West End/Sopers Hole - General Info
Where is Soper’s Hole – West End?
Located in the British Virgin Islands on the western tip of the island of Tortola on Frenchmans Cay and south of the West End ferry terminal, Soper’s Hole is an idyllic anchorage nestled amongst lush green mountains.
Docking facilities are located on the south shore and there is a Customs dock for clearance at the ferry terminal. There is a bridge connecting the Cay to the main island.
Entrance Notes and Cautions:
The harbour is deep and entrance is straightforward, however, there can be strong currents here and lots of traffic moving in and out of the harbour.
Position:
18° 23’09″N, 064° 42’14″W
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Related to following destinations: British Virgin Islands, Tortola, West End (Sopers Hole)
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Highly recommended!
16/01/2020 Lighthouse Marina consists of two pontoons at the top right of Sopers Hole and is owned by Oliver Alsop (originally from UK), who is incredibly helpful, welcoming and knowledgeable.
We paid $99 a day for our Lagoon 450 catamaran “Hawkeye” plus water and electricity.
The docks are concrete and have 110v and 220v – which is charged at various rates depending on whether you have aircon or not. There is water which they keep locked until you are berthed.
You can reach Ollie on 284 340 1715 or he is usually quite quick at replying to emails oliver@admiralbvi.com
Ollie also owns the tiny but very cute Admirals Bar, which is open evenings except Sunday and Monday; drinks only but they are good. Further down Sopers Hole are two very good restaurants and some clothes shops. On the other side of Sopers Hole is the ferry terminal where you can get directly to Redhook Bay in St Thomas in the AVI’s – cost $50 return plus $20 departure tax. When returning from AVI’s there is also a $10 tax. The voyage takes about 30 minutes and it’s a 30 minute taxi ride (about $15) from Redhook Bay to St Thomas airport.
Ollie can arrange car hire ($55 a day for a small jeep) from Denzil Clyde, about a mile up the road, and Denzil will bring the jeep down to the marina for you.
We stayed with Ollie to shelter from some unseasonal winds and collect crew from St Thomas – which connects to many places in the USA.
We took advantage of Ollie’s hospitality to shelter from some unseasonal strong winds – and it was a great base to explore the island. Like most places, this is recovering from Irma, so don’t expect things to be in as-new condition – just go with the flow!
Posted by Tony on the main BVI page:
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.
Post-Irma updates from https://www.bvitraveller.com
Sopers Hole Marina:
Currently no fuel, water or ice available. No grocery store. Pusser’s Landing Restaurant and Omar’s Cafe are open.
Update for Soper’s Hole, November 2015
Facilities: Good provisioning at “Harbor Market” – owned by BVI chain Rite Way and advertise the same prices as the other Rite Way stores.
Second-floor deli with a balcony where you can take your sandwich or bakery item.
A new marine supplies store opened in 2015 at the east end of the boardwalk, small but surprisingly well-stocked with great service — http://www.sosmarinesupply.com (Next door to the just-opened Gelato shop — not cheap but a great treat!)
Laundromat is a half-mile away, left side on the way to Road Town — self-serve or drop-off, rough appearance but it gets the job done.
Free WiFi at Pussers onshore; moorings DO NOT include WiFi; WiFi available in the harbor is expensive
Update for Noonsite Soper’s Hole (West End) Tortola March 2015
For clearance, they do not use the Sailclear system, even though the BVI are listed on the Sailclear website. Current fees were for a 44ft yacht, 2 people:
Port fees $21.46 US
Departure tax: Nil on a yacht, $10 pp by ferry
Clearance fees $8.99
Harbor dues are not charged in spite of rumors to the contrary.
There are mooring balls in the harbor at $30 per night. A boat comes around at about 5 pm and collects fees. We were not charged for mooring during the day for clearance, shopping etc.
Anchoring space is very limited now
Facilities: There is a reasonably good supermarket Gourmet Gallery. SIM cards are not available but Digicel cards issued in $EC in other Caribbean countries may be able to be topped up.
Refuse disposal and water are available at the dinghy dock at the ferry terminal.
West End is a good base for an ESTA US visa waiver run, which was entirely straightforward. Costs for 2 people were:
ESTA fee: $28.00
BVI Departure tax $20.00
USVI Departure tax $40.00
Ferry $120.00
Total: $208.00
This is cheaper and much less time consuming than a full visa but is only valid for 3 months.