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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Has anyone done this with LOs before?
I'm really excited It looks like we will be going with a group of 12-14. We are trying to get the exact number now because most boats have a max of 12.
My brother did this annually pre-children. I'm not sure of the itinerary yet. It looks like we will have 7 adults and 6 kids.
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Posted 7/18/16 7:17 AM  |
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alli3131
Peanut is here!!!!!!
Member since 5/09 18388 total posts
Name:
Allison
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Planning a sailing trip in BVI
I have done it with only adults and by far the best vacations ever. I think it depends on the age of the kids. My DS is 4 and I would NEVER do it with him. There just isn't much room and if you are really going to max out the occupancy of the boat then you will have even less room.
I would suggest maybe getting 2 boats and splitting the group up. The one time I went we had a Catamaran and it slept 8 and we only had 4 people and there was no way the boat would be comfy for 8. Plus with small kids I'm not sure it will be a vacation as you will have to have eyes in the back of your head because its never safe.
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| Posted 7/18/16 12:11 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Planning a sailing trip in BVI
It looks like we are going with a boat that sleeps/is insured for 13 plus. We are looking at boats that are 50"+. Just curious, what size did you guys have? How many cabins? TY for the feed back:)
At the time of the trip there will be 3 8 yr olds, a 5 yr old, 4 yr old and 1 1/2 yr old. It's all family, my brother with the 2 younger ones has done the trip already but with out kids.
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| Posted 7/18/16 12:56 PM |
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alli3131
Peanut is here!!!!!!
Member since 5/09 18388 total posts
Name:
Allison
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Posted by schmora15
It looks like we are going with a boat that sleeps/is insured for 13 plus. We are looking at boats that are 50"+. Just curious, what size did you guys have? How many cabins? TY for the feed back:)
At the time of the trip there will be 3 8 yr olds, a 5 yr old, 4 yr old and 1 1/2 yr old. It's all family, my brother with the 2 younger ones has done the trip already but with out kids.
The first time we had a 46 monohull and it was 4 of us. WAY TO SMALL!!!!!!
The second time it was a 36" catamaran and it was better 4 cabins and it was 4 of us.
Its really not just the sleeping....there isn't tons of room to hang out on a monohull so you will be on top of each other. The Cat was better, bigger deck area.
Things to remember ----there isn't a lot of storage so no suitcases - you will have no place to put them. We only bring duffels that can be folded up. And minimal clothes. TOys for the kids would have to be a t a minimum because cabins barely have room for clothes.
It is an amazing vacation but have to be ok with spending time right up on everyone. there isn't room to "get away".
The older kids will have fun swimming etc but the younger ones will need to be watched 24/7 as it is really easy to slip on deck. I know my son would be god for a day and then he would need room to run.
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| Posted 7/18/16 1:45 PM |
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Lauren82
LIF Adult
Member since 10/06 4580 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
We did this for our honeymoon. We are planning to do it with our kids, but the captain we used felt we should wait until our kids were older and very strong swimmers. I think my kids would love the water sports part, but it is a long day/night for younger kids. We did a monohull because that is what we were familiar with sailing in the past and it was just us and our captain and cook, but we are thinking about a catamaran next time. We added on a week in Virgin Gorda afterwards and really fell in love with that island, so much so that we have gone back multiple times since then.
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| Posted 7/18/16 2:12 PM |
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JandJ1224
Member since 6/06 5911 total posts
Name:
Jannette
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Curious what cost is to rent a boat for 4 ppl for a week...
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| Posted 7/18/16 3:42 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Posted by alli3131
Posted by schmora15
It looks like we are going with a boat that sleeps/is insured for 13 plus. We are looking at boats that are 50"+. Just curious, what size did you guys have? How many cabins? TY for the feed back:)
At the time of the trip there will be 3 8 yr olds, a 5 yr old, 4 yr old and 1 1/2 yr old. It's all family, my brother with the 2 younger ones has done the trip already but with out kids.
The first time we had a 46 monohull and it was 4 of us. WAY TO SMALL!!!!!!
The second time it was a 36" catamaran and it was better 4 cabins and it was 4 of us.
Its really not just the sleeping....there isn't tons of room to hang out on a monohull so you will be on top of each other. The Cat was better, bigger deck area.
