This 7-day USVI to BVI yacht charter itinerary starts and ends in St Thomas, for guests who want to step off the plane and onto the boat with no ferry, no water taxi and no second customs line on arrival. You board at Yacht Haven Grande in Charlotte Amalie, spend the first night in the national park on St John, clear into the BVI on the morning of Day 2, and run the classic loop from there: Norman, Cooper, The Baths, North Sound, Guana and Jost, with the last morning sailing home across the channel.
It only works on a yacht licensed for both territories, and not every boat is. Our guide to how USVI and BVI combo weeks work explains the rules, and BVI-based vs USVI-based yachts explains why it matters when you pick the boat. A St Thomas start also means a legal jet ski day before you cross, if your yacht carries them. Each day below is split into morning, lunch, afternoon and evening, with where the boat sleeps.
Day by Day Route
- Day 1: Yacht Haven Grande to St John
- Day 2: St John to Norman Island, clearing into the BVI
- Day 3: Norman Island to Cooper Island via The Indians and Peter
- Day 4: Cooper Island to The Baths and Spanish Town
- Day 5: Spanish Town to North Sound
- Day 6: North Sound to Guana Island
- Day 7: Guana Island to Jost Van Dyke
- Day 8: Jost Van Dyke back to St Thomas
Day 1 – Yacht Haven Grande, St Thomas to St John
Midday: boarding at Yacht Haven Grande
Yacht Haven Grande in Charlotte Amalie is ten minutes by taxi from Cyril E. King Airport (STT), which is the whole reason to start here: no ferry timetable, no water taxi, no BVI customs queue while you are still in travel clothes. Board around midday, welcome drinks, bags to the cabins, the safety briefing, and you are out of the harbour within the hour. St John is six miles east.
Afternoon: Trunk Bay
Trunk Bay on St John’s north shore is the beach in the photographs, and it sits inside the Virgin Islands National Park, which is why it still looks like that. The park moorings here are day-use, so this is the afternoon stop: the underwater snorkel trail along the reef off the little cay, a swim to the sand, and the first sundowner on deck. Bring nothing ashore; the beach charges a small fee per person and the tender drops you at the buoy line.
Evening: dinner aboard in Maho Bay
Two bays east, the captain picks up an overnight park mooring in Maho Bay or Francis Bay next door (about 26 dollars a night to the park, handled by the crew). Turtles graze the seagrass a boat-length from the mooring balls, the water is flat, and the only lights ashore are the hills. First dinner from the chef, and an early night; tomorrow starts with customs.
Overnight: Maho Bay or Francis Bay, St John, on a national park mooring.
Don’t Miss
- The snorkel trail at Trunk Bay
- Turtles under the boat at Maho
- The first sunset, with St Thomas already behind you
Day 2 – St John to Norman Island, clearing into the BVI
Morning: paddleboards at Maho, then customs at Soper’s Hole
An hour in the water before you leave: Maho is the easiest turtle snorkel in the Virgin Islands, and the paddleboards go straight off the stern into water you can see the bottom of. Then the short crossing east to Soper’s Hole on Tortola’s West End, the closest BVI port of entry. The captain takes the passports ashore; guests usually stay on the boat. Allow an hour, more on a Saturday when the charter fleets are turning over.
Lunch: on the way to Norman Island
Cleared in, it is a short run down the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Norman Island, and lunch is on the mooring in The Bight.
Afternoon: The Caves at Treasure Point
Norman is the pirate island, the one said to have inspired Treasure Island. The three Caves at Treasure Point are the first BVI snorkel: from the tender into the dark, the light bouncing green off the sand floor. Day moorings only, and the captain picks the quiet hour. If the group is keen, The Indians are ten minutes away, but on this route they are tomorrow morning’s stop.
Evening: Pirate’s Bight and the Willy T
Pirate’s Bight is the restaurant on the beach, with the trail up Spyglass Hill behind it for a sunset walk. The Willy T is the floating bar anchored off the beach, back in its original spot since 2019. Family-friendly until sunset; after that people jump off the top deck and it gets loud, which is the point.
Overnight: The Bight, Norman Island, on a mooring.
Don’t Miss
- Turtles at Maho before you leave the USVI
- The Caves from the tender
- A drink at the Willy T
Day 3 – Norman Island to Cooper Island via The Indians and Peter Island
Morning: The Indians
Leave early for The Indians, four rock pinnacles off Pelican Island that look like a mohawk from the water. One side is shallow and full of fish, the other drops away, and there is a small swim-through for confident free divers. The day boats from Tortola arrive mid-morning, so this is a straight-after-breakfast stop.
