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The British Virgin Islands sit 60 nautical miles east of Puerto Rico across 60 named islands, of which 13 are inhabited and approximately 20 hold a charter-relevant anchor. The north-south spine runs 32 nautical miles from Anegada in the north to Norman Island in the south, with the inner channel (the Sir Francis Drake Channel) running between Tortola on the north side and the southern island chain on the south side. A 40m motor yacht working the BVI in February runs $135,000 to $180,000 per week before APA, and a 25m crewed catamaran runs $30,000 to $55,000 per week. Tortola is the working charter base with the Beef Island airport at the east end (the standard arrival, with direct lift from San Juan and St Thomas) and the marina inventory split across Road Town, Nanny Cay, and Scrub Island.
The point of the BVI on a charter week is the line-of-sight cruising. No other Caribbean ground runs short passages between named anchorages across a full 7-day rotation. From Cane Garden Bay on the north side of Tortola to Anegada to North Sound to Cooper Island to Norman Island, the longest single leg is 18 nautical miles. The trade winds run steady from the east-southeast at 15 to 22 knots, the swell on the Drake Channel runs at 1 to 2 metres in February, and the anchorages absorb the swell with the southern islands acting as the lee. The structure rewards sailing and absorbs motor yachts cleanly through the same anchorages, which is the reason the BVI is the largest bareboat sailing-charter market in the world.
Hurricane Irma in September 2017 reset the BVI. The fleet rebuilt, the marina infrastructure rebuilt at modern spec, and the on-shore product reopened on a slower curve, with the Bitter End at North Sound reopening in 2024 on a smaller footprint and several historic dinner clubs gone. The charter product itself is at full strength as of the 2025-26 season.
When to charter the BVI
December 15 to January 5. Christmas and New Year peak. Water 26 degrees Celsius. Trade winds 15 to 22 knots from the east-southeast. The full charter fleet on station. Foxy's Old Year's Night party at Jost Van Dyke on December 31. Rates at peak; book 9 to 12 months out for crewed yacht inventory.
January. Post-NYE shoulder, runs as 10 percent below peak through January 15, then returns to peak from January 20 through February. Water 26 degrees. The cleanest January window of the Caribbean for charter inventory selection.
February. Peak. Water 26 to 27 degrees. The strongest trade winds of the season (steady 18 to 22 knots), the cleanest sailing window, and the Caribbean charter inventory at maximum utilisation. Book 6 to 12 months out.
March. Peak through to Easter. Water 26 to 27 degrees. The St Patrick's Day calendar at Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke runs a parallel event to the BVI Spring Regatta (last week of March, on-the-water). The strongest two-month window for a charter week in the BVI is the second half of February through the first half of March.
April. Peak through Easter, shoulder from the week after Easter. Water 27 degrees. Trade winds tapering through April 15. The Easter regatta calendar (BVI Spring Regatta first weekend of April, the Antigua Sailing Week mid-April) absorbs the charter fleet at the regatta windows.
May. Shoulder. Rates 25 to 35 percent below peak. Water 27 to 28 degrees. The charter fleet begins the May to June repositioning to Mediterranean. The BVI weather window holds clear through May 20, after which the hurricane season risk window opens.
June to November. Hurricane season. The charter fleet repositions. Insurance windows close for most operators by June 15. Charters running in this window are operator-by-operator and typically require deductible-shifted contracts.
The BVI cruising zones
Tortola and the north side. The charter base. Road Town on the south side holds the cruise port and the Village Cay marina; Nanny Cay on the west holds the bareboat fleet base; the Beef Island airport on the east handles arrivals. The Tortola north side (Cane Garden Bay, Brewers Bay, Smuggler's Cove) carries the standing Tortola overnight anchors with Cane Garden as the working anchor for a Tortola-side dinner ashore. Quito's Gazebo at Cane Garden runs the working dinner calendar.
Jost Van Dyke and the West End. 4 nautical miles west of Tortola. Jost holds three working anchorages (Great Harbour, Little Harbour, and White Bay) and the canonical BVI shore bars: Foxy's at Great Harbour (the New Year's Eve and St Patrick's Day venue), Sidney's Peace and Love at Little Harbour, and the Soggy Dollar Bar at White Bay. Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay sit between Jost and Tortola with the standing daytime anchor at Sandy Spit (a 100 metre sandbar with a single palm tree).
