Do you get bored easily? Sailing may be a solution!
The beauty of a sailing holiday is that you get to change your surroundings as often as you like. Don’t get me wrong, I like visiting a nice resort and chilling on the beach as much as the next person, but when I see a sailing boat drop anchor in the bay, and watch them haul the next day and move onto their next destination I do get a pang of envy.
This type of holiday - the sailboat charter holiday - is the answer. 7 days and nights in the BVI can be spent in very different ways. You can find a secluded, sheltered bay where you can drop anchor, or you opt for a mooring ball in a field of other mooring balls - typically near a popular beach restaurant or bar, or you can perhaps tie up alongside in a marina and enjoying the facilities on the dockside or a little further away by taxi. The choices are really dependent on how much social interaction you want, how much night life you want, or how much peace and quiet you like.
Dropping anchor requires some thought. You need to find a sheltered anchorage that will give you a peaceful nights rest. Nothing like being woken by the anchor alarm going off at 3am to find you are dragging and having to wake everyone up to start the engines and reset the anchor. You need to be in shallow enough water for a good 4 or 5 to 1 scope of chain to be set out. Think about swinging room, and where the wind and sea is coming from. Once you have set your anchor you can kick back, enjoy the neighborhood and your BBQ for the evening, and relish in the isolation that you have found - provided no one else finds your secret spot!
Picking up a mooring ball is perhaps the most common way of spending the night. These are available in most well visited bays in the BVI. You generally pay the owner of the mooring $30 or $40 to use their ball for the night - either they come around by boat before sunset to collect in person, or you pay online via a system that some mooring ball owners have partnered with called BoatyBall. The process of tying up isn’t too hard. Needs a little coordination, communication and practice but most crews get the hang of it quickly. As with all things to do with moving boats - take it slow.
Finally, you can take a berth in a marina. This does require some planning. You need to call ahead and reserve a spot - normally a few days ahead of time and either by phone or email. Think of it like reserving a hotel room. Once you are close to the entrance of the marina you hail the dock master on the VHF radio, and get instructions for where they want you to go, what side of the vessel will be alongside the jetty and wether you will be bows or stern in first. This all matters in how you prepare the boat. The time to get your mooring lines and fenders ready is well before you make your approach. Once you are in the marina take it very slow. Figure out how the boat will react to the wind conditions and make your approach to the berth accordingly. Go slow. Listen to the help offered from the dock master. He or she will have seen and helped many boats alongside and knows how to advise the inexperienced skipper to keep the boat and passengers safe. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t try docking in an unfamiliar marina unless you are very confident with handling your vessel in tight quarters. This does take some experience.
With all that said, our preference in a 6 or 7 day trip is to do a little of all the above. We like the variety. We like the changing surroundings, and we enjoy nights ashore just as well as nights onboard. That’s the beauty of this type of vacation. If this interests you, get in touch with us. We will be happy to advise you how to get on the water!