was at the end of several slips. I’m not sure if BVI Yacht Charter had a special arrangement, but that’s where we filled up and then returned the boat back to the charter docks.
