TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Word is Wily T being evicted again.

Still not enough mooring balls and it would take biz away from Sydney's and Abe's.

There might be a problem on Jost with the local Bar and restaurant owners not wanting the competition.
Tony Snell from the Last Resort opened in Little Harbour Jost Van Dyke before he moved to Bellamy Cay because they burnt down his business.

What about the south side of Thatch Cay across from Sopers Hole? Currently no mooring balls but that could be changed, and it is a dinghy ride away from the Soper's Hole mooring field. Very close to customs and about as close to the USVI as you could get while still being in the BVI. I'm not aware of any planned resorts for that island so nobody there to complain.

Little Thatch is privately owned...not sure how that would sit with the exclusive guests they have there..

A lot of ferries come storming through the cut and the water drops off quickly.

Hell, the Willy T could DRIVE business to the Little Harbour locations. Win-win for everybody.

They wont buy it,they like things the way they are,too much business would put a burden on their life style

This discussion should not be focussed on finding alternate locations for the Willy T. The current location is quite fine and there is really no reason that they should have to move. Land owners do not own the surrounding waters. This is simply a case of the BVI government losing sight of the importance of the presence of boaters to the local economy. The narrow views of Peter Islands owners should not be dictating the use of Great Harbor.

Anyone know the latest on the Willy T? We'll be chartering from 12/22-12/31 and I'm curious if I should expect to find it at Peter, elsewhere, or homeless? Thanks!

For your dates, she should be at Peter.

Norman Island, and the Willy T, was always or first night after departing road harbor and generally our last night before taking the boat back. Then , we heard they had moved to Great Harbor on Peter Island.
That was super and made for a shorter passage up the Sir Francis Drake Channel to North Sound, Virgin Gorda.

Yep, the Willy T was, at times, a bit fun and wild, however it did appeal to the charter sailors and the day fast boats from the USVI. It was fun, and good times, and Erica did the leap from the upper deck, but kept her bikini bottom and top well secured to her body.. Boooooo !!! Oh well, I pulled her up on the dock, and treated her to a couple of reward pain killers.

In fact, at this very moment, right now, here in our home port of Dana Point, Ca, I just happen to be proudly sporting my black Willy T, cut off sleeve T shirt that I wore to the gym this morning and later on a short hike. On the back, i has a fun lady with a beer in her hand and ..

it says, WILLIAM THORNTON......" Stewed, Screwed and Tattooed " , Not sure how many of this particular shirts are around since I was a little lucky and bought it at the bar on board, in May , a few months before Irma.

As to a new berth, or mooring or anchoring,.......

We are not sure what the solution is going to be, but may the Willy T find a new home soon , where us buccaneers, and buccanettes, can have a grand fun time.

Not sure if we will be stopping by Peter Island, this next trip , I think our plan is to leave road harbor and go directly over to Cooper, pick up a mooring, snorkel cistern point, and then go ashore to the Cooper Island Beach Club. We have not been to the
Rum Bar as yet, looks interesting, and then we very much enjoy having a have a fine dinner at the restaurant. The other plus , is a shorter passage up to Virgin Gorda Sound.

Hopefully, the owners of the Willy T will have a location all squared away soon, and the party times roaring in fine fashion once again. Those windups on Peter island are flat messing with a great tradition.

Lets hope that the Willy T will find a new home soon.

I was thinking of north sound on virgin gorda, moorings, places to anchor, and protected from the seas.

Someone said that the USVI boats would likely not come there, but from what we have seen most of them are power boats, and tie up to the docks at the Willy T. They travel fast , so the extra distance of a few miles should not be a big deal.

They may have to work with More secure , and add in addiitnal moorings.

The main biz, seems to be the charter boats, bare boat, and skippered, so the party should be on.

Would be great if the windups on peter island would just chill and leave the Willy T alone. The Willy T was a tradition with a whole lot of us, and actually our first overnight after leaving road harbor was the Bight and the Willy T. And then drop off early to
snorkel the Indians and Pelican Is.

Probably a lot more going on behind the scenes that we are not aware of.

It's more than a few miles from Norman to North Sound. If the Willy T. moved to North Sound it would be a 2 hour trip each way from RH or STJ with CI clearance. Not to mention the cost would double per person. Willy T. could make it in NS after BEYC and Saba Rock reopen. There are other viable locations such as Little Harbor JVD but there is no way the established businesses there would put up with it. A short term solution would be Sopers Hole. But when the shore facilities are fully rebuilt there would not be enough mooring space.

There is a new article in the BVI News today:

http://bvinews.com/new/booting-will...peter-island-developments-too-important/

It’s amazing to me that a BVI local would believe that Salt Island is a viable Anchorage for the WillyT!

He's obviously out of touch and too used to being spoon-fed.

If post I read previously indicating that owners of Willy T and Fish & Lime are one in the same, how bout' they just tie off to the F&L sea wall in Sopers, hang a Fish and Lime sign on her and call it a day. Admittedly, I do not fall into the Willy T demographic, but I loved F&L.

The commenter is a nitwit; that’s why he parrots this rubbish.

Fish and Lime was terrific. Drove by there last week and it’s dead. Hope it can be revived. Until Soper’s and the Customs office are up and running, it probably doesn’t make sense to invest.

If you think about this situation there is only other concusion to arrive at: Someone was paid off.
1) Peter island is at least 2 years away from reopening.
2) Peter Island Resort does not own any of the shoreline of Great Harbor
3) Peter Island's threat not to open is a bluff. They don't ave that option. Are they really going to abandon a $100+ million asset just because the Willie T is a mile away from any of their facilities?

All truedat.

There's speculation in the BVI News article's comments section about pay-offs to politicians from the wealthy landowners. While that could be a possibility, I think the explanation is likely to be less nefarious, though also corrosive to the BVI: the BVI government seems to be bent on catering to the wealthy at the expense of Belongers, sailors and relatively modest land-based guests. The airport expansion, which would only accommodate larger private jets, is another example of that. It seems like they aspire to be like Anguilla, as an example. There also could be the desire to rub elbows with the ultra-rich.

There's certainly lots of this type of thinking and behavior at work in the US on a much larger scale, where the middle class is being gutted in favor of the wealthy, so the BVI is hardly unique or distinctive in this. It does puzzle me, though, why Government seems to overlook what they already have - the world's greatest chartering "product." Maybe it's just not glamorous enough for them.

My $0.02.

That explanation is likely dead on target.

But Peter Island is far from a "rich person's playground". Until recently a large part of its clientel were Amway top producers. Definitely far more middle class than Oilnut or even Scrub Island.

I'm thinking more about the wealth of the owners than that of the patrons.

I would think that the combined economic value of all of the charter operators along with the many businesses that they support would easily outweigh the narrow considerations of the Peter Island resort owners. The government needs to be reminded of the serious harm to the local economy that will result if tñe charter clients lose interest in spending time sailing the BVIs. Now is not the time to drive out one of the charter industry attractions.

It’s a strategic decision: the clients of the new resorts will want to come mix with the hoi polloi hordes from MSC cruises.

Seriously, my guess is that the owners of those islands, long time “supporters” of the NDP realized they needed this done now, while their boys were still in power. Elections are coming, campaigns are not cheap, and a deal was done.