Tortola & the BVI

The British Virgin Islands are where modern bareboat chartering was invented. The Moorings and Sunsail established their Caribbean operations here in the 1970s, and the format they created — a week-long, self-skippered circuit through sheltered island waters — has become the global template. The BVI's appeal is structural: a compact archipelago where no passage exceeds a few hours, the trade winds blow reliably from the east, and the Sir Francis Drake Channel provides a natural highway between islands with protection from the Atlantic swell. Tortola is the base. Road Town's harbour and the charter facilities at Nanny Cay and Wickhams Cay handle the fleet — predominantly catamarans now, where monohulls once dominated. The standard itinerary runs east from Tortola along the Drake Channel, with stops that have become charter classics: Norman Island's caves (the reputed inspiration for Treasure Island), the Indians — a cluster of rocks with good snorkelling — Cooper Island's beach bar, and the anchorage at Peter Island. The trade winds blow at 15-25 knots from the east to north-east for most of the charter season, December through May. The channel runs roughly east-west, so most passages are a reach or a broad reach — comfortable, predictable, and forgiving of imprecise sail trim. The swell is blocked by the island chain to the north, keeping the water flat inside the channel. The BVI suffered significant damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017. Recovery has been thorough — the charter bases are fully operational, marinas rebuilt, and most island businesses restored — but the landscape still shows scars in places, with some hillside vegetation thinner than historical photographs suggest. Provisioning is centred on Road Town, where Rite Way and other supermarkets stock both Caribbean staples and imported American goods. Prices are high — everything arrives by ship. Water and fuel are available at the main marinas; ice is a commodity to plan around. Eating ashore is part of the BVI charter culture — lobster at Anegada, the restaurant at Cooper Island, and the beach bars on Jost Van Dyke are established stops. The BVI suits first-time charterers and families. The sailing is not demanding, the infrastructure is deep, and the combination of trade-wind sailing with sheltered water is unmatched. Experienced sailors may find the predictability less engaging than more challenging grounds, but the consistency is precisely the point.