Cruising the BVI: Getting Started

As many of you know a group of us recently chartered 2 boats in the British Virgin Islands and spent a week in this fantastic cruising ground.

The idea originated with Mike Brown, at the time NSC Rear Commodore of Cruising.  There were originally 21 members who met at Paul Prozzillo's to discuss the idea, way back in November of 2009.  Eventually 12 of us went on the trip:  Mike Brown, Kevin Docherty, Ralph and Norma Hall, Scot Krupa, Dave and Jaime Stadler, Laurine Valenti, Jim and Liz Shrawder, Dorothy and me.  Liz is Dorothy's sister.

For Dorothy and me the idea started when we heard the stories from Greg and Judy Morrison.  The topic would come up periodically as we prepared out Flying Scots for racing or after racing.  They have been going to the BVI for years and were in fact featured in a Sunsail promotional video.

Greg was an invaluable resource as we prepared for the trip.

During the first meeting we decided to set the trip for during the winter as a way to escape the winter blahs.  It was concluded that it would be too aggressive to do a February or March 2010 cruise.  Instead we would target 2011.

Mike's research indicated the best place to start the cruise was Tortola.  He also found that Sunsail was a very popular charterer in the BVI and since Greg and Judy used them also we saw no reason to look elsewhere.  The cost was estimated to be $2000-$2500 per person.

We also met at the lake after the ULDB and later the Stadlers.  This was to reach concensus on details as well as stoke the flames of our growing anticipation.

A discussion group was created on Google to centralize our conversations on the trip.  We used it to plan gatherings and hash out details.  Most importantly it was used to remind everyone of the deadlines for payments and reservations.

Ultimately, the 12 of us split into 2 boats.  The crew of "8 is Enough" included the Stadlers, Halls, Laurine, Mike and Scott.  They chartered a 53' Jeanneau.  The crew of "4's Company" was Liz, Jim, Dorothy and myself.  We chartered a 36 footer.

It turns out there are basically 2 ways to get to Tortola.  You can fly to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands then take the ferry to Tortola.  Alternatively you can fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico then take a light plane to Beef Island.  The crew of 8 opted for the ferry.  The crew of 4 chose puddle hopper.

Mike, Jaime and Dave put together a draft itinerary.  It involved hitting the BVI highlights in a counter-clockwise route.  They did a great job on it.  We were able to follow the itinerary for the entire trip with no changes.

Since bringing food from home is not practical, both boats needed to be provisioned on Tortola.  There are 2 ways.  You can order the food in advance from one of the many provisioning vendors or you can hit the island grocery stores after you arrive.  Per Greg's advice we both decided to do the provisioning ourselves.

Subsequent blog posts will describe the week on a day by day basis.  It will include photos and videos as well as the lessons learned.

Here is the next installment.

Glenn

The map of the BVI is courtesy of BVI Marine Guide.  They can be found at http://www.bvimarineguide.com