Winter Escape to the British Virgin Islands

For those of you who are winter weary and covered in snow, I’m inviting you along to the British Virgin Islands! You’re welcome to join me on a power boat cruise for some fun in the sun, enjoying the turquoise waters and white sand beaches of the Caribbean!

This is a photo heavy post even after much editing, so I hope you’ll sit back and enjoy an arm-chair vacation. Mix yourself a rum drink and apply lots of SPF :)

We chartered a 39 foot power catamaran with friends to cruise the British Virgin Islands at the end of January.

We boarded The Allegheny Gal, our home for 5 days, at The Moorings in Tortola.

If I had to guess I’d say The Allegheny Gal prefers the latitude and longitude of Tortola, BVI, over Pennsylvania, especially in January :)

I didn’t get any photos of the interior but you can take a peek and see how she’s laid out here.

source

The British Virgin Islands are made up of 4 larger islands and 32 smaller islands, the largest of which is Tortola. Most of the islands are volcanic in origin so they are hilly with a rugged terrain. . .

 Anegada is the exception, made of limestone and coral, and flat, with its highest point only 28 feet above sea level.

If you visit BVI, make sure you don’t miss Anegada. Enjoy a taste of the Caribbean and have a lobster dinner on the beach!

I wonder how many times a day this poor guy stops to pose with the lobster he’s prepping :)

In addition to Anegada, we cruised to Norman Island, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke.

 After cruising to our island destination, we typically moored midday for the afternoon through the evening and took our dinghy to shore.

Other than high swells one day, we had calm seas and beautiful weather with temperatures in the 80s. The only rain or showers we saw were isolated and in the distance.

The Baths at Virgin Gorda, with the beautiful rock formations and caves, were on the ‘not-to-be-missed list’.

You can dinghy to about 50 yards off shore, moor, and then you swim the rest of the way in to the Baths. It can make for an interesting swim and not-so-graceful beach landing, at least by me :) depending on the chop of the water and how crowded it is.

Make sure you take some water shoes for the slippery rocks and bring a dry bag with a cover up to hike up to the restaurant for lunch at the top of the trail, definitely worth the hike and the view.

There are lots of options depending on your boating experience and comfort level for chartering a boat for a British Virgin Island cruise. You can charter with a Skipper – sail or power, Skipper yourself or with a “Friendly Skipper” who will join you for up to a half-day on the first day of your trip. We hope to do it again sometime after we save our pennies :) and visit some places we missed.

Wishing you smooth sailing for the rest of winter into spring!

Thank you for your visit!