When I last talked to Barbara Magill a few weeks ago we were discussing the relative merits of the Bahamas versus the BVI's. I had never been to the Bahamas (only sailed past) and she had never been to the BVI's. Barbara and her husband Bob are "true cruisers" and even filmed a series about the Florida Keys with Barbara as the guide and Bob doing the camera work. They clearly know how to explore a place and appreciate the uniqueness they find. I'm a relative newbie to the cruiser lifestyle. I cruised on summer vacations on the Great Lakes as a teenager but lived my adult life in suburbia for the most part so take my comments with a large dose of sea salt.
My experience in the Bahamas was limited to checking into the West End; sailing up to Sale Cay where we anchored overnight. Then on to Green Turtle Cay where we tied up overnight and then on to Great Guana Cay where we had rented a beach house.
First, geography: The BVI's were formed by volcanic processes (except for one) so are very steep and generally surrounded by deep water. Navigation is so easy that one hardly needs a chart on their second trip to the BVI's. The Bahamas by contrast are low lying islands with very shallow water in between them. A chart book is needed to safely navigate a lot of areas and using water color to judge depth is frequently used.
Weather: I suspect summer temps are comparable but winter is likely much nicer in the lower latitudes. Of specific value to sailors, the BVI's are in the tradewind belt so you can count on 15 knots of wind from a SE to NE direction 95% of the time.
Costs: I thought costs in the Bahamas would be much less expensive than the BVI's due to the proximity to the US but overall I'd say they are comparable, possibly with a nod to the BVI's.
Visiting People: of the (few) people I ran into in the Bahamas, several seemed to be sport-fisherman types as I suspect that is a big draw for the Bahamas. In the BVI's, almost all the visitors I've run into are charter sailboat people (with the exception of the cruise ship "sheeple" which I try to avoid like the plague).
Native people: I don't know that I can make a generalization of who I ran into in the Bahamas as the sample size is too small but it seemed to vary greatly. Language was what I would call American English. The BVI's also speak English but in some circumstances there is some Creole mixed in. Also, there's a bit of a reserved attitude in the BVI's likely due to its British roots.
In summary, overall the BVI's are a bit more my "speed" as I feel the services offered cater more to my (and my wife's) demographic. Mind you, my experience sailing in the Bahamas was limited to just a couple islands and there are several hundred of them. Also, while I typically snorkel on reefs every day in the BVI's, I didn't go snorkeling once in the Bahamas so have I have no comparisons there but I also didn't see any obvious walls of live coral as we sailed along...
