British Virgin Islands Sailing Adventure 2026

Sixteen men dead man’s chest.  Our sailing adventure in the British Virgin Islands begins.  We will spend three days at the Nanny Cay resort in Road Town on the island of Tortolla. This is prior to our seven day sailing charter aboard the Fountain Pajot 40 catamaran Jaxnjoe.  Having visited the Canary Islands we were very disappointed to find out there are no canaries there. During our visit to the Virgin Islands we were also very disappointed.  No canaries there either.  That is a joke. 

The British Vigin Islands consist of 60 islands and were first sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1493.  They were first settled by the Dutch in 1648 and then taken over by the British in 1678.  Pirates such as Black Beard and Sir Francis Drake had bases in the British Virgin Islands.  

Our daughter Alison, her husband Oscar and our grandson Jackson will join us for the cruise.  We had considered taking my son JP and his family but nine people on a boat is a bit crowded.  Getting everyone to shore in the dingy would also be a challenge.  The solution is Alison comes this year and JP and his family will come next year and Priscilla and I get to cruise the BVI twice.  

This is not our first sailing adventure in the BVI.  Back in the 1990’s we did two charters here.  I am sure we will see significant changes to some of the islands.  On our first trips we flew from San Juan, Puerto Rico on a DC3 prop plane.  We landed on a dirt runway on Beef Island.  Today we are on an American Airlines jet flying directly from Miami.  That makes it a little easier.  We are fortunate to have long time friends that live near the Miami airport.  We stayed with them last night, had dinner at their private golf club and they drove us to the airport this morning.  And we can leave our car in their condo parking lot.  Life is good!

I have another friend that previously worked with me as a yacht broker at Weber Yachts.  He and his wife lived in the Islands for several years on a crewed charter boat.  He had several recommendations for restaurants and activities during our cruise as well as providing the contact information for a taxi driver.  We will be met at the EIS airport on Beef Island by our taxi driver Yorell.  

Priscilla and I have chartered in the Bahamas, St Martin, the Bay Islands of Honduras and Greece. The BVI has a special charm that keeps us coming back. We used a charter broker MCC My Caribbean Charters for the first time.  They did the research on the numerous charter options.  We had chartered with Moorings and Sunsail in the past. After reading several non flattering comments regarding the poor customer service and poor condition of the boats I decided to try another charter company.  MCC was very helpful and attentive.  They recommended Navigare.  I had never heard of them but after some research it was obvious they were a major worldwide charter company.  My BVI friend also highly recommended them.  We will be chartering a catamaran for the first time.  All of our previous charters have been half cats or more commonly called monohulls. The catamarans appear to offer much more shared living space with many lounge chairs.  I tried to charter a catamaran in Key West.  They denied me. They said even tho I had extensive cruising experience I needed to get some experience on a catamaran before they would let me charter a catamaran.  That is not an issue in the BVI.  

The airport has a short runway. On rainy days flights are diverted to Puerto Rico.

Our arrival in EIS airport on Beef Island was beyond our expectation. We expected to meet our taxi driver Yorell at the curb after we cleared immigration and customs.  However, standing on the tarmac as we exited the plane was Yorell holding a sign with our names.  He said “folllow me.” He took us to the VIP immigration line and then through customs like a hot knife through butter. We jumped the entire line of passengers that had exited the plane ahead of us.  Welcome to the BVI.  

A situation occurred while checking into the Nanny Cay resort.  They could not find my reservation.  Of course I had the reservation number and name of their agent that made the reservation.  They found it with the correct days but wrong month.  After a very long phone chat between the desk clerk and the manager we ended up in a massive two story, two bedroom condo with 2.5 bathrooms and a full kitchen.  A reasonable solution.  I had reserved a second room for when Alison and family arrive. We will all stay in the condo. 

A rum runner and pain killer are the right way to celebrate our safe arrival in the BVI.

The swimming pool is only a few steps away from our condo.

Not only is the swimming pool just steps away, so is Peg Legs the tiki bar and restaurant.