Advanced Course

Arrive at Village Cay, Road Town, Tortola to meet your fellow students and instructor.  Village Cay also provides accommodation the night before and after the course should you require it. Once you have settled in your instructor will conduct a safety briefing and take you through the course plan including a route plan such as the one described below.  Shortly afterwards you will be on your way! A popular first stop is Peter Island where you will be able to have some lunch and a swim. We will likely head to Spanish Town (or nearby) for the evening. Every day brings a different bay: the formal course activities finish at around 5pm.  For dinner you will either cook aboard (two nights in the week) or go ashore to enjoy a local restaurant.

If you feel like it, have a pre-breakfast swim straight off the boat. Our morning routine consists of Wim Hof breathing, meditation, and 7 Minute Workout (see this for more info). You will find your sea legs as your instructor continues to teach you going through the course syllabus. Today we will be refining our reefing, attempting as a crew to be able to put in the almost mythical 60 second reef. Extra time will be spent on areas you or your instructor feels needs work.  Leverick Bay is the planned stop for tonight. The locations visited during the course can change on short notice due to weather and other conditions.

The start of the third day. Morning routine, breakfast, then a deep dive into navigation. And for good reason: without any electronic aids you will sail via Scrub Island to Jost van Dyke, avoiding the foul through Pull And Be Damned Rock, as an assessed activity. If we arrive at Jost van Dyke in time, we can enjoy a Painkiller at the Soggy Dollar and after, see what the famous Foxy’s has to offer.

Morning routine, then we get straight to work refining passage planning and discussing island weather conditions and acceleration zones. This is the big sailing day. Today, the weather and everyone’s visa permitting, we sail to St Croix, which should take around eight hours. Arriving in time for dinner, we will get some sleep.

After morning routine we have the opportunity for an explore and a light sail around St Croix, resting up before the night sail. In the evening we will work out the watch system and prepare for our passage back to the BVI. Leaving at around midnight, we will make the 7 hour crossing in different watches, getting used to changeovers, sail changes and the beauty of sleep when it’s not your watch.

Arriving from the overnight passage at around 8am, we can stop in St John for a coffee before checking out of the USVI and into the BVI. Today is a light day of consolidation, relaxing after the night sail and exploring the freediving spots of the Indians and Caves. We have a choice tonight, to have a quiet night in Little Harbour, Peter Island, or go large at the Willy T.

On the final morning we sail back to Village Cay, Road Town. The course finishes on or before midday on the Saturday. You will receive a debrief and be anointed as an ex-Virgin! Ex-Virgins receive a huge amount of benefits such as discounts on Sailing Virgins branded Zhik sailing gear and on charter rates worldwide.

We can sometimes provide accommodation for the nights surrounding your course for an extra fee.  Contact us for options.

Arrive at Kokoarum Restaurant, Le Marin, Martinique to meet your fellow students and instructor. Le Marin is near to many AirBnB and HomeAway accommodation options. Once you have settled in, your instructor will conduct a safety briefing and take you through the course plan.  Shortly afterwards you will be on your way! A popular first stop is Grande Anse where you will be able to have a snorkel and enjoy a fantastic locally sourced dinner. Every day you will moor or anchor up for the night, finish the official course activities at around 5pm and either cook aboard or go ashore to have dinner.

Wake up to the sounds of the sea. You will get your sea legs as your instructor continues to teach you going through the course syllabus. All the modules in the course outline will be covered. The instructor will take time with every student to make sure they have a good level of competency at the end of the week. The locations visited during the course can change on short notice due to weather and other conditions, but for your reference they will most likely include: Fort-de-France, Grande Anse, St Pierre, Le Marin, Anse Noir.  Students are encouraged to do their NauticEd course work before commencing the on-board component.

Offshore component. Depending on conditions we will sail to another island. St Lucia and Dominica are the two options. This involves a night passage, and dealing with the authorities for check in/check out.

On the last day we sail back to Le Marin. Once back ashore we will finish the course at the Kokoarum Restaurant. There will be a debrief with your instructor.

We can occasionally provide accommodation for the nights surrounding your course for an extra fee.  Contact us for options.