I would prefer flying into Beef Island but I am a cheap SOB. From
Atlanta the only way to do that is American to Miami (probably my least
favorite airport) then to San Juan (second least favorite) and finaly
American Eagle to Beef Island. The cost is usually about $100/head more
and when you are sheparding 4 or 5 college boys who scatter to the four
winds everytime they get off the plane looking for the bar or smoking
area the extra stop overs can be a nightmare for the skipper.

Delta flys direct Atlanta to St. Thomas. Total time in transit airport
to boat is about half. (6 hours vs 11 hours) (Did you ever try to get
5 other people together and on the road at 4AM.) Delta does fly direct
into SJU but the connection to American Eagle is not good and the cross
line fare is even higher.

Your bags do come off the ferry at West End to clear customs but they
are reloaded and make the run up to Road Town with you. You are in sight
of them all the time. The only bad part is hauling a cooler, a duffle
full of SCUBA gear and all the regular gear from the Road Town ferry
dock to the boat. When the whole family goes we get a taxi at about
$4/head but when I have I have the college crew I make them pay their
dues and hoof it. :-)

The Mooring is OK if you are willing to pay an extra grand and don't
mind getting briefed in a classroom with 20 other skippers and then
trying to race them all to the first anchrage. When we are preping a
boat at Moorings maintenance base in Baugers Bay for delivery back to
the States it is fun to watch the Saturday and Sunday afternoon stampeed
of Moorings boats. Everybody sets sail in mid harbor with the wind just
off the port bow and then the Trades hit them beam on just past Scotch
Bank and everybody gets knocked on their side. You see some real
interesting sail handling. :-) I think a lot of them motor from that
point on, especially in the "Christmas Winds".

For a first timer the Moorings may be worth the premium but I prefer to
travel my own path. Moorings boats are always in first class condition.
Even the old ones I crew on to bring back to Ft. Lauderdale are in
good shape but while the second market boats are a usually little older,
with only a few very notable exceptions are well maintained and
generally run 20 to 25% less.

You do have to be a little more careful about checking out the current
situation in the second market. A few years back North South had a big
problem with maintenance but seems to have corrected the situation. Our
charter with Conch in '96 was a real adventure. BVIYC and TMM have been
most consistent IMHO.



BF wrote:
Thanks Dave,
Good point about the ferry. It probably won't be $45 per head more to fly
into Beef Island. Of course we'll have to catch a cab to Road Town but
basically a break even.
Main thing is so far it's 2 to 0 for BVI vs. St. Thomas.
Ray


"Dave Skolnick" wrote in message
news:FaP3b.12169$j26.4576@lakeread02...

I'll start out by saying that I hold Glenn and his comments in the
highest regard. In this case I have a different opinion.

I've been chartering in the BVI for over 20 years, sometimes three times
in a year, more usually once.

I'm not big on the ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola. Your bags do come
off the ferry and go through customs in West End even if you continue to
Road Town. Pain. And I don't like being separated from my gear. From my
area, the cost of flying to San Juan and changing planes for Beef Island
is only a few dollars more than flying to St. Thomas plus cabs and
ferries AND it gets me on the pier a couple hours earlier.

I do like The Moorings best. I came to that conclusion many years ago
when The Moorings and Sunsail were first rate and the other operations
lagged far behind. I haven't experimented, but I do have friends who
have different opinions. I have heard good things about TMM, BVIYC, and
a little operation in Fat Hogs Bay the name of which escapes me at the
moment. See www.traveltalkonline.com. I'm a good customer of The
Moorings (Abacos and BVI) and in the BVI the desk crew, most of the boat
briefers, and some of the dock crew recognize me as a regular (not the
same as remembering me by name, but not bad). I haven't been asked to do
a chart brief in years and the boat briefs have been at my convenience.
All this goes to say that I am not objective. I LIKE chartering from them.

I rarely see an irate customer at the customer service desk. Allowing
for island time, discrepancies are fixed pretty quickly. With "evening
starts" (move aboard in the evening and finish all formalities), I'm
usually away from the pier between 8 and 9 without any stress and with a
good breakfast under everyone's belt.

In the last two years, I've been out on a 3800, a 322, and 4700. Every
trip was precious. Not sure when I'll be out next, but I'm looking
forward to it already.

dave






--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com