Norman Island and the Indians. 6 nautical miles south of Road Town across the Drake Channel. Norman is the standing southern overnight with The Bight as the anchor (60 to 80 boats on peak nights), the Pirates Bight restaurant and Willy T floating bar ashore. The Indians (four rocky pinnacles off the west end of Norman) carry the working morning snorkel on a BVI week. The Caves at Treasure Point on Norman's west side are the standing afternoon snorkel.
Peter Island and Salt Island. 4 to 6 nautical miles east of Norman along the south chain. Peter Island holds Great Harbour (anchor for the closed-for-rebuild Peter Island Resort, scheduled reopening 2026 [VERIFY: pending operator confirmation]) and Deadman's Bay (the canonical south-chain swim anchor). Salt Island sits between Peter and Cooper with the Wreck of the Rhone (the 1867 RMS Rhone, broken on the Salt Island reef, the canonical Caribbean wreck dive).
Cooper Island and the Beach Club. 9 nautical miles east of Road Town. The Cooper Island Beach Club at Manchioneel Bay is the standing south-chain dinner anchor with the rum bar holding 280 rum varieties and the kitchen running through the season. The anchor absorbs 30 to 50 boats on February nights with the on-shore product holding the dinner calendar.
Virgin Gorda and the Baths. 7 nautical miles east-northeast of Tortola. The Baths at the southwest corner of Virgin Gorda is the granite-boulder swim site (mooring field, no anchor inside), the most-visited BVI daytime site, and the standing morning stop on a Virgin Gorda day. Spanish Town (Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour) holds the working marina at 70m maximum LOA and the standing Virgin Gorda overnight at Saba Rock or the Baths-side anchor.
North Sound. The protected lagoon at the north end of Virgin Gorda. Saba Rock (rebuilt 2021), the Bitter End Yacht Club (rebuilt 2024, smaller footprint), Leverick Bay Marina, and the Oil Nut Bay development sit inside the sound. North Sound absorbs 70m+ yachts cleanly and the Oil Nut Bay slip is the only superyacht-grade slip in the BVI north of Tortola.
Anegada. The northern outlier, 13 nautical miles north of Virgin Gorda, the only coral atoll in the BVI. Setting Point on the south side holds the mooring field (no anchor on the reef side) with Anegada Reef Hotel, Cow Wreck Beach Bar, and the working lobster dinner calendar on the island. The reef approach requires daylight transit and a captain with local knowledge; most charter weeks run Anegada on a Tuesday or Wednesday with a clear weather window.
A standard 7-day BVI circular week
| Day | Anchorage | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Sat | Tortola board (Nanny Cay or Road Town) | Boarding afternoon, short hop to Cane Garden Bay overnight |
| Sun | Jost Van Dyke and Sandy Spit | Sandy Spit morning swim, lunch on board, Soggy Dollar afternoon at White Bay, dinner at Foxy's overnight Great Harbour |
| Mon | Norman Island and the Indians | Cross to Norman, Indians snorkel morning, Caves at Treasure Point afternoon, dinner at Pirates Bight overnight The Bight |
| Tue | Cooper Island and Salt | Wreck of the Rhone morning dive at Salt, Cooper Island dinner at the Beach Club overnight Manchioneel |
| Wed | Anegada day run | Cross to Anegada, lunch lobster ashore at Cow Wreck, return Virgin Gorda North Sound overnight |
| Thu | North Sound | Saba Rock daytime, lunch at the Bitter End, Oil Nut Bay sunset, overnight North Sound |
| Fri | The Baths and Spanish Town | The Baths morning before 9 a.m. before the day-tripper traffic, lunch on board, dinner at Saba Rock or back to Tortola, overnight |
| Sat | Tortola disembark | Disembarkation morning |
This is the canonical BVI week. It works on 20m to 60m crewed yachts cleanly. Above 60m the Tortola side absorbs at Nanny Cay only, the southern chain anchorages tighten at standoff, and the working overnight base shifts to North Sound at Oil Nut Bay.
