{"id":210,"date":"2009-03-09T18:15:39","date_gmt":"2009-03-09T16:15:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/?p=210"},"modified":"2009-09-07T17:41:41","modified_gmt":"2009-09-07T15:41:41","slug":"bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/","title":{"rendered":"BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your author recently had the great pleasure of being on a charter – planned for over a year – to introduce 5 families, kids and all, to the wonders of the BVI.\u00a0 In 8 glorious days our party of 27 people – 12 adults and 15 kids – sailed to all of the major islands and destinations and saw first hand the impact the BVI has on its visitors.\u00a0 We also picked up plenty of information to update pages on the boatbookings.com bvi charter page<\/a> and the yacht-charter-bvi.com<\/a> site.<\/p>\n

Over the next two weeks, I’ll be doing a retrospective blog on the trip, to point out things we learned, things to do (and things to avoid), and other information that may be helpful next time you decide to charter a yacht in the BVI.<\/p>\n

Planning the Trip <\/strong><\/p>\n

To begin, a bit of background.\u00a0 Over a year ago our group of close friends began discussing holidays that would be perfect for all of our families together – husbands, wives and kids from 6 to 16.\u00a0 Criteria were that the weather had to be warm and sunny, the destination both kid friendly and interesting for all, and we wanted a real adventure. As all of the adults were experienced on boats, we discussed whether it would be feasible to put all of our families on a charter together.\u00a0 We wanted sailboats to give the families the experience of sailing, not just motoring, and we quickly agreed we would want catamarans for all the reasons they are so popular – they have great salon space for the families, offer excellent privacy so we could put two families on one boat, and they don’t heel like a monohull so inexperienced sailors would be far more comfortable. After thrashing about the right sizes and configurations, and adding in the need for skippers cabins on each boat, we finally reserved two 5 cabin Voyage 500’s<\/a> and three 4 cabin Voyage 440’s<\/a> in Sopers Hole, Tortola through, you guessed it, Boatbookings.com.<\/p>\n

This is what this impressive armada looked like when all lashed together in Cam Bay, Tortola:<\/p>\n

\"5<\/div>\n

Flights <\/strong>
\nThe next issue was flights.\u00a0 It’s no secret that getting to the BVI, especially from Europe, can be a challenge (one of the great advantages of the BVI is that it’s not overly touristed).\u00a0 American Airlines reduced the number of flights to the BVI from San Juan from 10 to 3 a day, which makes it difficult to find a flight for 27 people!\u00a0 We finally booked all of our flights on Cape Air and bought low cost commuter passes which were much cheaper than the basic rate. So if you have a group of more that 5 people we recommend you buy commuter books through Cape Air for your next trip to Lettsome Airport in the BVI – it’s about half the price.<\/p>\n

\"ViewThe Cape Air flight from San Juan to Beef Island is fantastic – it’s in a 9 person Cessna and one child on each plane got to sit in the co-pilot’s seat.\u00a0 You see the coast of Puerto Rico, then the Spanish Virgin islands of Vieques and Culebra (pictured at right), and then St Thomas.<\/p>\n

Soon you’re looking down at Jost Van Dyke, seeing the gorgeous beach of White Bay and Great Harbor where Foxy’s is found.\u00a0 Next we\u00a0 flew over Sopers hole and could actually pick out our waiting catamarans at the docks!<\/p>\n

\"LandingThen over the length of Tortola with views of all the islands that were to be our destinations, and finally to an exciting landing, with Marina Cay glistening in turquoise waters just behind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your author recently had the great pleasure of being on a charter – planned for over a year – to introduce 5 families, kids and all, to the wonders of the BVI.\u00a0 In 8 glorious days our party of 27 Continue reading BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands<\/span>→<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,10,29,2,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bareboatcharter","category-bvi","category-catamarancharter","category-news","category-yachting-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your author recently had the great pleasure of being on a charter – planned for over a year – to introduce 5 families, kids and all, to the wonders of the BVI.\u00a0 In 8 glorious days our party of 27 Continue reading BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands→\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-03-09T16:15:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2009-09-07T15:41:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/images\/BVI\/5cats400.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Virden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Virden\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/\",\"name\":\"BVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-03-09T16:15:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-09-07T15:41:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3d58c76603946d28866966dd22962797\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog\",\"description\":\"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3d58c76603946d28866966dd22962797\",\"name\":\"Tom Virden\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c957881d80f397ef10dfd934fe2467d5dc6252c0adefe5a1356b8ba0594784e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c957881d80f397ef10dfd934fe2467d5dc6252c0adefe5a1356b8ba0594784e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Tom Virden\"},\"description\":\"Founder, Boatbookings.com\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.boabookings.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/author\/admin-2\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","og_description":"Your author recently had the great pleasure of being on a charter – planned for over a year – to introduce 5 families, kids and all, to the wonders of the BVI.\u00a0 In 8 glorious days our party of 27 Continue reading BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands→","og_url":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/","og_site_name":"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","article_published_time":"2009-03-09T16:15:39+00:00","article_modified_time":"2009-09-07T15:41:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/images\/BVI\/5cats400.jpg"}],"author":"Tom Virden","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Virden","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/","url":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/","name":"BVI Odyssey - 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands - Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-03-09T16:15:39+00:00","dateModified":"2009-09-07T15:41:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3d58c76603946d28866966dd22962797"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2009\/03\/09\/bvi-odyssey-27-people-6-families-5-catamarans-8-days-in-the-british-virgin-islands\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BVI Odyssey – 27 people, 6 families, 5 catamarans, 8 days in the British Virgin Islands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/","name":"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","description":"Yacht Charter News and Boating Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/3d58c76603946d28866966dd22962797","name":"Tom Virden","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c957881d80f397ef10dfd934fe2467d5dc6252c0adefe5a1356b8ba0594784e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c957881d80f397ef10dfd934fe2467d5dc6252c0adefe5a1356b8ba0594784e6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Tom Virden"},"description":"Founder, Boatbookings.com","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.boabookings.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/author\/admin-2\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}