While no direct experience with toddler and sailing we do have experience with toddler or sailing.
IMHO
A full day is a FULL day and as an adult it can be tiring but hopefully enjoyable for you and the other passengers. Assuming your child can handle, it still is going to be difficult for them and as the caring parent you will feel their pain...or they will make you share their pain. Either way, you won't get the full day of enjoyment and risk "praying" for the day to end. Not much fun for anyone.
I recommend you book the 1/2 day, enjoy the time together and take notes for the next time when you might consider a full day or know that you are never taking them on a boat again.

Another option is leaving the little one behind. This is a pretty exhausting day or even 1/2 day. If your hotel a babysitting service, I would consider that as an option.

I have to agree with Chris. I would hesitate to take a 2 year-old onto a boat with primarily adults.

Don't know of any "sailing vessels" that go to the Baths in Virgin Gorda -- time and distance generally would be a huge deterrent to a 'sailing' trip vs. power boat trip. I could be wrong? -- Don't 2 yr. olds just go to sleep when they are tired?

Okay hopefully I can give some insight. We were in STJ for Easter week. We took our 14month old on a 1/2 day sail. He did okay for a little guy. He did enjoy the sail and was very intrigued almost too much. If I had to do it over I would of boarded a boat where he could get out of the sun and wind for a bit. Having the option of a DVD player and a bed for a nap would be my selling point. What is your child personality? I have a wiggle worm that wanted to hang over the edge the entire sail. This made things a little nerve wrecking. We were not allowed access to below as it was our ships captain's living quarters. I would definately go with the half day sail. I also think as from our experience having the option of a bed below would be very helpful. Like you said you do not want to ruin your day or your hers, not to mention those around you. We know how important those naps are. I also could not leave my child behind with a sitter service, so that is why we did the half day sail. Hope this helps, and either way it will still be a great trip!

Wow,

all great insight for me.

I think we wil skip the baths do the 1/2 day sail, we can put up with anything from 9 am to 1pm. Worse that can happen is we get back to our rental post the boat trip and think we aren't going to do that again with a todler in tow.

Thank you all you all were so much more helpful then my family.

Barbie

No, the worse thing that can happen is that you spend 4 hours with a boatload of adults and your uncomfortable, unhappy, crying child.

Good Luck to you! Most people I would think would be understanding. This is after all a family destination. Families go on the boats all the time with toddlers and babies in tow. Just go prepared as you would for an outing. Like I said before having an escape like below for the little one is a great idea. It will give the little one time away and give the others peace if he/she is getting upset. We too we concerned. We did not want to ruin anyone else's time nor did we want to leave out little one behind. After all a family vacation means just that! Family does it together 🙂

Not having kids myself, my personal idea of a bad day (read H*ll) would be on a full day boat trip with my honey that has cost us $350+ and to be with a screaming 2 year old for 8 hours - I would not be happy 🙁 Having said that, spending 8 hours with a happy smiling 2 year old I think is adorable 🙂

Pia

Pia,

Good thing about family or at least mine is we love the little one too much to leave her out of fun. If she gets cranky we aren't the type to get upset. I may drink a little more if that happens, or maybe a lot. You know the best made plans can go to H_LL.

Barbie

If she gets cranky you might not get upset but I know I would especially after paying a lot of money for a special day out on the water.

Pia

We have been following this sparring, and we have a 1 year old grandchild, which we adore, however, my wife says ditto to Pia. Although we wouldn't mind the toddler getting upset, from time to time, we would not want to be the cause of a disruption of an otherwise tranquil daysail.

If affordable, I suggest looking looking into hiring out a boat just for the family. If the local companies are competitive, there may be a minimum amount that they would accept. We did this on Lake Tahoe a few years ago, so that we could privately enjoy the family during a time of celebration. Costs a little more but well worth it...

This is always a tricky subject to navigate. I too have grandchildren that I adore. But, on one or two occasions we've had to leave events or restaurants because the kid were "restless" and disturbing others. The problem on a boat is, short of swimming home, there's no place to go!!

Renting a private vessel is certainly not a huge cost issue - double at worst $$ - I have Grandchildren - I don't expect others to put up with basic infant issues.

Half day.

I just love this board. Well just to let you know. We had planned sailing with just our family. We wouldn't inflict a possible 2 year old on non family members ( not counting daughter's boyfriends). We ended up with a 1/2 day sail and if it all goes to H-ll we will just till the captiain to turn the boat around or make me walk the plank ( or both) which ever makes everyone else on the boat happy.

two days and counting!!!!

barbies

Glad you went with the half day sail. I don't think you will be disappointed. I agree and letting people you do not know watch your 2 year old. I couldn't do it either. It is just a personal decision. It makes me laugh that some people wouldn't want an infant on their charter. I can't help but think that this is a part of life. It is like saying you can't take your toddler to any public places. You run into that chance anywhere you go. How many of us have been in a restaurant and have heard a disruptive child?? I just tell myself to take a deep breath. While it may be distracting and annoying, we all have had little ones to contend with. So why in the world should anyone expect you to leave your precious little one out of the family fun. As I said before this is a family destination and most charters take families of all ages. I don't know about you you but for us to rent a charter ourselves, it was not in the cards for us. We would of had to cut our vacation short by 2 days to do this. Renting and paying for gas was almost $800 versus the $350 for all of us to get on a charter. So it wasn't feasible for us.
Now while you can't expect other to put up with "basic infant issues" 😛 you would expect others to be understanding and patient to the fact a family is taking a "family" vacation. So with that said I hope you have or are having a wonderful vacation with your "family".

This is an interesting topic.
I am in the same camp as Pia. I would be very unhappy if I paid $350 to listen to a crying cranky child on a small boat for 4 hours. In fact, I would not be happy with any child under 10, well behaved or not.
I understand that it is the luck of the draw when you book a trip that involves strangers, but I do not have children and being around them is not something that I am used to or even comfortable with.

I get that people want to enjoy their vacation as a family, but that does not mean that everyone else wants that. When I find my quiet spot on the beach, away from the crowd and a family descends upon the beach and sets up camp directly next to me, I get annoyed and usually leave and go to another beach. We all spend a ton of money on our vacations and we all enjoy them differently. Basic infant issues or even kid issues are not anything that I want to experience...at home or on vacation.

I think that no matter where we travel and how we do it, we all need to remember that just because you enjoy something, the person near you may not. Even if it is something that you think everyone enjoys.

I hope you have a wonderful time on your trip.

Very interesting. I was just thinking. Most boats/sails have a cancellation policy. We didn't cancel our last reservation in May because beautiful weather was forecasted. Well, we ran into the worse storms I have ever seen on a boat. We're sorry that we even went and this can happen to you with a child.

I really like kids, but if you think in anyway that you're going to have problems on the trip, I would bag it.