TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Is Boaty Ball still working

The fact that someone unhooked someone’s boat from a mooring ball ( even if someone else paid for it) demonstrates a major problem with boaty ball and actions people are apt to take The potential damage and injures that action could have caused is crazy. Apparently he had no clue of the personal liability not to mention the criminal actions he committed. That sort of action puts everyone there in harms way. Just plain stupid.

It’s highly illegal to release a boat from a mooring. I just got back and observed several boatyball issues. I also got a interesting point of view from two business owners at Cooper. We were discussing how almost all the boatyballs were empty at 3PM. Every FCFS ball was occupied. They explained they were losing a lot of business because in the past those balls would have been occupied and many of the people ashore spending money. That’s no longer the case and the boats arrive as the concessions close.
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We have always stopped at Coopers for lunch on our last day of sailing. We were down in November and at 10:30 we got the next to last “open” mooring ball. None of the boaty balls were being used. Unless they get rid of the boaty balls, we most likely won’t keep doing lunch at Cooper just because it’s too hard to stop there.

Cooper is off our list rotation now...to be fair to BB (which is the major reason) other reasons include bad service and better options coming back online post Irma

As i mentioned before the "boatyball" donut hole is one reason why this is bad for businesses down there...glad they are starting to figure it out

Stunning someone would actually release a boat

We have sailed the BVI for many years, and most recent was may 2019.....

We also kept life simple and totally passed on Boaty Ball.

We picked up FCFS moorings at :

* Peter island for the Willy T
* Leverick Bay.....we reserved a slip and that worked out fantastic....taxi to the baths, and top o the baths, Back for the BBQ and dancing and mocko jumbies. actually taxi was an VG tour as well. There were open FCFS slips.

* Marina Cay
* Monkey Point

*Diamond Cay ( Arrived to find several boaty ball moorings empty, they were just taken over a couple of days earlier, Found one FCFS mooring . Several other FCFS moorings opened up a bit later. No problems.
* Nanny Cay Really enjoyed a couple of days there docked at the new marina slips. Taxi to Brandy Wine on Tortola for Erica's Birth Day. Plus at Nanny Cay friendly good times at Peg Legs, pool and beach.
* Norman Island, and the Indians ( I think the Willy T is back at Norman....good news ) Indians and Pelican, dropped of early for snorkeling . Filled up pretty quick.
* Cooper Island Beach Club
* Peter Island and returned tor last party night on the Willy T.

Returned to Conch Charters

Great trip, great sailing, great people, grand fun, good times, and narry a boaty ball for our entire two week itinerary.

Again, this was may of 2019 ( before hurricane season begins ).

Have a great time....good on ya.

Just returned home. Last week we found The Bight to have plenty of FCFS, although Kelly's Cove was full. Next day I planned to book BoatyBall for Cooper at 7:00 am, but got to talking over coffee and neglected to check until 8:00 am. Only one Boatyball remaining, which I booked. When we arrived mid-afternoon there was a boat on our ball, although with a dinghy with small family returning to the boat at the same time. We advised the ball was reserved by us and they apologized and quickly departed. The Cooper Island mooring field was completely full later in the afternoon with several late arrivals motoring through the boats looking for a ball. Several boats anchored just off the mooring field in what I understand is deep water. It was a calm night and no issues with any boats that we observed. The restaurant was very busy, food and service was excellent.

Next day was Leverick Bay where we observed both BoatyBall and FCFS available, but we stayed in the marina. It was windy and seas were a bit choppy out in the mooring field. We found Tito's personality has not improved, but he was responsive to our needs. The other dock hands were helpful. Charged us $1.50 a foot plus ice and electric (fair enough). The marina office contacted 'Tiger' to take us to Hog Heaven. Fantastic view and visibility, although cold and windy. Took some chopped pork back to our boat for later sandwiches. We found the pork to fall short of what we expected. The Upstairs Restaurant was excellent. We noticed more than a few boats were anchored over by Prickly Pear.

Next day we visited Oil Nut Marina. Very nice experience, and we had it to ourselves at lunch time. No charge for dock space for a temporary stop. There were numerous mooring balls that have been installed. I didn't ask about the charge for overnight.

Planned to meet some friends overnight at Diamond Cay. I checked BoatyBall and all were reserved. We did find two FCFS across from B-Line when we arrived in the early afternoon, all were taken by evening. We had dinner at Foxy's Taboo, where the service was okay, although the food was terrible.

We spent one night in the marina at Spanish Town. We found the marina and the surrounding infrastructure to still be in poor repair. We did have water and electricity at the dock. No ice available. Our dinner at Coco Maya was absolutely out of this world, and we spent way too much money … but had fun doing it.

We chartered with Dream Yacht Charter out of Scrub Island. The resort is as good as ever, perhaps even better. We found that DYC now controls the marina slips and has first option on all the space. Other charter boats are subject to availability upon arrival.