Moorings bare boat charter BVI

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PJS

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During the coldest, snowiest week of winter so far I received a mailing from The Moorings offering bare powerboat charters in the British Virgin Islands. Man does that sound good and the pictures and descriptions of a typical 7 day cruise were enough to make me drool. I'm ready to sign up but would like some advice first.

Is this really that good? Has anybody done this that can give me any real experience reviews of the bare boat charters?
 
Yes it really is that good. I went for 10 days last April with another couple on the Moorings 372 power cat. Had a fantastic time and visited most all the islands. Only spent one night in a marina. The rest of the time I just picked up mooring balls and dinghied into shore (average charge is $25 a night). Only problem I had was a starter on one of the Yanmars quit and they came out to my mooring and fixed it in a few hours. I provisioned through the local grocery store to save a few bucks and had breakfast and lunch on the boat with dinner ashore. The boat was clean and well maintained with 3500 hours on the engines and 9500 hours on the generator. It had dual stations, chartplotter, VHF, dual A/C units, two berths, two heads, two showers and a nice galley. I recommend the cat hull as the 17 foot beam made for a very smooth ride. I plan on going again in the future.
 
We did not use Moorings but had a great time also. We used Virgin Traders (BoatUS discount) and took out a 48 MY. As far as which style boat to use, I am now thinking a cat is the way to go. Less rock and roll when moored up at a place like the Baths.
Otherwise the Bite, Leverick Harbor, Saba Rock, and Marina Cay are all great o'nites.

We had a blast and would do it again in a heart beat. But one word of caution. You are at the mercy of the weather and if it does not cooperate, your vacation could be junk.

By the way, you did not mention you boating experience and that will be requested in resume form. They will also size you up at arrival and if you don't hold up as captain you will wait until they can find one for you and you will pay him.
If you are used to being out on the lakes and water beyond the local river and small lake perhaps you will find this easy. Otherwise it could be a nightmare. Use common sense when applying your skill level to the notion of taking out a boat down there.
For example don't try this alone with your wife if she is not physically able. She may be required to pull in a dink, drive the boat, or haul anchor, and grab mooring lines. I was happy to have my brother in law aboard!
 
Yes, it really is an incredible trip. We went a few years ago on Sunsail and going back this spring and using VIP Yachts. We went in April last time and the weather was near perfect, going around the same time this year and hoping for a repeat of that.

If you go to the BVIs everything is fairly close together and waters pretty well protected so getting around isn't difficult. As Dan pointed out though they will want to know your boating experience and they can require you to take a captain.

To me it was a lot nicer than being at a shore base on an island and doing day trips out on the water. We were swimming and snorkeling everyday and the water and conditions were ideal for it. One word of caution - if going with a few people make sure you know them well and everyone gets along great. You are together almost constantly on these trips and not easy to get away from each other!

John
 
Thanks for the informative responses. It sounds like this is definitely something I should do. As a matter of fact I've already talked to some friends about it and we're trying to figure out potential dates for a trip, probably next winter as our schedules don't work well for this season. It will probably be two or three couples. Our first choice for timing would be January or February but I'll check on the seasonal weather patterns before we book.

I've had over 10 years experience with twin engine boats. Currently have a Regal 3860 which we cruised through the North Channel and part of Georgian Bay last summer with lots of anchoring out overnight. The thought of having to hire a captain does not appeal to me so hopefully I'll qualify.

We did a big cruise ship trip around the Western Caribean a couple of years ago and we had the most fun on the excursions for exploring, swiming, and especially snorkelling. The big ship amenities (gambling, stage shows, formal dinners etc.) just didn't appeal that much to me. So this sounds like the ultimate excursion trip.
 
It sounds like you should be ok. If you are familiar with diesels it will help. Being able to demonstrate familiarity with AC and DC panels operations as well as using a generator will help. At first I thought I was going to have an easy time since the boats were similarly sized. In other words our personal boat matched up well except for one thing. Horsepower. We had twin 6 cylinder sabers at around 200 hp and they had no torque to speak of, at least nothing like our boat. So the props were smaller and it took some hefty shots on the throttle to get some response.
Also, the controls were really mushy and with the low torque it made it difficult to discern when the boat engaged the clutches. If you are used to gas powered this may help you in the long run.
And, most importantly, get a chart and study it before you get there. Have an itinerary ready, but be ready to adapt to a new one upon arrival like we did. But we did manage to hit all the places we planned to.
If you leave in the vicinity of or closest to Norman Island, hitting the Bite on the first night s a no brainer and will let you get the feel of things in a good environment. Especially with the wind out of the north, or north east. Going up into Thatch Cut towards Jost Van Dyke might be somewhat imposing if the wind is out of the north since t seems to pile up in there and bounce of the island to the south for the double whammy. We came across from Jost and took Thatch on the beam and it sucked. HA!
Good luck!
 
