The best day this week for a Virgin Islands charter
Tuesday is the day for The Baths
- Our call
- Go · calm, and no cruise crowd
- Sea
- 2 ft in the Drake Channel · swell 1.5 ft
- Wind
- 11 kt, gusts 15
- Rain
- 41% chance
- Cruise ships
- None nearby
The boulders take the brunt of any north swell, and big Tortola cruise days fill the trail with shore tours.
The week at a glance
Our call for each stop, each day. Updated Fri 3:09 PM AST.
| Stop | Fri 16 | Sat 17 | Sun 18 | Mon 19 | Tue 20 | Wed 21 | Thu 22 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Baths | Go | Go | Go | Good | Go | Think twice | Good |
| Jost Van Dyke | Go | Go | Go | Go | Good | Good | Go |
| Norman Island | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go | Good | Go |
| Cooper Island | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go |
| St. John's north shore | Go | Go | Go | Go | Good | Good | Go |
- The Baths: Tuesday, October 20 (go, calm and no cruise crowd). Request it →
- Jost Van Dyke: Sunday, October 18 (go, calm and no cruise crowd). Request it →
- Norman Island: Monday, October 19 (go, calm and no cruise crowd). Request it →
- Cooper Island: Monday, October 19 (go, calm and no cruise crowd). Request it →
- St. John's north shore: Sunday, October 18 (go, calm and no cruise crowd). Request it →
How we make the call
Each day gets Go, Good or Think twice for each stop. It is our reading of two things, not a captain's or a park's word, and your captain makes the final call on the day.
The sea. The day's highest forecast wave in the Sir Francis Drake Channel (for The Baths, Norman and Cooper) or north of St. John (for Jost Van Dyke and St. John). From 4.5 ft it's a lively crossing, from 6 ft rough. A north swell of 3.5 ft or more counts against The Baths and St. John's north shore, where it breaks into the bays. Trade winds from 17 knots are breezy and from 22 knots strong.
The crowd. Cruise ships in port that day. Tortola days with 4,000 or more passengers send shore tours to The Baths. St. Thomas days with 10,000 or more fill Trunk Bay and the day boats to Jost Van Dyke. Small ships anchored at Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke or Norman Island count too.
Sources: sea and wind forecast from Open-Meteo (marine and weather models), read every hour. Cruise calls from the VIslandGuide schedule (vislandguide.com/cruise-ships), checked daily against the cruise lines and port lists.