international processing fees BVI

[docwood]

Another question-does anyone know if you have to pay international processing fees when flying directly into the BVI or is this just a fee when going to BVI from St. Thomas. By the time you add up ground taxis, water taxis and processing fee it is almost $350 a person. Holy crap. Thats a lotta mulla to cross between two islands you can see from each other. Flights to BVI directly are terrible time wise and more costly so I think yhey know they have you by the mooring balls. Considering renting out of St. Thomas and forgetting about the BVI totally...and BVI cruising fee..and fishing license and etc.Anyone just every tule around St. Thomas for a week?

[john61ct]

For me worth every penny extra to stay on the pommie side, and that's with family in CA

Flying direct didn't used to be so bad? but it has been a while.

[Zanshin]

There's a $25 departure tax at the airport in addition to the ticket price. Flying into the BVI has always been one of the more expensive airports with lots of hidden fees and surcharges in the ticket. Most seasoned BVI travelers fly into St. Thomas and then take the $30 ferry and save hundreds of dollars in airfare. Unfortunately, the ferry system leaves something to be desired as well. I've been keeping my boat in the BVI for years and they are pricing themselves out of the market. Many Americans charter in St. Thomas and then spend a couple of days sailing around the BVI.

[Tupaia]

Give the BVI's a miss, the officials were the most obnoxious bordering nasty that I have ever experienced. The standard of service everywhere was truly appalling, even a visiting local said they felt ashamed. One of the few places we would never consider returning to.

The USVI's is much better the officials were pleasant, even helpful. Cruising around the islands there are many free anchorages and good mooring balls within the National Park which are all properly maintained and reasonably priced. Facilities are superior, standards of service were exemplary and locals friendly.

No contest.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Give the BVI's a miss, the officials were the most obnoxious bordering nasty that I have ever experienced. The standard of service everywhere was truly appalling, even a visiting local said they felt ashamed. One of the few places we would never consider returning to.

Did you check in at Road Town? Known to be unpleasant. We're all waiting for one particular woman to retire. Jost Van Dyke and Gun Creek are both much preferable. In JVD I've found a sign at C&I that says "At Foxy's" and checked in there. *grin*

[Zanshin]

Unfortunately Gun Creek, which was my preferred point of entry and departure, was destroyed in Hurricane Irma and has yet to be rebuilt.

[Michael Cobbe]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Give the BVI's a miss, the officials were the most obnoxious bordering nasty that I have ever experienced. The standard of service everywhere was truly appalling, even a visiting local said they felt ashamed. One of the few places we would never consider returning to.

The USVI's is much better the officials were pleasant, even helpful. Cruising around the islands there are many free anchorages and good mooring balls within the National Park which are all properly maintained and reasonably priced. Facilities are superior, standards of service were exemplary and locals friendly.

No contest.

We fouud it competely different in the USVIs we had to wait up to half an hour before being seen even though there was nobody else there, we took books to read.The Customs and Immigration we disliked was In English Harbour, Antigua.

[Zanshin]

I agree that the USVI is good to clear into - always polite and professional. I show them my passport and get a raised eyebrow and a query about my visa (many Europeans forget that you can't clear into the USA without a visa, the ESTA and visa-free travel doesn't apply) and 30 seconds later I've been printed and scanned and wished a pleasant stay.

English Harbour, on the other hand, can be a pain; but since they've installed their online clearance system at least you don't have to fill in 4 different forms, all asking the same questions but in different order, anymore.

One can't beat the French Islands when it comes to clearances, although Dominica is almost as easy and you can clear in and out at the same time for stays of up to 3 weeks which saves a trip into C&I.

Back to the original thread - I think that Jost van Dyke is best when coming from the USVI and Spanish Town when coming from the east or south. The West End seems to always get the surly ones and I've never even attempted to clear in in Road Town.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

The West End seems to always get the surly ones and I've never even attempted to clear in in Road Town.

Sorry to hear that Gun Creek is not yet back online. That was a great place to clear.

West End gets the C&I officers who aren't surly enough for Road Town. *sigh* In RT they don't want you bringing your boat in to the docks to avoid conflict with the ferries. You anchor on the flats but there is no where to dinghy to without getting yelled at. Your choice is to get yelled at or to get yelled at.

When I was first starting to do deliveries I was first mate and cook on a trip from Chesapeake to BVI. Maybe 2005? I'd been chartering in the BVI since 1983 so I privately shared with the skipper that JVD would be a better idea than RT. He had it in his head that RT was better as close to Nanny Cay. That didn't go well. We did a touch and go at the ferry dock to drop off skipper. No lines ashore, didn't even really stop. They still yelled at him. It didn't help any that when we backed away from the dock over the flats after picking him up that the depth sounder went away and I got really stressed.

Spanish Town has always seemed nice but slow. JVD and Gun Creek were nice and fast. All the forms are online now so you can go ashore with them all filled out.

Fingers crossed that Gun Creek opens again soon.

[Cuvee]

JVD is still the best place to clear in. I've read that folks are now being charged a harbour fee at West End and Spanishtown ($1/ft). I was not hit with this at JVD during my 6 entries in 2019.

Auspicious - do you have a link to the online BVI forms? I'm pretty sure they are still stuck using the 5 page carbon copy ships manifest ($1/form) and individual C&I forms ($0.10/form).

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by Cuvee

Auspicious - do you have a link to the online BVI forms? I'm pretty sure they are still stuck using the 5 page carbon copy ships manifest ($1/form) and individual C&I forms ($0.10/form).

Here are the individual forms http://asbvi.com/wp-content/uploads/...ustom-form.pdf

The boat form used to be linked from Noonsite but that's gone. I did a quick look but don't see it anywhere else.

[Dsanduril]

FWIW we cleared in at West End late Feb 2019. C&I were still in a temporary shack on the ferry dock. Six people on board, one week stay, total cost $60, cleared us in and out at the same time, very friendly. The whole process took about 15 minutes and there were three other boats doing the same thing at the same time. The stack of passports on the Immigration desk was about a foot tall.

The only issue in the whole thing was that one dinghy tied alongside smack in the middle of the ferry dock and had to be shooed down to the end.

Couldn’t have been easier or more pleasant. Guess it just depends on who you get and how their morning went