Guide · 23 September 2026
Short hops, one weather call, and no prize for covering every beach.
Most weeks from Tortola still run Saturday to Saturday. Nanny Cay and Road Town are the usual start. The loop below is the one captains actually sail when the trade is honest — not a list of every mooring in the book.
Distances are short. The Sir Francis Drake Channel is sheltered water. The only open-water decision is Anegada. If that window is not there, you keep the week inside the Channel and the North Sound. That is still a full week.
Fly Beef Island (EIS) or ferry from St. Thomas. Clear in, settle aboard, eat on board. A late arrival is a night on the dock, not a night run to Norman Island. Provisioning is already done on an all-inclusive week. On a captain-only week you shop Friday or Saturday, or you send a list ahead.
The Bight at Norman Island is the usual first real night: caves to snorkel if the swell is kind, The Indians next door when the park field has room. Peter Island and Salt Island sit on the same short hop if you want a quieter hook. You are teaching the group the boat, not covering ground.
Arrive at The Baths before nine if you want a day-use mooring. The field is first-come and there is no overnight on those balls. Swim the caves, walk through to Devil’s Bay, then move. Spanish Town, Savannah Bay, or the North Sound is the night — not the park beach. When to go to The Baths is the clock.
Gorda Sound is settled water and a restaurant night if the group wants one. Leverick, Saba Rock, and the Bitter End are the evening, not the whole week. Top up water and ice here if Anegada is still on the table. A family that wants quiet takes a mooring off a beach and cooks on board.
Anegada is the flat coral island about a dozen nautical miles north of the Sound. You will not see it until you are almost on it. Horseshoe Reef is a protected fisheries zone. Approach Setting Point in good light, through the buoyed channel only — never across the reef. The anchorage is shallow, often in the eight-to-eleven-foot band. Deeper keels stay out or pick the week differently. Sailing to Anegada is the longer note.
White Bay and Sandy Cay after the day boats leave. Great Harbour if you want a night in the village. The beach is the point. A table is easy if you ask before you fly.
A last quiet anchorage on the west or south of Tortola beats a Friday-night marina. Saturday morning you are on the dock with time for EIS. A 14:00 flight is comfortable. An 11:00 flight means an earlier pickup.
The islands stay the same. The order follows the weather, so the week still feels like yours. The captain sets the order once you are on the water. We set the yacht and the first night before you land.