TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands December 2017 trip report

I am more of a reader and not a poster on this site, but given what I have been reading here lately I thought I would post about about our latest experience in the BVI. We just returned from an 8 day charter with Moorings on a Leopard 48. There were 8 of us including my 83 year old mother. We have been chartering in the BVI the week after Christmas for the past five years and we figured that as long as we had a boat and could get provisions, we were going. We are certainly glad we went. While this year was different, it was still fantastic. The biggest difference was the lack of crowds. You could show up to any mooring field at 5 pm and get a ball. Yes, there was incredible damage, but the people of the BVI have done an amazing job of bouncing back. Our fist stop was Norman where we had dinner at the bar because the main restaurant wasn't open yet. There was a good crowd there and they were not taking reservations, but we did not have to wait for a table. We snorkeled at the Indians and the Caves and the water was clear and there were plenty of fish to see. Our next stop was Leverick where we stayed 2 nights. Considering the damage I saw in the photos back in September, I was amazed at the recovery. The downstairs restaurant and beach bar were open and it looked like the upstairs restaurant will be back soon. The grocery store was open and well stocked and I was able to get a bag of ice at the bar. Nick posted this morning that water is now available on the dock. I surprised to see that the red phone booth had been retrieved from the bottom and was back on the dock. We rented a truck and drove to the Baths which were unchanged except for the lack of people. We had lunch at the Top of the Baths. Besides our group of 8, there was only one other table occupied outside from the bar. We drove by Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor and it was pretty heart breaking to see the damage to the boats on the hard there. That said, there did appear to be quite a few boats that were still upright and intact. There did not appear to be much going on to untangle the boats though. We had a great dinner at Coco Maya which appeared to be completely restored. We did New Year's Eve at The Wonky Dog on Anegada and it was just as excellent as our past visits and there was a good crowd there. My son counted 47 anchor lights in the mooring field on New Year's Eve. We rented a truck and went to Cow Wreck on New Year's Day and had a great lunch and day at the beach. The beach there was the same as it ever was. The next day we sailed to Sandy Spit to find 3 boats anchored . None were charter boats. Someone replanted some trees there and hopefully they will survive. Great Harbor was where we noticed the biggest difference as a result of Irma. We had 2 choices for dinner: Foxy's or Ali Baba's, When I walked by Ali Baba"s I stopped in and asked if they were serving dinner and was told that depended on whether we came. We decided to go and had a really nice dinner. It was my party and one other couple who came to dinner. We walked down to Foxy's after dinner for a drink and closed the place down with a few other people at 9:30. The next day we cruised through Soper's Hole where the damage was extensive. Everything was gone or closed up except the second floor of Pussers. We went back to Norman and had the same experience as our first night and did our last night at Cooper with 5 other boats. The guy who came out to collect the mooring ball fee at Cooper said they planned to reopen in April. The take away message from my above ramblings is that you should GO. With the exception of the surprisingly unpleasant lady that greeted us at customs in Road Town, everyone was gracious, pleasant and genuinely appreciative to have tourists coming back. Almost every time I asked how someone was doing the response was we are alive and thank you for coming. One of my most memorable conversations was with Sherman while I was filling up the water tanks at the dock in Great Harbor. He was cheerful and smiling while telling me his house was completely destroyed and that business was slow. He said that he thought the locals used to take tourism for granted, but he thought that had changed since the storm because when the first charter boat arrived in Great Harbor people came out on the dock and were clapping. I kid you not, my mother, who was sitting in the front [censored] pit, had tears in her eyes listening to Sherman. Again, GO, you will be glad you did.

Hi. Since this was a trip report, I made it it's own thread, so that people could find it better. Thanks for posting!

All good to hear..I hear we now have power at our place in Apple Bay..so we are slowly getting back. It still seems that water vacations have bounced back and that it will be a while til the land vacations catch up.Like others..we have written off this season and hope to be back by mid summer. Great to hear that you had such a good time and sorry about the Immigration Officer. I did not get a very warm greeting when I arrived weeks ago and my residency stamp was two days out of date..although no one could get to the island! I was pretty much ordered to go to Immigration the next day..just not necessary and not the greeting we want for arriving guests and returning residents.

Seems that Immigration at Roadtown is as unfriendly and uninviting as always. BVI immigrations, I suggest you take a trip to Punta Canna, DR international airport and see how immigrations could be handled.

To the OP, Thank you for the trip report.

We also went down in December. Got a similar greeting to both of you: unfriendly Immigration guy and the Customs guy tried to charge us duty on our boat and car parts, which were clearly itemized and separated from taxable items. We had to pay the new entry fee, as well as the departure fee.

We spent the week at our house, as, except for Trellis Bay Market, nothing in Trellis Bay, Marina Cay or Scrub is open. Not one house on our island has electricity, nor have we been given any indication of when we may get it. We have written off this year and maybe next year, largely due to lack of available supplies and contractors.

Going down again this week to try to get things going. If we didn’t own property, I doubt I would ever want to go back to the BVI.

Thank you for your trip report!

It made me want to return as as we possibly make it back down.

Karen

ah great to hear,, we arrive in 4 weeks for our charter,,,,

Thanks for the nice write-up. We are going in April for 7 days. We thought about cancelling but the owner convinced us to keep our plans and I am glad we did.

Having been back sailing the BVI in December I agree with your views of post Irma. Everyone thanked us for coming. Yes there’s lots to be done but the key to helping revive the BVI is to visit. It’s still my second home and I can’t wait to be back in 7 weeks. It’s still gorgeous and they need us visitors returning as much as possible. AND a big bonus now is no worries about finding a mooring ball at 5 pm. That aspect adds much to your days activities.

All fabulous news! I wish we were able to go this year - nothing to do with the hurricanes but it'll be a couple of years before we can get back. If it were possible, we'd be there tomorrow.