A 7-day USVI yacht charter itinerary across St Thomas, St John and St Croix, with Virgin Islands National Park moorings and BVI crossing paperwork.
A 7-day US Virgin Islands charter itinerary works between St Thomas, St John and Water Island — a compact ground where two thirds of St John is national park and the anchorages are among the best-protected in the Caribbean. For US guests it is the easiest Caribbean week there is: no passport formalities arriving from the mainland, US phones and dollars, and short passages throughout.
A USVI yacht charter usually starts in St Thomas and centres on St John, where much of the island is part of Virgin Islands National Park, with the option to cross into the BVI.
For crew it carries one rule that outranks everything else in the planning: the flag and crew nationality position, which determines whether the yacht can legally run the charter at all. This guide covers that, the park rules, and where Guest Trip removes the spreadsheet stage.
The Jones Act coastwise regime does not extend to the US Virgin Islands, which creates an exemption found almost nowhere else in US waters: foreign-flagged vessels can operate charters in the USVI. But it is conditional. A foreign-flagged yacht crewed by US citizens or green card holders may run USVI-only charters. A foreign-flagged yacht with foreign crew may charter in the USVI only if the itinerary includes a foreign component — in practice, time in the BVI. A USVI-only itinerary with foreign crew is not permitted.
That single rule shapes most superyacht weeks in these islands into a combined USVI and BVI charter, which is no hardship since the two groups are an hour apart. It also means crew visa categories matter: B1/B2 for mixed itineraries and C1/D with its own limits. Establish the position with the management company before the itinerary is written, not after.
The season is December to April on easterly trades of 12 to 20 knots. The Virgins are the most sheltered water in the Caribbean, and the USVI side adds the national park: mooring fields in bays that have been protected since 1956, with reef and turtle grass that most of the region has lost. Winter northerly swell is the one thing that disrupts a week here, closing the north-facing bays on St John for a day or two at a time.
1. Plan for mooring balls, not anchors
Virgin Islands National Park is effectively an anchorless park: only three designated areas permit anchoring, and everywhere else it is mooring balls, specifically to protect the coral and grass beds. Overnight mooring runs around $26 a night, with a reduced rate for Senior and Access Pass holders, paid through the Recreation.gov app by scanning the QR code at the fee station or by envelope at the iron rangers. Stays are limited to seven nights in any one bay and thirty nights a year. There is no park entrance fee.
Ball availability is the constraint that shapes the week. Arrive at Francis Bay or Maho at 17:00 in February and you will be moving on. Plan arrivals for early afternoon.
2. Sort the Commercial Use Authorization
Commercial vessels operating within the park need a Commercial Use Authorization from the National Park Service, with separate fees for each vessel and each type of commercial activity. This is a management-company job with a lead time, not something to discover in the week before a charter. Ask whether the yacht holds a current CUA before promising guests a week in the park.
3. Build the week around St John
St Thomas has the airport, the provisioning and Charlotte Amalie; St John has almost everything worth anchoring for. Trunk Bay, Maho, Francis, Leinster, Salt Pond and Lameshur on the south side give a week of genuinely different bays within a few miles of each other, most with mooring balls and snorkelling from the boat. Water Island and Christmas Cove — the latter with its famous floating pizza boat — fill the days at the St Thomas end.
In Guest Trip: custom saved locations with draggable pins let the crew keep their own library of park bays and reef stops, and reuse them across the season.
4. Brief the reef-safe rules
The USVI bans oxybenzone and octinoxate sunscreens; only mineral-based products are permitted. Guests will arrive with the wrong bottles. Stock reef-safe sunscreen aboard and mention it in the guest information before they pack, which is both a service touch and a compliance one. Speed near shore is kept down to reduce turtle strikes, and mooring fields are treated as no-wake zones.
5. Layer the onboard programme onto the route
Provision in St Thomas, which is the best supply in the Virgins by a distance and where US brands and shipping make specialist requests easy. Plan the ashore evenings for Cruz Bay and Charlotte Amalie, the beach days for Trunk Bay and Maho, and the diving around the Carval Rock and the wrecks. If the week includes the BVI, use the crossing as the day the guests see a change of country.
6. Publish it as a live page
A USVI week moves for ball availability and northerly swell, and a combined USVI–BVI week adds a clearance. Publish it as a guest site the crew can edit so the plan on the guests' phones is the current one.
Day 1. Embark Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas; short hop to Water Island or Christmas Cove; dinner aboard. Under 1 hour. Day 2. St John north shore: Caneel, Trunk Bay and Maho on park moorings; snorkelling. About 1 hour. Day 3. Francis and Leinster Bay; Annaberg ruins ashore; quiet night on a ball. Short hops. Day 4. Clear into the BVI at West End or Jost Van Dyke; White Bay afternoon. About 1 to 2 hours. Day 5. BVI: Norman Island caves and The Bight, or the Indians for snorkelling. About 2 hours. Day 6. Return west; clear back into the USVI; St John south shore at Salt Pond or Lameshur. About 2 hours. Day 7. Cruz Bay morning; short passage to St Thomas; disembarkation brief. About 1 hour
Total steaming is well under 60 nautical miles. A USVI-only week is possible for US-flagged yachts or foreign-flagged yachts with US crew, and simply drops the BVI days for more time on St John.
Yes, and many do. It means clearing out of the USVI and into the BVI, then back again, so guests need passports and the crew needs time built into the schedule. Check current entry requirements before the charter.
Yes, because the Jones Act coastwise regime does not extend to the USVI — but conditionally. With US citizen or green card crew, a foreign-flagged yacht may run USVI-only charters. With foreign crew, the itinerary must include a foreign component, in practice time in the BVI; a USVI-only charter is not permitted.
Around $26 per night, with a reduced rate for Senior and Access Pass holders, paid through the Recreation.gov app or at the iron rangers. Stays are limited to seven nights in any one bay and thirty nights per year, and there is no separate park entrance fee.
Only in three designated areas. The park is otherwise anchorless, to protect coral and seagrass, so cruising there means mooring balls. Plan arrivals for early afternoon in high season, when balls in the popular bays go quickly.
Only mineral-based sunscreens. Products containing oxybenzone and octinoxate are banned. Stock reef-safe sunscreen aboard and tell guests before they pack, since most will otherwise arrive with prohibited products.
Park moorings, CUA conditions and the BVI clearance attached to the day they belong to.
Custom pins for the park bays and snorkel sites you use every season.
Reef-safe sunscreen, park rules and what to pack, in the guests' pocket before they travel.
Move a night when the balls are gone or the swell arrives, without re-sending.
BVI Charter Itinerary: Planning a 7-Day British Virgin Islands Yacht Charter
Caribbean Clearance and Paperwork: An Island-by-Island Crew Guide
Hold the park rules and the BVI clearance against the day, pin the bays you trust, and give guests the practicalities before they travel.