Lunch: Deadman’s Bay, Peter Island
Lunch at anchor in Deadman’s Bay, the long beach in front of Peter Island Resort, which reopened in December 2024 after a seven-year rebuild with the rooms moved down onto the sand. Turtles graze the seagrass under the boat, and the water is flat enough for the sea scooters.
Afternoon: Cooper Island
Cooper Island has 40 mooring balls and no anchoring in the field, and they go by early afternoon, so the captain heads over straight after lunch. Snorkel Cistern Point at the south end of the bay for turtles and rays, then dinghy in to the Cooper Island Beach Club: the BVI’s only solar-powered microbrewery, a rum bar with more than 400 rums, and a coffee shop with gelato.
Evening: dinner at Cooper Island Beach Club
Dinner needs a reservation and your captain books it before the week starts. Feet in the sand, boats lit up on the moorings, a two-minute tender ride home. If you want the RMS Rhone on this route, this is the evening to ask: Salt Island is fifteen minutes away and the captain can fit the wreck in before The Baths tomorrow.
Overnight: Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island, on a mooring.
Don’t Miss
- The Indians before the day boats
- Sea scooters in Deadman’s Bay
- A rum flight at Cooper Island Beach Club
Day 4 – Cooper Island to The Baths and Spanish Town
Morning: The Baths, timed around the crowds
Forty-five minutes north to The Baths, and the captain will have checked the cruise ship schedule before you leave, because the excursions all land in the same mid-morning window. The boulders are granite, pushed up as molten rock millions of years ago and slowly uncovered by erosion, some 40 feet across, leaning together to make the pools and caves you walk and swim through.
Your catamaran takes a National Parks day mooring in front. Tender to the swim line and wade in (dinghies are not allowed on the beach), ten to fifteen minutes on the trail to Devil’s Bay with ladders and rope handrails, and The Cathedral halfway along is the photograph everyone takes home. Snorkel off Devil’s Bay at the end.
Lunch: on the mooring, or Spring Bay
Lunch on board with the boulders in the window. If the tours have arrived, the captain drops back to Spring Bay next door: same boulders, no tour groups.
Afternoon: on the hook off CocoMaya
Anchor off the beach in front of CocoMaya and get the toys off the deck: paddleboard to the beach, a swim, or an hour on the eFoil with the crew spotting. If you want ground under your feet, the tender drops you in Spanish Town, the oldest settlement on the island Columbus named the Fat Virgin in 1493.
Evening: dinner at CocoMaya
CocoMaya is the dinner our captains push for on Virgin Gorda. On a calm evening the tender goes straight to their dock. Asian-Latin fusion, a step above beach-bar fare, a fire pit with s’mores for the kids, hammocks on the waterline and a DJ later on. Dinner only, Monday to Saturday from 5pm, and they handle dietary requirements without fuss. Klara’s own notes from a night there are on the island loop itinerary.
Overnight: Anchored off Spanish Town, in front of CocoMaya.
Don’t Miss
- The Cathedral at The Baths
- Spring Bay when the tours arrive
- Sunset dinner at CocoMaya
Day 5 – Spanish Town to North Sound
Morning: into North Sound
An hour north around the top of Virgin Gorda and in past Mosquito Island to North Sound, the big protected lagoon that is the yachting heart of the BVI. Every resort here was rebuilt after Irma, so what you see is newer than most of the internet says. Look but do not land on Necker and Moskito, Richard Branson’s islands at the mouth of the sound.
Lunch: Bitter End Yacht Club
Lunch on the dock at the Bitter End Yacht Club, rebuilt as a smaller, sharper version of itself. The marina takes yachts alongside if you would rather spend the afternoon here without a tender.
Afternoon: Eustatia Sound, Prickly Pear, or the spa at Leverick Bay
This is the kite and foil afternoon: the school at Bitter End takes you out to Eustatia Sound, the flat-water lagoon behind the reef where the crews go on their days off, and the e-foil rental is on Saba Rock. The quiet option is the beach and reef at Prickly Pear, or an anchorage off Eustatia Island itself, the prettiest backdrop in the sound. Leverick Bay on the west side has the spa, and from late December to the end of April the Michael Beans pirate show at 5pm.
