The best day this week for a Virgin Islands charter
Monday 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
- 5 kt, gusts 7
- Rain
- 19% 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 on the charter day for each stop: is it a good day to go by boat? Updated Sat 5:28 PM AST. For the detail, see VIslandGuide's weather forecast and beach conditions today.
| Stop | Sat 7 | Sun 8 | Mon 9 | Tue 10 | Wed 11 | Thu 12 | Fri 13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Baths | Not bad | Not bad | Go | Cruise light | Cruise heavy | Cruise heavy | Cruise light |
| Jost Van Dyke | Not bad | Cruise light | Cruise light | Cruise light | Cruise heavy | Cruise heavy | Cruise light |
| Norman Island | Not bad | Not bad | Go | Cruise light | Cruise heavy | Cruise heavy | Cruise light |
| Cooper Island | Not bad | Not bad | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go |
| St. John's north shore | Not bad | Not bad | Not bad | Cruise light | Cruise heavy | Cruise heavy | Go |
| North Sound | Not bad | Not bad | Go | Go | Cruise light | Go | Go |
| Lime Out STT | Not bad | Cruise light | Cruise light | Cruise light | Cruise heavy | Cruise heavy | Go |
| Lime Out STJ | Not bad | Not bad | Go | Go | Go | Go | Go |
- Request it →The BathsMonday, November 9GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →Jost Van DykeTuesday, November 10Cruise light2,910 cruise passengers in St. Thomas and 2,476 cruise passengers in Tortola
- Request it →Norman IslandMonday, November 9GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →Cooper IslandMonday, November 9GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →St. John's north shoreFriday, November 13GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →North SoundMonday, November 9GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →Lime Out STTFriday, November 13GoCalm and no cruise crowd
- Request it →Lime Out STJMonday, November 9GoCalm and no cruise crowd
How we make the call
Each day gets Go, Not bad, Cruise light, Cruise heavy 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, Cooper, North Sound and Lime Out STJ), north of St. John (for Jost Van Dyke and St. John) or south of St. Thomas (for Lime Out STT). 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 get their own call, Cruise light (orange) or Cruise heavy (red), by passengers. Tortola days with 4,000 or more passengers are heavy for The Baths, Norman Island and the day boats to Jost Van Dyke, and so are St. Thomas days with 10,000 or more for Trunk Bay, Lime Out STT and Jost Van Dyke. Fewer passengers than that, or a small ship anchored at Virgin Gorda (North Sound), Jost Van Dyke or Norman Island, is light. A heavy cruise day ranks below a lively sea, and rough water still wins as Think twice. Lime Out STJ, in Coral Bay, is too far from the piers for ships to matter.
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. Rain, heat, UV and the state of each beach are on VIslandGuide: weather · beaches today.