Karrieb:

Nauti Nymph (American Yacht Harbor, East End - STT) has a great (free) chart + good info on traveling to Tortola & Yost.

F.I.

Thanks FI- do you know if this is a GOOD navigational chart or one of the silly place-mat like ones we see all over STJ? Also, do they give it away for free- generally if the answer is yes, I'd wonder how useful it really is. But I'll be non-judgemental and will contact them. Happy 4th!

It looks like a pretty good map to me (not the place mat kind). I asked for some information last year and they gave me a map to study. I have it hanging on my wall. It provides water depth measurements as well as docking/anchorage areas and emergency numbers & procedures.

F.I.

Thanks FI!

karrieb: When you rent the boat, they will give you a chart and explain the important rocks to avoid! 😉 If you want to go to Tortola for a day, I would recommend taking a ferry over and renting a car. It makes for a pretty adventurous day. You can hike Sage Mountain, visit the botanical garden, beach hop. I am probably in a minority, but I don't think that the Tortola beaches are up to par with the USVI beaches.

If you charter a boat- go to some places you can only get to by boat! Foxy's Taboo and the bubbly pool, Sandy Spit, The Bight. For snorkeling: The Indians, the Caves, Sandy Spit. The beaches on the "out islands" are more interesting, IMHO.

Thanks East Ender, I'll keep these suggestions in mind. We did go to Foxy's via a little power boat a few years ago and had a great time but we have no recollection one way or another of charts so we shall see. What is this bubbly pool all about? I found it on an online site but with no description. What aboutt he Bight- what the heck is that? We snorkled at the caves off Norman Island, are there others? Happy 4th!

Hi Karrieb,

We did the whole week-long USVI/BVI sail thing a couple years back. I don't have the maps we used ( the captain does), but it seems to me they were easily packable (as he was in from MN). I can find out about them. I'll give him "yo" and let you know.

--Chris

Thanks Chris, you can PM me if you like! I finally signed up for that.

The Bubbly Pool on Jost Van Dyke is a natural hot tub of sorts that is best when there are northern swells coming in. I wanted to get there in the worst way but our boat trip got canceled. I have a link for you below with pictures and a description. Foxy's Taboo is actually a second bar owned by a relative that is located on the East end of the island. The boat docks at Foxy's Taboo and you have to hike to the Bubbly Pool. Sandy Spit is a little offshore island from Jost Van Dyke that is surrounded by sand. We were supposed to go there too.

http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/map_jost_van_dyke.html

Click on the underlined words, "Bubbly Pool" at the bottom and "Sandy Spit". You will see Foxy's Taboo and the Bubbly pool on the map. A picture of Foxy's Taboo is under Diamond Cay.

If you go please write a detailed trip report. I would still like to get there some day.

OK Kraushaus, the trip report is yours if we get there, sounds like it needs to be on the top of the "to go to" list! I'll check out your website link too. We tried to buzz around that general area years ago but the swells from a storm the night before were pretty rough so we didn't anchor, snorkle, nothing. My trip report will be pretty brief but highly opinionated. Personally, I don't like most trip reports so I kept my one and only one here pretty brief. But I'll do something! Thanks!