Evening: tarpon feeding and sunset at Saba Rock
Saba Rock sits on its own tiny island in the middle of the sound, reopened in October 2021. Be on the dock at 5pm for the tarpon feeding, when fish the length of your arm boil the water under the lights, then stay for sunset cocktails and conch fritters. The Bitter End concierge will run you across if you give them your mooring number.
Overnight: North Sound, on a mooring off Bitter End or Leverick Bay, or at anchor off Eustatia.
Don’t Miss
- Foiling in Eustatia Sound
- Tarpon feeding at Saba Rock, 5pm
- Michael Beans at Leverick Bay (December to April)
Day 6 – North Sound to Guana Island
Morning: the sail west
Around two hours west along the sheltered north side of Tortola, the longest leg of the week and the one to spend on the trampoline.
Lunch: Monkey Point, Guana Island
On the mooring at Monkey Point, and you snorkel before you eat. The point is a nursery for fry, so you swim through a silver cloud of small fish with the tarpon and jacks that follow them, then out over the reef where the turtles graze, and now and then a spotted eagle ray. National Parks day moorings only, so this is a long lunch, not the overnight.
Afternoon: in the water
Guana Island is private and mostly untouched, seven beaches and a wildlife sanctuary with flamingos and rock iguanas, and you cannot land, which is exactly why the water around it is so good. Stay in until the captain calls it.
Evening: a quiet anchorage
A captain’s call: White Bay on Guana’s west side in settled weather, or Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, which sets up the short hop to Jost in the morning. Dinner from the chef, and the quietest night of the week.
Overnight: White Bay, Guana Island, or Cane Garden Bay, Tortola.
Don’t Miss
- Turtles and tarpon at Monkey Point
- A quiet night after four busy days
- Sundowners on deck
Day 7 – Guana Island to Jost Van Dyke
Morning: Bubbly Pool and Sandy Spit
An hour west to Jost Van Dyke, the island our whole team has turned into a tradition. Start on the east end: a mooring at Diamond Cay by Foxy’s Taboo and a ten-minute walk to the Bubbly Pool, a rock basin that only bubbles when there is a north swell. On a flat day it is a pretty pool; on the right day it is a jacuzzi, and your captain knows which morning it is. Sandy Spit next door is the postcard: one palm, one sandbar.
Lunch: Hendo’s Hideout, White Bay
Round to White Bay, anchor, and swim in. Hendo’s Hideout does the proper sit-down lunch on this beach, a few minutes’ walk from the crowd with the same water in front.
Afternoon: a Painkiller in the water at Soggy Dollar
Soggy Dollar Bar is named for the guests who swam ashore with wet cash, and it is where Daphne Henderson mixed the first Painkiller in the 1970s. Get a cold one, walk back into the water, and drink it standing waist-deep looking at your boat. It is busy because it is that good; Gertrude’s and One Love are a short walk along the sand if you want the same view with fewer people.
Evening: Foxy’s, Great Harbour
White Bay rolls at night, so the captain moves round to Great Harbour, which puts you at Foxy’s, where Foxy Callwood has hosted sailors since 1968 and still wanders the tables with a guitar. Little Harbour next door is the quiet version, with lobster on the dock at Sidney’s Peace and Love. Great Harbour is also a BVI port of entry, which matters tomorrow.
Overnight: Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke.
Don’t Miss
- Bubbly Pool, timed for the swell
- A Painkiller in the water at Soggy Dollar
- Live music at Foxy’s
Day 8 – Jost Van Dyke back to St Thomas
Morning: clearing out, and back into the USVI
Coffee underway. The captain clears the boat out of the BVI at Great Harbour before you leave, then it is about an hour and a half west across the channel. Re-entering the United States means clearing in with US Customs and Border Protection, usually at Cruz Bay on St John, and this is the one stop where guests may need to present passports in person (US citizens on many boats can clear through the CBP ROAM app from the deck). Allow an hour; your captain has done it every week.
Lunch: a last swim on the way
If the flight allows, the captain stops at Sandy Cay or Sandy Spit on the way out of Jost for one last swim, or lunch is on the move.
Return: Yacht Haven Grande
Tie up at Yacht Haven Grande by early afternoon, ten minutes from the airport. If your flight is early in the day, we recommend a night ashore in St Thomas instead of an early sail; our guide to where to stay in St Thomas covers the marina hotels.
Don’t Miss
- Sandy Cay for a last swim
- Passports ready for Cruz Bay
- No ferry, no water taxi, straight to the airport