Things to remember ----there isn't a lot of storage so no suitcases - you will have no place to put them. We only bring duffels that can be folded up. And minimal clothes. TOys for the kids would have to be a t a minimum because cabins barely have room for clothes.
It is an amazing vacation but have to be ok with spending time right up on everyone. there isn't room to "get away".
The older kids will have fun swimming etc but the younger ones will need to be watched 24/7 as it is really easy to slip on deck. I know my son would be god for a day and then he would need room to run.
Good points. We are most likely getting a 50' catamaran. The one we are leaning towards has 5 double rooms and 2 singles. We are planning on stopping at an island each day so the kids can run around and Grandma is coming too so there will be some extra help.
The duffel bag advise is good, I was planning on just a small piece of luggage.
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| Posted 7/18/16 7:16 PM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Posted by Lauren82
We did this for our honeymoon. We are planning to do it with our kids, but the captain we used felt we should wait until our kids were older and very strong swimmers. I think my kids would love the water sports part, but it is a long day/night for younger kids. We did a monohull because that is what we were familiar with sailing in the past and it was just us and our captain and cook, but we are thinking about a catamaran next time. We added on a week in Virgin Gorda afterwards and really fell in love with that island, so much so that we have gone back multiple times since then.
What a fabulous honeymoon!!
My brother captains the boat, he's done it 7 or 8 times before. We are using this as a test trip because we would really like to do a 10 day one. My niece and nephews mom actually lived on a boat while she was in med school. So they are a water family.
My brother buys most of the meat at Costco, packs it in a cooler and checks it in on the plane. He says it works out pretty well, everyone just splits the cost and takes turns cooking.
I'm hoping for some other packing pointers. I'm figuring bathing suits, bathing suits and more bathing suits lol.
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| Posted 7/18/16 7:30 PM |
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alli3131
Peanut is here!!!!!!
Member since 5/09 18388 total posts
Name:
Allison
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Posted by schmora15
I'm hoping for some other packing pointers. I'm figuring bathing suits, bathing suits and more bathing suits lol.
You pretty much live in bathing suits and everything is super causal. Our rule of thumb was bathing suits, t shirts/tops and only a few bottoms. Sleep in the same thing a few times.
Also, something else I remembered - not sure when you are planning on going but we always went in the slow season. We were able to rent the boat for 10 days at the price of 7. We also always rented from a company on St Thomas as the flights are usually cheaper into there than Tortola. We would also fly in the night before and stay at a hotel so we could get on the boat and set sail early.
And just some other things that are different than sailing up here. Most of the boats do not have holding tanks. Which means waste gets macerated and then goes out into the water. Also there are fresh water holding tanks but use water sparingly so you do run out when you are not near a marina to fill up at.
Google sailing in the VI's and you will get all sorts of tips.
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| Posted 7/19/16 9:15 AM |
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schmora15
LIF Adult
Member since 9/08 2476 total posts
Name:
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Re: Planning a sailing trip in BVI
Posted by alli3131
Posted by schmora15
I'm hoping for some other packing pointers. I'm figuring bathing suits, bathing suits and more bathing suits lol.
You pretty much live in bathing suits and everything is super causal. Our rule of thumb was bathing suits, t shirts/tops and only a few bottoms. Sleep in the same thing a few times.
Also, something else I remembered - not sure when you are planning on going but we always went in the slow season. We were able to rent the boat for 10 days at the price of 7. We also always rented from a company on St Thomas as the flights are usually cheaper into there than Tortola. We would also fly in the night before and stay at a hotel so we could get on the boat and set sail early.
And just some other things that are different than sailing up here. Most of the boats do not have holding tanks. Which means waste gets macerated and then goes out into the water. Also there are fresh water holding tanks but use water sparingly so you do run out when you are not near a marina to fill up at.
Google sailing in the VI's and you will get all sorts of tips.
We are actually going during the slow season but opted for 7 days since the kids haven't previously done it. We are going at the end of May begging of June.
We wound up going with a 51 ft cat. It looks amazing, and has a decent amount of interior space. It has 4 queen beds, a 5th room with bunks and 2 single hulls which we will prob just use for storage.
We were also able to arrange to sleep aboard the boat before we set sail so the kids have to,e to adjust.
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| Posted 7/22/16 6:39 AM |
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