We helped to organize this trip for the past year with several of Rachel’s family members. With Rachel, Aaron and I, we had a total of 12 on the boat. I knew that the party could get a little tiresome after a while, so I planned the route and destinations to give a lot of flexibility. That was a good thing, because 1 day into our trip, the entire plan changed on a dime!
We held a Zoom call with all crew and guests a few weeks before we departed where we reviewed the boat, sleeping arrangements, roles on the boat, provisioning, planned routes and just about every other detail. I think that was a big help to those that have never sailed or been on a trip like this in the past.
Because we’ve been to the BVI’s before, I will review the boat that was chartered and the management company, and I will also review the itinerary that we took in this post. I’ll add some commentary about the transportation we took and also add some personal notes.
The Boat
The family rented a 4-year old Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 catamaran. We had a crew cabin which could only be entered from the back deck. Everyone else had a private cabin; Aaron was the unlucky one to have to sleep on the couch in the salon. The boat name was “Serenata” and again, this thing supposedly weighed in over 34,000 lbs with a little over 4 foot draft.
Captain Rick from True North Sailing helped us make all of the contractual arrangements with the management company. The boat was spacious and accommodated our entire group of 12 with no issues. We had so much room for storage and places to hang out and even have private conversations. The sail plan was uber simplified with just a main and a jib. Ground tackle was a simple anchor and snubber set up. I could see just about everything I needed to from the helm position.
What I really liked on this boat was the camera mounted on the spreaders which I could access on the Garmin 86xx series chartplotter. I thought that was a nifty idea.
But that’s where the coolness wore off. The minute we arrived at the dock, we learned from family (who arrived a few hours earlier) that someone from the management company told them that the boat just was launched after having run aground and having water in the diesel. That sent off instant alarm bells in my head. I was happy to not find any noticeable water in the bilges. But the diesel would prove to be our Achilles heel the entire trip. I had to drain the starboard engine primary diesel filter multiple times a day, but it took until the last day to learn how to properly drain the filter housing. Pro-tip: Learn from the management company before you leave how to drain water from your diesel filter.
We had electrical issues the entire trip. Most cabins didn’t have lights. These modern boats have complicated lighting systems that wire back to a main computer/controller. No one can properly support these things. This is simply too complicated in my opinion and not necessary. The management company gave us battery powered lights that we taped to the walls of the cabins as a solution. Watch out for these fancy gadgets on your next charter.
We also had watermaker issues every day. The conductivity sensor didn’t seem to be working properly, so I had to go into the engine bay every time I ran it and manipulate an electronic solenoid valve to force it to open to fill the water tanks. It was annoying to say the least. The organization of the lines running to the helm/winches was frustration as they had to crisscross each other in order to get the optimum angles.
I also had terrible issues with the VHF radio that would not let me transmit; AIS was also not working. This to me was the most serious issue as I could not contact help in case of an emergency. My own personal VHF handheld radio (20+ years old) that I brought along got wet at The Baths and was rendered useless. Of all the problems that we had with this charter boat -and we had many more not mentioned here- we have to admit that the management company, BVI Yacht Charters, took care of us and came out to us literally every day to service and troubleshoot. They made up for the water-in-diesel issue at the end of the charter and again, just kept taking care of us with a smile. We also got to stay on the boat Friday night before our departure date, which settled everyone after a lot of air/taxi/ferry travel.
The Itinerary
Once I got on the boat and got debriefed by the management company, I sat the all crew and guests in the salon and had a readiness meeting. We discussed safety, the boat, the itinerary and a lot of pertinent details. I had an agenda and asked them all to complete a notecard outlining a couple of goals that they had for the trip. One of the couple’s wanted to use this trip to determine if buying a catamaran was ‘right’ for them, and so they wanted to get some hands-on experience.
We did have one guest that was running quite late due to very challenging transportation mishaps. We decided to wait and leave as soon as they boarded; I am glad it all worked out.