BVI yacht size guidance
20m to 35m. The clean fit. The full anchor inventory absorbs at this size including the Bitter End mooring field, the Baths mooring, the Norman Island Bight at peak density, and Anegada at Setting Point. Sailing catamarans (24m to 30m) and crewed monohulls run the largest market share at this size.
35m to 50m. The motor yacht working size. Nanny Cay absorbs at the 50m slips, North Sound at Oil Nut Bay and the Bitter End outer pier, and the southern chain anchorages direct. The Baths mooring tightens at 45m and most 50m yachts anchor at standoff with the tender absorbing the Baths visit.
50m to 70m. Working size for larger crewed motor yachts. Oil Nut Bay at North Sound is the working overnight superyacht slip, Nanny Cay outer pier absorbs at Tortola, and the southern chain shifts to deep-anchor positions at standoff. The Drake Channel passages absorb cleanly.
70m and above. The BVI is workable but tight. Oil Nut Bay outer slips and the open North Sound anchor absorb the overnight, the southern chain shifts to deep-water positions off Norman and Cooper, and the tender absorbs the on-shore product. Above 80m the working structure is typically a BVI 3-day inside a 10-day Caribbean rotation that boards or disembarks at St Thomas (USVI) at Yacht Haven Grande.
BVI charter cost math
| Line item | Range (40m motor yacht, February peak) |
|---|---|
| Weekly rate | $135K to $180K |
| APA (28% to 32%) | $38K to $58K |
| BVI charter tax (7% of charter fee) | $9K to $13K |
| Cruising permit (BVI charter permit, per person per day) | $0.2K to $0.5K |
| Mooring fees (BVI mooring permit and individual moorings) | $0.5K to $1K |
| Nanny Cay or Oil Nut Bay berthing (per night, February, 40m) | $0.5K to $2K |
| Restaurant ashore at Cooper Beach Club, Pirates Bight, or Saba Rock (per visit) | $0.3K to $0.8K |
| Gratuity (10% to 15%) | $14K to $30K |
| Full check | $200K to $290K |
The BVI charter tax runs at 7 percent of the charter fee and the cruising permit runs $4 per person per day on commercial charter vessels. APA on a BVI week runs 28 to 32 percent given the contained cruising radius and the short daily passages. The full check against an equivalent Côte d'Azur week sits at roughly 70 percent in dollar terms.
What we passed on
We pass on the Caves at Treasure Point on Norman Island as a daytime swim anchor on the December 20 to January 5 holiday week. The mooring field saturates from 9 a.m. and the snorkel itself runs at functional rather than scenic density. Take the Caves at 7 a.m. on the day-one rotation from Tortola or substitute the morning with the Indians snorkel on the same Norman Island visit.
We pass on Anegada on a 7-day week shorter than 5 sea days. The reef approach absorbs a full day with the round-trip from Virgin Gorda or Tortola and the weather-window requirement (clear daylight, settled winds) compresses the rest of the rotation. Skip Anegada on a 4 sea-day week and substitute with a second day on the Jost Van Dyke and Sandy Spit rotation.
We pass on Soggy Dollar Bar at White Bay on the December 31 New Year's Eve calendar. The bay absorbs 200+ boats on the morning of December 31 and the swim ashore (the bar has no dock; the name comes from the soaked dollar bills the swimmers carry) runs at functional density only. The standing alternative is Foxy's at Great Harbour for the New Year's Eve party itself and Soggy Dollar on a different morning of the week.
We pass on the original Peter Island Resort anchor at Great Harbour until the resort reopens at full operating spec. The resort closed for hurricane reconstruction after Irma in 2017 and the planned 2026 reopening sits on the operator's schedule [VERIFY: pending operator confirmation]; the anchor at Deadman's Bay on Peter's south side absorbs the swim product cleanly without the resort dependency.
We pass on the BVI as the primary destination on a 70m+ charter week. The infrastructure absorbs the size at North Sound and Nanny Cay but the southern chain anchorages tighten at standoff and the working product (line-of-sight short-passage cruising) is the BVI's strongest asset and is delivered at full quality on 30m to 60m. Above 70m the working Caribbean structure is a 3 to 4 day BVI window inside a 10-day rotation that adds St Barths, Anguilla, or Antigua.