The Admiral and I bareboated out of Tortola in early April a few years ago. I agree about chartering a "cat" for room and stability. We had a trawler, and it was really a roller and downright uncomfortable at places like the Baths. We also had a week of very windy, unsettled, rainy weather due to a strong late winter storm crossing North America. The winds were very strong (frequent "small craft" advisories) out of the north which pretty much made all the northern anchorages off limits. We never had a decent day to snorkel. The combination of the weather, waves, and vessel spoiled what should have been a dream vacation, but that's boating. The week after we left the weather was picture perfect. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, but I'm not sure about the Admiral.
 
quote:
We had a trawler, and it was really a roller and downright uncomfortable at places like the Baths
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We know that feeling well. We stayed about a 1/2 hour rocking around and then gave up and went to Spanish town. Called a cab and did the Baths from shore. That worked out quite well and the restaraunt at the top, "Top of the Baths" was a great hang for a bite to eat and a cocktail since the boat was tied up for the night.
 
How much does something like that cost for 7 days/nights? Do I have to have any kind of license?
 
Bob
I didn't see any bowriders that were for rent ;).

Other than that as outlined above expect to be quizzed/challenged with regard to your abilities. A sailing resume is required. You know, what you have owned and how long, where you went etc. How many years at whatever level etc.. But no license.
The price of the boat varies with the age of the boat, size, and style. The more you cram onto the boat the cheaper it gets per person. There would be little privacy if you fill the boat to capacity so as John aluded to above, you better be good friends.
Figure 6K for an old trawler plus fuel, water, insurance, and other incidentals like food customs and etc..
 
quote:
We know that feeling well. We stayed about a 1/2 hour rocking around and then gave up and went to Spanish town. Called a cab and did the Baths from shore. That worked out quite well and the restaraunt at the top, "Top of the Baths" was a great hang for a bite to eat and a cocktail since the boat was tied up for the night.
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The Baths was the only place we were rolling around at all. It was also not the best place to get to by dinghy so I'd say you made the right choice going around and visiting by shore. They had a dinghy mooring area and then you needed to swim to the beach, which involved trying not to get pushed into the rocks by the waves. A couple of the weaker swimmers in our group did not enjoy that at all. After going through the trail with a whole crowd of other people, we snorkeled back and there really wasn't anything to see underwater. I'm going to see if we can skip that stop this time (we also went another time on a Star Clippers trip), but with 3 people along who haven't been down there I probably won't be able to do that...

quote:
We did a big cruise ship trip around the Western Caribean a couple of years ago and we had the most fun on the excursions for exploring, swiming, and especially snorkelling. The big ship amenities (gambling, stage shows, formal dinners etc.) just didn't appeal that much to me. So this sounds like the ultimate excursion trip.
Click to expand...


I think that's the key part of what makes the bareboat charter so nice if you want to get in the water and do things at your own pace. We did a Star Clipper trip that was in the BVIs for part of the time, and as much as that was a nice trip, the bareboat was so much better. On a cruise you have to sign up to go snorkeling, on time limits, etc... We were snorkeling near Norman's Island on that trip and I felt like I had just got started and they were already signalling us to get back to the boat, time is up... On the bareboat you do whatever you want, when you want it. Want to snorkel every day? Swim, kayak, hang out at the beach... As long as the weather is reasonable you can.

I had considered a cat for this trip but I wasn't sure what the staterooms would be like. Last time on the sailboat (monohull) the only negative was the layout of the boat. My girlfriend and I were in one of the aft cabins which barely had room to move, banging into things was an almost daily occurence and just getting into the bed was difficult, and this on a 47' boat. I wasn't sure if some of the cat cabins in the hulls were similar. I was actually out with a friend tonight who went on a charter in Turkey last fall with friends on a big cat. She described her cabin as 'the coffin' and said it was quite a tight squeeze (and she weighs about 110 lbs at most). Last time we were down there I spoke to another group who was on one of the nautic blue power cats and while they said it was nice, they also gave it a less than enthusiastic review and said you didn't really want too many people on it. Another friend though on a big sailing cat said it was great. We'll see how it goes. If we do too much rolling around my sister will be seasick and won't have too much fun... But based on what I remember the mooring areas we went to were well protected.

John
 
Thanks for pointing me to your cruising log, Arnold. What a great read including the advice on points of interest. With all these excellent recommendations I'm getting excited about this and certainly hope to pull it off next winter.
 
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