We wanted to make 9 different island stops, but we only made 7 in total. We scrapped: Peter Island, Scrub Island, The Baths and The Dogs. But, we added: Cooper and Leverick Bay as unplanned stops. We saw The Baths via rented truck and traveling through Virgin Gorda on land. Our total itinerary is shown in this animation:
Special new experiences for us include: Snorkeling at The Indians, stopping over and snorkeling Cooper Island, our land travel on Virgin Gorda and also Anegada. What I would skip next time? Saba Rock and Diamond Cay. This was our 2nd trip to Saba, and next time we want to go to Bitter End. Diamond Cay had potential, but the bubbly pool was rusty brown colored and had little water and no waves due to the relatively strong Southerlies that we experienced.
Two surprising parts include (1) Dropping anchor late in the day at Norman Island in 60+ feet of water. We only had a scope of about 4:1 or 5:1. It was risky, but what we did was position the boat on top of the anchor of the guy behind us. That was a rookie move on our part, but it forced us to pull up anchor quickly the next morning and began a total change of plans for the whole trip. (2) was the heavy rain and lightning storm that we ran straight into on our sail leaving Anegada for Diamon Cay. There was lightning all around us and heavy heavy rain with visibility down to < 1/4 mile. Our VHF radio would not transmit, and that was an issue for me as captain. Fortunately, we have experienced these types of storms on the Chesapeake, so we have a method of avoiding lightning using an app.
One of the most memorable parts of the trip was our long day sail to the Western border of the BVIs and USA. It was picture perfect sailing, and we tacked a couple of times just South of Great Tobago. There were a couple of other boats doing the same thing, but we basically had the sea to ourselves.
There were plenty of meals ashore and on the boat as well as card games being played.
Transportation and Logistics
For this trip, we planned to take a flight from D.C. to San Juan then a 2nd flight from San Juan to St. Thomas then a boat ferry from St. Thomas to Road Town. The flight from San Juan to St. Thomas was memorable on Cape Air — I sat in the co-pilot seat.
Additionally, we rented vehicles on both Virgin Gorda and on Anegada. We took a ‘safari’-style truck with all 12 crew and guests from Leverick Bay down to The Baths and back for only $70. This was done because we were not sure if everyone could safely exit the boat and dinghy if we moored at The Baths with the catamaran. The trip was the most wild thing we did; the truck was manual transmission, left-handed drive and driving on the opposite side of the road from the US. Rachel did amazing as the driver and made a lot of very difficult turns and downshifts. Parts of the roads were very narrow and others in poor condition. This was the 2nd truck; the 1st truck was deemed unsafe by Rachel. The vehicle on Anegada was also a safari-styled truck, and the trip was pleasant compared to the Virgin Gorda experience. But Anegada pricing was around $170, yikes!
Finally, we cannot say enough good things about the Green Iguana hotel that we stayed at again this year. They are under new management, and it showed. We really appreciate being able to meet them and learn about their journey moving from the central US to St. Thomas. Good on them!
Personal Notes
Rachel got to snorkel a lot on this trip, and I could see how happy she was each day. When we got to Loblolly, I became nostalgic of our trip 2 years ago with our family and playing on that little beach area with the restaurant and ice cream shop. Aaron skipped his High School graduation to come and have an adventure with us; it was very special having him aboard as part of my crew.
For me, a personal favorite memory was seeing sea turtles in almost every anchorage in the mornings. They came a visited me everywhere we went. I love to see other creatures in the wild.
This trip was a total of 100 nautical miles; the exact same distance sailed as we did in 2022. Because of the time of the year (1st week of June), private boats were almost extinct, and the mooring fields were almost exclusively charter boats. I kind of liked seeing some of the mega yachts and unique private boats when we went during Spring Break in 2022. We don’t plan to go back to the BVIs any time soon, but it was a great time taking people that had no sailing experience to this remarkable place.
The Loxodograph 