Sunsail in the BVIs - prepaid fuel

davel

davel

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I'm planning to charter one of Sunsail's new 384 cats in the BVIs this year. They're offering the option of prepaid fuel for £252 for a 14 day charter. This seems pretty high to me and I'm toying with the idea of simply paying the refuel charge locally.

Does anyone have any direct experience of the fuel usage rate of one of these boats in the tropics?
Alternatively, what would I expect to pay for diesel in Tortolla?

Many thanks
 
Don't do it

We were in BVI last year for 14 days on a 43' monohull out of Tortola and I don't remember paying anything like those sort of figures for fuel. Unless you're planning to motor all day, every day, I think they're ripping you off.

A secondary point is WHY SUNSAIL? We're considering chartering a cat in BVI this year and Sunsail are by far the most expensive. Some quotes I got for early December are:
Nautilus Lagoon 42 = £4277
Footloose 38' = £5026
Moorings =£6610
Top Yacht = £5544
Sunsail = £ 7776.

We won't be going with Sunsail.
 
Sunsail

Don't worry, I've been doing my research. Sunsail look to be the right choice for me after factoring all add-ons (particularly flights). I'm just trying to get this final detail tied down.
 
If your sailing plan is to remain within the BVI's for your 14 day holiday you would be very hard pushed to cover more than 250 miles if you don't cross your tracks to often.

So 252 pounds that is about $400 to cover 250 miles sounds expensive to me, gas and diesel prices aren't that high here.

And prices in St John and St Thomas (USVI) are cheaper than the BVI's and a great excuse to visit one the most beautiful islands (St John) in the northern Caribbean.

Mark
:)
 
mandlmaunder said:
If your sailing plan is to remain within the BVI's for your 14 day holiday you would be very hard pushed to cover more than 250 miles if you don't cross your tracks to often.

So 252 pounds that is about $400 to cover 250 miles sounds expensive to me, gas and diesel prices aren't that high here.

And prices in St John and St Thomas (USVI) are cheaper than the BVI's and a great excuse to visit one the most beautiful islands (St John) in the northern Caribbean.

Mark
:)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. We do plan to visit the USVI and return to one of my all time favourite bars - Skinny Legs in St John.

My napkin maths for fuel use are 5 litres per hour for 6 hours per day for 14 days which gives approx 250 litres (the boat's fuel tank is 350 litres). If you could help me out with the price of fuel over there I could complete my calculations.
 
You may need 2 further answers..

Is a charter boat from BVI allowed into US? Didn't used to be.

Do you ( and crew) have a US visa, if not, no go.

We were denied acess without visa in St John, but took ferry from Tortolla to St Thomas to get I90 visa waiver, good for 90 days, then allowed in. However, we were cruising rather than chartering so had loadsa time.
 
capnsensible said:
You may need 2 further answers..

Is a charter boat from BVI allowed into US? Didn't used to be.

Do you ( and crew) have a US visa, if not, no go.

We were denied acess without visa in St John, but took ferry from Tortolla to St Thomas to get I90 visa waiver, good for 90 days, then allowed in. However, we were cruising rather than chartering so had loadsa time.
Click to expand...

Hi Capn and thanks for the heads up.
Yes, we've done the trip to the USVI before and double checked that it's OK with Sunsail. We've also all got US visas (at vast expense and about half a day of personal time to apply in person at the US embassy in London). Skinny Legs had better be just as good as I remember it ! :)
 
If the US attitude was reciprocated and US citizens needed a visa to visit the BVIs then
they would be an even more enjoyable place to cruise !
 
A couple of years ago I had a Sunsail charter in Croatia and prepaid around £90.00 for fuel.
On return to base there was an admin error so I paid to fill tank at end of week, in the marina, and paid £30.00 (or local =)
Returned home , checked contract, asked Sunsail for refund of the £90.00, but they only agreed to refund the £30.00!

They really have to cover themselves for max usage, and also some marinas dont sell diesel anyway.
 
Fuel prices move around a lot here, but not more than $4.50 a US gallon (3.75ltr) at the minute about $3.00 a gallon.

When is your trip We'll meet you in Skinnys as it's my local.

I'd be surprised if you motored every where that you would be on the go about 2-4hours in any one day unless you set yourself a rigorous challenge of breakfast, lunch and dinner in different locations every day.

Anagarda is worth 2 or 3 days on its own and White bay and Great bay on Jost Van dyke can eat into any travel plans, as for St John and Coral Bay we came for christmas and dont move around much any more.


Mark
:)
 
Last edited:
davel said:
I'm planning to charter one of Sunsail's new 384 cats in the BVIs this year. They're offering the option of prepaid fuel for £252 for a 14 day charter. This seems pretty high to me and I'm toying with the idea of simply paying the refuel charge locally.

Does anyone have any direct experience of the fuel usage rate of one of these boats in the tropics?
Alternatively, what would I expect to pay for diesel in Tortolla?

Many thanks
Click to expand...

Good luck with the upcoming charter.

Don't under estimate the value of a professional organisation like Sunsail. We did a recent charter (Whitsundays, Queensland Aust.) with a 'cheaper' company, and other family members went with Sunsail.
The comparison was like chalk and cheese, right through from the standard of the boat to customer service. Like someone else said, beware of the add-ons.
The company will know what the average fuel consumption will be. For them its the same boats going to the same anchorages charter after charter.

When I returned our 43' sailing cat with twin 50 hp volvos, the refuelling guy said, before he filled it, you will have used 30 litres per day (both engines), he was right, within 10 litres.

Enjoy your holiday...
 
Not directly related but recently I hired a car and they tried to sell me a fuel-inclusive option - pay for a tank full up front and bring it back empty. They said it was a cheaper price than local garages but then I saw this line on the ticket:

Tank price @ 2.4640 per litre incl tax: 135.52

Imagine how p'd off I'd have been if I'd taken their offer and discovered that at the end of the trip!
 
As Snowleopard says, the car hire companies will offer you the "prepaid" option on the assumption you bring it back empty. My experience has been that they charge a fair price per litre BUT it is based on an empty tank for that class of car. Your particular car might not have that big a tank. And if you bring it back with even a quarter tank, it is typically cheaper to pay the company's refueling charges (even though they are based on a higher price per litre). And obviously much cheaper if you do it yourself.

For a two week charter you might need to fill up somewhere anyway. What you are buying, with the full tank option, is simplicity at the end of the trip coupled with certainty over the final fuel cost (upon return). I suspect that, unless you bring the boat back with nearly dry tanks, you will not be saving any money. In any event, any savings are likely to be limited to a few £, whereas if you fill it up yourself your savings could be up to £252.
 
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