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A DPNR boat kicked all the boats out of Round / Brown Bay in Coral Bay STJ on Sunday. The home owners association complained as did competent skippers that boats were anchoring over coral. We saw it ourselves earlier that week. Their are plenty of sandy areas away from Pelican Rock that are clearly visible to a competent skipper.

Cheers, RickG

I don't have it in front of me - but the Cruising Guide recommends anchoring north of Pelican Rock (Brown Bay?) because of less swell. We tried that, found nothing but coral, gave up and moved to south side - plenty of sand, easy anchoring, no problems with swell. Not the first time a cruising guide has led me astray.

On a similar note - in November DPNR came around Great Lameshur and told a couple anchored boats to lift anchor and go somewhere else. If BVI stays closed, St John is going to have more problems with illegal anchoring and rafting, cuz there just aren't enough mooring balls for significantly higher traffic.

There is more and better sand South and East of Pelican Rock. Closer to shore / North the sand is shallow and you will drag.

Short term anchoring is normally allowed in Round Bay East of the Coral Reef National Monument. The USVIs are under an executive order due to COVID and anchoring is limited to long-term anchoring sites in addition to the STJ NPS mooring fields. (I think I got that right). Here is the list - https://dpnr.vi.gov/environmental-enforcement/anchoring-mooring/

The reality is that we have seen DPNR less than 5 times in Coral Bay in the last year. This was on a Sunday. The current work on clearing derelict boats is being done by a grant that Coral Bay Community Council received. DPNR's role in the process has been in permitting. Lime Out just got a permit for five short-term moorings. My application for a private mooring is more than a year old. The community believes that DPNR is sitting on mooring applications waiting for the Summers End marina project to progress.

Cheers, Rick

Who, What is DPNR?
Re “Cruising Guide” do you mean Doyle’s? What edition?

Department of Planning and Natural Resources - fancy words for parks dept.

I think it's Doyle's - but it's down in St Thomas and I'm here in Florida, so not sure.

Department of Natural Resources

I don't think it would be a Doyle guide. Probably Simon Scott's which was very disappointing for use in the USVI. I purchased it because it claimed to be a Post Irma Special Edition. From what we could see it hadn't been updated post Irma (still had information about Caneel Bay resort, Cinnamon Bay as a campground and restaurant, etc.). I actually knew more than the guide helped me with.

DPNR does MUCH more than parks [we actually have a Parks Dept.]

DPNR does all our building permitting, administers/patrols the water resources, does all watercraft licensing and mooring permits, issues Earth Change permits for land use, historic preservation, libraries, museums etc, coastal zone management, Arts council -- so -- not really a fancy word for park dept.

https://dpnr.vi.gov/

"A DPNR boat kicked all the boats out of Round / Brown Bay in Coral Bay STJ on Sunday."

Anybody else see this as the tip of the iceberg.
Are St Thomas and St John are prepared or set up to handle the level of charter traffic that is coming as a result of the BVI shutdown.
Already, the mooring fields in the National Park anchorages are being reported as full
and from above, the non NP anchorages are getting complaints of overcrowding and boats anchoring on coral.
With Mooring Charter Company opening operations in St Thomas.
Only going to get worse.

Boaty Ball to the rescue ???!!!!

Nobody wants Boaty Ball it restricts the freedom of individuals who want enjoy themselves without restrictions and following a schedule.