Browsing: BVI

Destinations
By

Saba Rock: A Little Gem in the BVI

It’s small, and a bit off the beaten path, but Saba Rock Resort is emerging as one of the most popular cruising and chartering destinations in the British Virgin Islands. Saba Rock is on North Sound, just above the more well-known Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda, so that getting there is half the fun. But once you’re there, you can tie up or pick up a mooring ball and go ashore for a great lunch or dinner. If you spend the night, you’ll enjoy one of the best places to watch a sunset in the entire BVI. Saba…

Charter
By

The Moorings Base in Tortola Gets a Facelift

One of the largest charter operators in the world, The Moorings has just given its base in the British Virgins Islands a major face lift. The Moorings’ base there, in Road Town, Tortola, now has more than 300 charter yachts, power and sail, bareboat and crewed. And almost everything that has to do with making a successful charter vacation – the provisioning, restaurants, lodging and other amenities – has been spruced up, if not opened from scratch. The Moorings says it has a “rejuvenated fleet” in Tortola, with lots of new yachts, including the Moorings 4200, 4500 and flagship 5000…

Charter
By

MarineMax Vacations Celebrates 10 Years in BVI

MarineMax Vacations is celebrating its tenth anniversary in the British Virgin Islands, and it has created a sweepstakes offering a free charter vacation there. You can enter the sweepstakes through the rest of this year. If you win, you’ll get a six-day/five-night charter on a MarineMax 443 power cat next year in the BVI. The MarineMax base is on Nanny Cay on Tortola, a central location to start a charter in the BVI, with some of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the world. The BVI also are a relatively easy place to cruise; most navigation is line-of-sight. The base…

Cruising Life
By

BVI Premier Busted in Miami: Cocaine Smuggling Charges

The Premier of the British Virgin Islands and the port director there were just arrested in Miami in a bizarre cocaine smuggling deal that involved a confidential DEA informant and purported members of Hezbollah. The port director’s son also was arrested. Andrew Alturo Fahie (above), the premier, and Oleanvine Maynard, the BVI’s port director, were arrested at the Miami-Opa Loca Executive Airport after they climbed on a private jet and saw $700,000 packed in designer bags that was supposed to be the first payment in the drug scheme. Her son, Kadeem, was arrested separately. According to a 15-page affidavit filed…

Destinations
By

Good News: The Bitter End Is Back

The Bitter End Yacht Club, one of the premiere cruising and charter destinations in the world, is open again. The club, on 65 acres on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, was wiped out by Hurricane Irma in 2017. The rebuilding has been difficult. All new building supplies had to be ferried in from other areas of the BVI and the U.S. Virgins that also were hit by the hurricane. And then the worldwide Covid pandemic shut down the islands for a while. But now the BEYC is back. Founded in 1969 at “the end of the line” in…

Destinations
By

Top 10 Pictures of the British Virgin Islands

The new year certainly has gotten off to a rocky start, with snow and ice from the Northeast to Seattle, hundreds of cars stranded for more than a day on I-95 in Virginia, airlines cancelling flights left and right, and schools opened/closed/hybrid in cities and towns across the U.S. It’s time to think of happier (and warmer) days ahead. In a shameless promotion, the British Virgin Islands Tourist Information Center will help us with that, since they just posted their top ten photos from 2021. The BVI, of course, have some of the best cruising and chartering grounds in the…

Charter
By

MarineMax 545 Cat Ready for BVI Charter

Here’s some good news. MarineMax Vacations just announced that they still have some charter time available before the end of the year on their flagship 545 power catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. There are few places that are more appealing at any time of the year for a charter than the BVI, but a holiday there, among some of the best cruising grounds in the world, would be a holiday to remember. Starting a new  year there wouldn’t be too shabby either. The MarineMax Vacations fleet is at Nanny Cay on the south side of Tortola. On the 545,…

Destinations
By

Branson Opens Second Island Resort in BVI

Sir Richard Branson’s original resort on Necker Island in the BVI wasn’t all that shabby. Indeed, you could relax there with the Private Family Hideaway package, including a six-person private jet, private pool, a DJ, and a Great House with 20 bedrooms, for $137,000 a week. But now Branson has opened a smaller and even more upscale resort on Moskito Island, only two miles away, where offseason rates start at $19,000 a night for the Oasis Estate and $17,500 a night for the Point Estate. But those rates include an estate manager, private chef and staff, all meals, drinks and…

Destinations
By

Bitter End Yacht Club Plans To Reopen Soon

The iconic Bitter End Yacht Club, one of the most popular cruising, charter and watersports vacation destinations in the world, is getting ready to open up again. Located on 64 acres with a mile of waterfront on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands, the Bitter End, along with most other resorts and charter fleets in the area, was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017. Founded in 1969, the Bitter End got its name because it’s the last island outpost before the Caribbean meets the Atlantic. But its very location, on North Sound at the east end of Virgin Gorda,…

Destinations
By

Saba Rock Resort Set To Reopen in BVI

Saba Rock, the relaxed and romantic destination resort with breathtaking waterfront views in the British Virgin Islands, will reopen on Oct. 15. The resort, on a private island in North Sound, Virgin Gorda, has undergone a dramatic reconstruction after it was largely destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017. You can stay in one of Saba Rock’s nine ocean-front rooms, but if you’re chartering or cruising through the BVI, you can enjoy lunch or dinner in the open-air restaurant or one of two bars; you also can sign up for diving (the resort has a dive shop) and for kite-surfing. Saba…

1 2 3 4