TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands (BVI)
The BVI offers the most consistently ideal sailing conditions for learning to sail. Trade winds blow on the norm from ten to twenty knots throughout most of the year. More important than wind speed is the wind direction. The wind blows almost constantly from the east down in the Virgin Islands. That makes for much easier learning - sailing out of our channel into the Sir Francis Drake Channel the wind will be blowing on your left ear as you look ahead. Repetition is the key to learning sailing, and the wind helps us here enormously. The Sir Francis Drake Channel is approx 9 miles long and 4 miles wide. Blocking the Atlantic Ocean is the island of Tortola, and shielding us from the Caribbean Sea swells are eleven other islands. This geography makes for the perfect training ground - a lively 2-3 foot chop and constant trade winds. It is very sunny here (about 85 degrees), but the winds keep it comfortable.
Your experience with Swain Sailing School will be a great learning endeavor, and your trip to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands will be unforgettable! Contact us for more information regarding sailing lessons and bareboat catamaran and monohull charters in the BVI.
Traveling to the BVI
Immigration Requirements:
- All visitors to the BVI must carry a valid passport.
- All US citizens are required to have a US passport when traveling between the US and the Caribbean
Helpful links:
Travel Tips - PASSPORT
Non BVIslanders - ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
BVI - VISA REQUIREMENTS
Traveling from the US
All flights into Beef Island, Tortola require a connection in San Juan, Puerto Rico International Airport (SJU) which is a short 25 minute hop to Beef Island International Airport (EIS) on Tortola, BVI.
Airlines servicing the BVI:
If you can't find decent flight times and airfares into EIS, we recommend flying into St. Thomas (STT) and taking the 50 minute ferry over to Tortola. We recommend that you purchase one way tickets to allow for flexibility in operators and departure times on your departure day.
Airlines servicing STT
Traveling from Canada
All major airlines offers flights into San Juan, PR (SJU) and St. Thomas (STT). From certain hubs, West Jet may be a good option as well.
Traveling from Europe
You may either route in through Antigua with numerous airlines, and then into Beef Island Tortola (EIS) with a local Caribbean Airline or route in through a US hub such as New York or MIami and then into San Juan (SJU) or St. Thomas (STT).
When researching flights and airfares we recommend checking the following on line travel and ticketing sites:
