TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands New fee’s for USVI charter boats entering the BVI’s

Morning! We are looking forward to our upcoming charter out of the USVI and into the BVI’s in June. Original plan was to spend 1-2 nights moored off St John before clearing into the BVI’s for the remainder of the week. Just stumbled onto the article below and wanted to see if anyone had any more information/clarification.

https://stthomassource.com/content/...-cripple-charter-industry-officials-say/

We’ve done the BVI’s 4 times now and chartered in the USVI’s during Covid. Was looking forward to bringing our kids to combine the two trips for a new experience…

That is just nuts..sounds like a "tariff" bluff to me...

There was a meeting yesterday, details here:
https://stthomassource.com/content/...discuss-concerns-with-bvi-fee-increases/

USVI charter operator said it is very likely BVI amendments to be enacted, and USVI boats will move to BVI bases instead.

If that’s the case I suspect you can say goodbye to sailing in the USVI. They will certainly not welcome BVI boats. There is also functionally not enough dock space for USVI companies to move their operations to the BVI. That’s before you start talking about employees, work permits, yacht registrations ect…

What about the day operators out of St. John and St. Thomas? I have a buddy with three boats in St. John. This would be a big hit for him and others - which seems like a potential loss of business if they stop bringing folks into BVI waters.

If they do it’ll be a shame. Sounds like we’re still good for our charter in June. Really liked the idea of chartering out of the USVI for ease of provisioning and avoiding the ferry’s or water taxi’s. Almost gained an extra 1-2 days of boat time that way. Hopefully they work some things out.

The listed effective date is 1 June. I suspect however something will be worked out.

Not a fan of the day boats from St John and St Thomas that descent on White Bay,JVD but,unlike the cruise shippers, they spend $$ and I can imagine all the beach bars screaming blue murder if they stop coming.At least those bar owners have a voice and vote..

George:
Good points. Not enough docks, and what about yacht registration? Would this apply to yachts registered in BVI but operating out of USVI? And the 01June date is tough as that is still “in season” with active bookings for this year…including a June booking I have!

Good point Mal. Day trippers crowds are a pain, but the proprietors will quickly feel the pain at the loss of painkiller customers.
Wow!