Multi-region pairings
The BVI-St Barths 10-day one-way is the standard Caribbean multi-region charter. Board at Tortola, run the BVI rotation across 6 to 7 days, cross to Anguilla (75 nautical miles, overnight passage), then St Barths and St Martin for the final 3 days. The structure absorbs the deep BVI cruising product plus the Anguilla and St Barths social calendar. We cover the St Barths side on the St Barths page and the Anguilla side on the Anguilla page.
The BVI-Antigua repositioning week runs as a one-way down-island Caribbean rotation across BVI, St Barths, Anguilla, St Martin, St Kitts, and Antigua across 10 to 14 days. The structure delivers the full Leeward chain and absorbs the BVI as the boarding window with the disembarkation at Antigua's Falmouth Harbour or English Harbour.
The BVI-Bahamas direct cross is not practical. The 700 nautical mile passage runs against the trade winds and the working structure for a Bahamas charter starts in Nassau or repositions through Florida. We cover the Bahamas separately on the Bahamas page.
The cross-pillar question (villa or charter)
The BVI villa inventory at Virgin Gorda (Mango Bay, Katitche Point), Tortola (Long Bay, Smuggler's Cove), and Necker Island runs $5K to $200K per week at the high end. For clients who want the BVI scenery without the seven-night charter commitment, a villa stay at Virgin Gorda plus day charters from Spanish Town to the Baths, Norman Island, and Jost Van Dyke works at $2K to $8K per day. The charter is the cleaner answer when the brief is the full BVI inventory across the 32-nautical-mile spine; the villa is the cleaner answer when the brief is the North Sound or Virgin Gorda only.
The rest of the trip
VillasForKings covers the Virgin Gorda hillside, the Tortola north coast, Necker Island, Moskito Island, and the Anegada coastal inventory. HotelsForKings covers Oil Nut Bay, Rosewood Little Dix Bay (Virgin Gorda), Saba Rock, the Bitter End Yacht Club, and Scrub Island. RestaurantsForKings covers Cooper Island Beach Club, the Pirates Bight on Norman, Quito's at Cane Garden, the Saba Rock restaurant, and the Anegada lobster calendar. BarsForKings covers Foxy's, the Soggy Dollar, Willy T, and the North Sound evening map.
FAQ
What size yacht works best in the BVI? 30m to 50m crewed motor yacht or 25m to 30m sailing catamaran. The BVI is built for line-of-sight short-passage cruising and the full anchor inventory absorbs at these sizes. Above 70m the structure tightens at standoff and the working product shifts to a 3 to 4 day BVI window inside a Caribbean multi-region rotation.
When is the BVI at its best? The second half of February through the first half of March. Steady 18 to 22 knot trade winds, water at 26 to 27 degrees, full restaurant and bar calendar, and the BVI Spring Regatta calendar adding on-the-water density without compromising the cruising product.
Is the BVI a sailing or a motor yacht charter? Both. Sailing yachts and catamarans dominate the under-30m crewed market. Motor yachts take the larger share above 50m. The 32-nautical-mile spine absorbs both with short passage times and the anchorage structure rewards sailing without penalising motor.
How does the BVI compare with the Bahamas? Different products. The BVI delivers a dense 32-nautical-mile island spine with line-of-sight cruising; the Bahamas delivers a 700 nautical mile chain from Bimini to Inagua with the Exumas as the working swimming product. The BVI absorbs a 7-day charter as a circular week; the Bahamas absorbs a 7-day charter as a 200-nautical-mile section of the chain. We cover the comparison on BVI vs Bahamas charter.
Has the BVI fully recovered from Hurricane Irma? Operationally yes; the charter fleet is rebuilt at higher modern spec and the marina infrastructure at Nanny Cay, Scrub Island, and Oil Nut Bay is at or above pre-Irma capacity. Several historic on-shore venues are gone (the original Bitter End footprint, the Last Resort at Trellis Bay) and Peter Island Resort remains in phased reconstruction. The charter product itself is at full strength for the 2025-26 season.