Heading to BVI in two weeks! Suggestions??!

[TSandM]

We did a crewed charter there in the spring of 2006. HERE's my dive report. We had a ball.

No problems with luggage and gear, except that the airport in Tortola freaked out over the NIMH batteries in our checked baggage, and called us back and searched the bags. They let them go, though.

Visibility was good, probably in the 40 to 70 foot range. Not quite as crystal clear as Cozumel, but certainly good enough to enjoy the dives thoroughly.

 

[capt.bill]

I'll be heading down to BVI the same time of year you did this coming March(08) for 7 days cruise around the Islands. I'd like to hear about your experience and any suggestions you might have.

regards, Bill

So i am heading out to the British Virgin Islands in two weeks for a 10day catamaran charter with the family. I am bringing all equipment but tanks of course and i am interested in stocking the boat with a few tanks and rendezvous diving most days. If anybody has experience diving around here please any suggestions would be great!! Can't wait!!
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[Kingmob3]

Home
is the dive op that runs out of the BEYC in the north sound of Virgin Gorda, they were mentioned a few pages back. I have not had a chance to dive with them, I was ill when I went to the BVI and could not dive.They will do rendezvous diving. Heres a good map of dive sites that I've found:
http://www.sunchaserscuba.com/images/bvimapLarge.gif

Have a good time, I did!
Allen

 

[DPJ]

I chartered a catamaran in the BVI's in September and dove with UBS Dive Center. I would highly recomend them. I specifically wanted to the Rhone at night. I previously had done the Cuan Law. See the Trip Report.

On this trip, I dove with one of the owners, Kathryn Brunn. She was great. We picked up a mooring at Cooper Island. Kathryn the picked me up in the dive boat for the 10 minute ride to the Rhone. We did a twilight dive, then a night dive after an hour surface interval. The dive time was limited by no-deco time on the computers. There was no rush to get you back to the boat. UBS will also provide tanks and weights for the week and give you a map of dive sites.

As this was primarily a sailing trip, I left my gear at home and used what was provided. I wish I had brought my gear and rented tanks. There are many sights with mooring balls that you can easily dive. We snorkled the Indians twice, it would have been a great dive site. The caves is an excellent snorkle only site and worth spending an afternoon. Wreck Alley and Painted Wall were two other great dive sites from my previous trip.

 

[DPJ]

thanks so much for the info guys. Cynde, i have a great book on diving BVI written by a couple that lives down there. they mention that plane, sounds cool. sjspeck, i thought i had heard that the Willy T has been sunk and can now be dived?? i was bummed, was looking forward to the waterski lined with shotglasses.

It is usually most interesting after lunch. The party crowd moves in the afternoong and stays until late. From personal experience, when heading to the Willy T or any bar for 1 drink then back to boat for dinner, turn on the anchor light and the cockpit light so that you can find your boat after dark. If you are not a late night party animal, pick a mooring ball far from the Willy T, you will rest better.

 

[Chris Park]

Capt. Bill,
Sorry just noticed this post was continued from quite awhile back. My trip last year was fantastic. One of the best ive ever had. Definitely bring gear and rent tanks for the wholel trip. I kept 5 tanks on board for myself for the whole week and that way only had to refill every 3-4 days. Just about anywhere you moor there is a decent little reef to go play around on. Some places that we moored were actually fantastic and had just about every species that we saw in other places. Im really surprised i dont hear more about people enjoying dives at the indians. Tons of people snorkeling and i was the only one that dropped down to blow some bubbles. This was the only place i saw any larger fish. Saw a very large jew fish and a very small reef shark near the underwater pinnacles. the amount of sea fans and coral at this site is amazing and the vizibility was some of the best i saw the whole trip. If you are somebody who can enjoy just poking around a coral head looking at small stuff, eels, and other goodies you will have a blast at most mooring sites. Let me know if you have any specific questions. Im in the process of planning my next bareboat trek down there right now. Chris

 

[alashas]

Chris,

I agree, the Indians are a very nice dive site, and also a good place if you happen to have snorkelers in your group. I haven't seen any of the big stuff, but plenty of fish, a diversity of coral and rock formations, and a depth varying from 50' to less than 10, with some macro as well.

Here's a dive at the Indians: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/3916073_HhDBV#227281113

and another one: http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/gallery/2454453_Upijm#128453563

You are also not far from the Willy T, which makes for quite an interesting SI, but, remember, don't drink and dive....
alashas http://honeymoon2.smugmug.com/

 

[redseal1tx]

Chris, I spent 10 days on Virgin Gorda last July in a condo at Leverick Bay.
I spent the entire time diving with DiveBVI that has a shop at the Leverick Bay Resort. Cori, Andrew, and Zoni were the best underwater tour guides for my first visit to the BVI.
DiveBVI had rendezvous diving each morning when we went out on our 2-tank dives. We would stop at one or two "Cats" to pick up a couple of divers and then head for the dive sites.
You definitely want to see the following dive sites if you can squeeze them in:
Chimney (Great Dog Island; 30-45 feet)
Visibles/POS (Cockroach Island; 40-80 feet. Pretty strong currents)
Alice in Wonderland and Ginger Steps (Ginger Island; 30-90 feet)
Wreck Alley (Cooper Island 50-85 feet).
My favorite dive was Wreck Alley. Cori and I descended to 55 feet to the top of the reef which was beautiful. Along the way we saw a Stingray gliding along the wall just above a sand area. We descended down to 82 feet into the sand to follow the Stingray. Out in the middle of the sand area was one coral head. The coral head was a cleaning station for the Stingray. Cori and I were able to crawl along the sand to about 10 feet from the coral head and watch the Stingrays getting cleaned. As one Stingray would leave another would come over our heads and land on the coral head. Amazing experience. After the cleaning station we headed over to the 3 wrecks at Wreck Alley. The viz that day was over 100 feet.
You can PM me if you have any questions regarding other dive sites we dove.

Happy Diving.

readseal1tx

 

[mor]

I chartered a catamaran in the BVI's in September and dove with UBS Dive Center. I previously had done the Cuan Law. See the Trip Report.



Color me jealous, we moored next to the Caun Law twice while we were in the BVI a few weeks ago-- looked way nicer than our hillbilly boat.

 

[TrickyRicky]

Hey there!
Great thread! My brother and some friends are headed the the BVI in one week. My wife and I just purchased a yacht from the footloose fleet and we're looking forward to poking around underwater down there. This trip is for the guys only. There will be five of us. Three divers, one status unknown and one guy who isn't too fond of the water (watched "Jaws" one too many times). At least we will always have a guy on the surface. We're bringing a hand held Garmin gps so in the future we're planning on posting some waypoints for anyone else who is going down there but isn't sure of where to go. This will be our first time down there so we may not find the best spots but if there is anything that we feel is really nice we'll be sure to share it with everyone.

Cheers!

P.S. Two of my favorite drinks down there are the"Painkiller" and the "Grog"