Plan a 7-day BVI charter itinerary from Tortola: The Baths, North Sound, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, plus the 2025 cruising permit changes and mooring fees.
A 7-day British Virgin Islands charter itinerary runs a loop from Tortola through Norman Island, Peter Island, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, with Anegada as the one open-water excursion. It is around 90 nautical miles all week, almost all of it in line-of-sight, protected water — which is why the BVI is the most forgiving cruising ground in the Caribbean and the one most often given to first-time charterers.
The planning work is fees, moorings and the Anegada decision — and the fees changed materially in 2025, which is the single most important thing to get right in a BVI quote today. This guide covers how crews sequence the week, what it now costs, and where Guest Trip removes the spreadsheet stage.
The season is December to April, on steady easterly trades of 12 to 20 knots and flat, protected water inside the Sir Francis Drake Channel. Christmas and New Year weeks are committed by September or October at premium rates. Hurricane season runs June to November and most charter yachts are elsewhere.
The BVI is a mooring-ball cruising ground more than an anchoring one. National Parks Trust moorings run roughly $35 to $45 a night and commercial moorings $35 to $60; free anchoring is only outside the park areas. Balls go early in high season, so a plan that assumes a specific ball at 17:00 is a plan that ends in a long motor to somewhere else.
1. Budget the fees properly
The BVI charges in layers and the layers got heavier in 2025, so any figure from an older itinerary or brochure is now wrong. For visiting cruising vessels the permit runs around $16 per person per day, with a national parks fee of about $55 per week, an environmental levy of about $10 per person and a VISAR (search and rescue) contribution of about $2 per person. Ports of entry are Road Town, West End (Soper's Hole) and Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke, open roughly 08:30 to 16:30 on weekdays, with overtime charges outside those hours.
The bigger change is on the commercial side. Amendments effective from 1 June 2025 raised the annual commercial recreational vessel licence for foreign-based operators from $200 to $8,500 per vessel from 1 November 2025, and attached operating restrictions: seven charter entries a year, a 60-day consecutive limit for vessels over 500 gross tons, and extensions available in 30-day blocks with administrative fees. Licences attach to a named vessel rather than a fleet. BVI home-based vessels are largely unaffected. If the yacht is foreign-based, the licence position needs confirming with the management company before the season, not before the charter.
2. Clear in early and on a weekday if you can
Clearance timing shapes day one. Arriving into Road Town or Soper's Hole inside office hours saves both money and an hour of the guests' first afternoon. Where the charter starts on a Sunday, plan the paperwork deliberately rather than hopefully.
3. Build the loop anticlockwise, with the trades
The classic week runs Tortola to Norman Island (about 7 miles), the Indians and Peter Island (about 6), Cooper Island and on to The Baths and Virgin Gorda (about 18), North Sound (about 5), Anegada (about 14), then the long downwind leg west to Jost Van Dyke (about 32) and back to Tortola (about 10). Running it in that direction puts the longest leg downwind and late, when guests are settled.
each leg is drawn on navigable water by the sea-routing engine, so the overview chart guests see reflects the real route through the channel.
4. Decide about Anegada at the brief
Anegada is the one leg that is genuinely different: a flat coral island 14 miles north of Virgin Gorda, approached through a marked reef channel, with Horseshoe Reef — one of the largest coral reef systems in the world — off its south-east corner. It is also the one place a charter can lose a day to weather, and some charter agreements restrict bareboats from going at all. On a crewed yacht it is usually worth two nights rather than one, because the day trip does not do it justice.
5. Book the moorings and the beach bars you actually need
The Bight at Norman Island, Cooper Island, North Sound and White Bay at Jost Van Dyke are the pressure points. Where a ball can be reserved, reserve it; where it cannot, arrive early. The famous beach bars — Foxy's, the Soggy Dollar, Saba Rock — are part of the product for most BVI guests, so treat them as fixed points rather than options.
6. Layer the onboard programme onto the route
Provision in Tortola, where the supply is adequate rather than excellent; anything specialist should come in with the charter. Plan the ashore evenings for Jost Van Dyke and Cooper Island, the diving for the Indians and the RMS Rhone, and the spa for the North Sound day. This is a watersports week: the toys matter more here than in most Mediterranean grounds.
spa, room service and activity requests are switched on per yacht with opening hours, so guests ask for what the crew can deliver.
7. Publish it as a live page
The BVI plan changes for mooring availability more than for weather. Publish the itinerary as a guest site the crew can edit, so a night moved from The Bight to Peter Island reads as a plan rather than a problem.
Day 1. Embark Road Town; clear in; short hop to Norman Island, caves at Privateer Bay, night in The Bight. About 7 nautical miles. Day 2. The Indians for snorkelling; Peter Island for the afternoon and night. About 6 nautical miles. Day 3. Cooper Island for lunch; on to Virgin Gorda and The Baths. About 18 nautical miles. Day 4. North Sound: Bitter End, Saba Rock, reef snorkelling; spa afternoon. About 5 nautical miles. Day 5. Anegada: reef channel to Setting Point, beaches by taxi, lobster ashore. About 14 nautical miles. Day 6. Long downwind leg to Jost Van Dyke via Sandy Spit; White Bay evening. About 32 nautical miles. Day 7. Short passage back to Tortola; disembarkation brief. About 10 nautical miles
Total for the week is around 90 nautical miles with no leg over 32. Adding a second Anegada night is the most common and most rewarding change.
For visiting cruising vessels, around $16 per person per day following the 2025 increases, plus a national parks fee of about $55 per week, an environmental levy of about $10 per person and a VISAR contribution of about $2 per person. Rates changed substantially in 2025, so check the current published figures rather than an older itinerary.
Yes. The BVI national parks fee runs around $55 per week per vessel, and the day moorings off The Baths are managed by the National Parks Trust. Overnight mooring balls in park areas typically run $35 to $45.
On a crewed charter, yes, ideally with two nights. It is a 14-mile passage from Virgin Gorda through a marked reef channel and offers Horseshoe Reef, empty beaches and the island's lobster. Some bareboat agreements restrict the trip.
Around 90 nautical miles for the classic Tortola loop, with most legs under two hours and only the Anegada-to-Jost Van Dyke run, at about 32 miles, taking half a day.