Road town customs, – little room to anchor and difficult with the dinghy at the ferry terminal. Don’t bother with sail clear, they have their own forms and are quite upbeat and efficient. Make sure all passport holders turn up in person.

Marina Cay – open for business and provided a very good lunch using a tent over the old Pussers shop. Cooper Island very busy and dinner was rushed, as a staff trying to turn over tables, but a great spot to relax for the day. Willy T’s is now in Great Harbour, Peter island – so much fun!. Don’t try to walk on the road at Deadman’s beach (Peter Island)– it is private and patrolled, just arrive by dinghy on the beautiful beach and enjoy. Leverick Bay is doing well, and very welcoming, BBQ on Sunday night was fun. Anagarda is still beautiful, – we draw 2.5 m and found a place to anchor just past the last green buoy.

JVD – Foxy’s is living off their reputation, expensive and not great food. Will be checking out on JVD – much easier than Road town. Sopers hole – in the early stages of recovery, Voyage Yachts staff were very helpful and Omars café brilliant for breakfast. Nanny cay – great recovery, good staff, good pontoons, but found it expensive ($227 for two nights, 53 ft yacht).

We arrived in Soper’s Hole on Feb 8th and there are no marinas open for business. You can tie up to the remnants of the concrete superstructures but there are no services at the marina. There are two businesses operating; Pussers Landing and D’At Coffee. Everything else is closed. There are mooring balls available for the outrageous price of $30/night. We have anchored between the balls with great difficulty. Mooring balls are the scourge of BVIs.

Report from Joan Conover (SSCA) – SY Growl Tiger

Made it to the VIs. St. Thomas is open for business, the BVIS..a bit grimmer.

Leverick Bay is open now..will have fuel etc. Restaurant and beach bar open..and Micheal Beans show is starting again.

Bitter End/Saba closed indefinitely, but moorings are still there.

Foxies is open, beach bars open..and Nanny Cay open. Have not heard about Village Cay Marina yet. Coopers is opening by Xmas, Normans Island – Willie T and the beach bar are open; Peters Island closed until later in 2018.

An extract from the blog of “Three Sheets Sailing” – https://www.facebook.com/Threesheetssailing/ – who lost their yacht to Hurricane Irma:

Finding the words to describe our last few days have been difficult, to say the least. We are ok though, drawing our strength from those around us who lost far more than us, day-by-day putting the pieces of their broken lives back together. Tuesday afternoon we sailed into the BVI, happy to see the islands were green once again. We cleared into customs in Roadtown and offered some supplies to the customs officials working under a temporary tent on the cruise ship pier, the shade little respite from the blistering, humid heat of the day.

Tuesday night, we anchored off Cooper Island. We watched the sunset and later gazed out at the black sky marbled with stars feeling the boat gently rock on the calm water. For a moment it felt like we were back to our life before #irma and we were at ease once again, able to forget our worries for a while.

The next morning, we pulled anchor and sailed for Virgin Gorda to check on Three Sheets. We first stopped by the make-shift office of Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour. Despite the nightmares the staff has been facing personally, they were all smiles. We handed out solar “Luci Lights,” solar rope lights, some air mattresses, bug repellent, and nets to as many as we could.

We chatted with them for a while about their homes and the storms, heartbroken to hear of their countless personal losses. Insurance has been slow to respond to those on the island and most people are living and working in damp, moldy conditions that grow worse with every rain shower. Respiratory problems are abundant.

To top it off, we already knew they were dealing with angry boat owners who complain daily about slow progress. We had even heard of several boat owners heartlessly threatening lawsuits because the boatyard wasn’t moving fast enough for them. Too many can’t conceive of the destruction faced by every single person who lives here.

It was abundantly clear as we walked through the boatyard they were working hard to get the job done. Still while we chatted with the yard manager, his phone must’ve rung twenty times, every call someone complaining to him about something. It hurt my heart to hear it. There’s only so much anyone can do right now with such limited resources and they are doing the best they can. We are, all of us, in this together and we are incredibly grateful for their hard work.

We are all #BVIStrong.

To reiterate, we base a USCG documented Beneteau 41′ in Tortola by purchasing an annual $200 Temporary Importation Permit, then going across the street with our new permit and purchasing a resident $75 annual National Parks Trust Permit and mast decal. We have been doing this for 20 years, have heard nothing about any time limits, use the boat 10 months a year in the BVI’s and have never been hassled. Last permits purchased 1/5/15.

Posted on behalf of Robbie Dinion:

The BVI are now chRging a $1 per foot fee for all vessels checking in.
They also charge $10 for each island visited
$10 for a custim services fee
$10 the first time each year you enter
And $20 imigration fee.
Plus the parks fee.
For my private vessel C NUT a 42 Bavaria with just me aboard it was $81 to check in and stay for 1 day.

Robbie Dinion
Sailingallover
Energyallover

You can purchase a calendar year long permit in Road Town at the National Parks Trust for $150, including the decal which must be affixed to the base of the mast. Caveat: Our USCG documented boat is based (temporarily, read permanently) in the BVI’s by paying $200 annually for a “temporary importation permit” good for the same calendar year. So, for $350, you could stay in the BVI’s for a year and use all of the diving mooring balls for that same period. Getting an Immigration Department extension from the main office in Road Town is no problem as long as you are not trying to work there and have the means to support yourself.