Caribbean Cruising Fees/Permits

[waterworldly]

Tobago Cay is like a national park, hence the cost. They are holding off the big developement people that want to build resorts there. It is one of the nicest islands in the Carribbean.

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by Tspringer

Anyplace that wants $10 per person per day for a cruising boat anchoring out is a place my family and I will most certainly NOT be going. Thats absurd. 3/5 of a months cruising budget for what amounts to a tax? Screw that.

Perhaps the entire Caribbean is just becoming an exclusive playground for super rich only. Oh well. Hopefully the South Pacific is still reasonable.

Terry

As Waterworldly points out, the $10 is a fee for the Tobago Cays National Park only. The fee is EC$10, by the way, which is only US$3.70. Most countries charge for entrance to their national parks, so what's the problem? It's an absolutely fabulous place to visit for snorkeling, hiking on it's four little islands, and just relaxing at anchor in a beautiful, reef-protected, turquoise-water anchorage. Since there is nothing there but Nature, I don't think you'd stay for a month, but it's well worth the fee to experience it for a few days.

Clearing into the Grenadines themselves only costs about US$14 for my 38 footer. That's cheap, cheap, cheap for what you get! My wife and I have spent about 3 months total in the Grenadines, and will be going back again this winter. It's a terrific area to cruise.

Concern about customs/immigration fees in the islands is mis-placed, in my opinion. Last spring, I paid US$7 to enter French St. Martin, and then US$100 for a fabulous dinner for two at a sophisticated French restaurant. Heck, that's way less that the tip for the waiter. Considering all the other expenses of operating and maintaining a cruising yacht, entry fees are peanuts.

[Seeratlas]

Seems like I heard from someone that the entry into Bahamas has gone from 100.00 to 300.00 in just the last season...anyone know if that's the case?

add that to the recent case in BVI where a recreational sailor and his guest were merely motoring thru dragging a single fishing line and was fined something around 40k?..

seer

[Vasco]

The Bahamas fee for boats over 35 ft ($300) went up a few years ago. When I first started cruising there it was free except $10 for a fishing license. Then they upped it to $100 and now they have different fees for different sized boats. The fishing license is now included in the fee. Most cruisers stay there a few months so I think it's still worth it. Unfortunately the out islands where the cruising is best gets little if any of these fees. Most of the money in the Bahamas seems to stick to Nassau. I think the fee has made a lot of summer cruisers who used to nip over for a week or so think twice.

[conrad]

Fee's EC What is EC not Euro's sorry to be so unaware but sometimes these forums are a bit confusine. Also i am very frugal but 310 a year for the BVI is really not all that bad in these current times. I also think that if you are not from the US and try to enter and travel here legally you may be very surprised at the hassels proof of funds necessary.......... According to a couple of my Brasilian friends . Ahhhhhhhh yes more sailing and less typing and if NECESSARy ........PIE RA C

[Vasco]

BVI recently fined an American couple $30,000 for cruising and fishing in their waters without reporting in. They were in a trawler which BVI called "an unlicensed fishing boat". I think they tried to throw in some jail time too but I may be wrong.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by conrad

Fee's EC What is EC not Euro's sorry to be so unaware but sometimes these forums are a bit confusine.

ECs are Eastern Caribbean Dollars. One American Dollar equals 2.60719 EC (at the moment).

TaoJones

[Reality Check]

Originally Posted by Vasco

BVI recently fined an American couple $30,000 for cruising and fishing in their waters without reporting in. They were in a trawler which BVI called "an unlicensed fishing boat". I think they tried to throw in some jail time too but I may be wrong.

The case your talking about has many more factors than you disclosed. One is this was not the first time the exact same people were caught doing the same thing and they were in a Trawler. While they were using fishing lines and not nets the BVI decided to make an example of them for repeated violations and an additional less reported issue was the encounter was less than guest like on the part of the violators... piss off a marine patrol boat and you will normally get more than you bargained for... I would think alcohol was probably involved... as the disregard toward the national boundaries and its representatives not a good idea and most sober people would not go that way.

BVI and USVI do have issues over National boundaries regarding resources. Part of this is due to the BVI governments frequent swings toward support of the " Belongers" vs everyone else. Too long of a story to get into here but one imported from larger islands and with a history of former slave ancestry vs non slave ancestry.

The most recent BVI leadership has indicated he will attempt to work with the Judicial branch and USVI officials to improve the cross country regulations.

Point is in much of the Carib... it is just a short sail from one nation to another. Know what the rules are BEFORE you enter their national waters and resources can be a big thing but all rules are clearly available to anyone who wishes to find them. They are covered in most Cruise Guides but things do change so you need to be up to date... ask... when you clear in.

Personally I'm looking forward to my 15 Dec to 15 Feb cruise in the Spanish/US and British Virgin Islands. The area is always one of the very best cruising destinations in the world.... even according to Christopher Columbus.

[Vasco]

Just checked the story out. The fine was $46,000 and the guy is still in jail, a one year sentence since he couldn't pay the fine.
Virgin Islands, Virgin Islands Newspaper, A Pulitzer Prize Winning Newspaper, Virgin Islands Guide, Virgin Islands Info

[Tspringer]

Hud3


Thanks for the clarification. Paying the fee for a few days to enjoy a beautiful national park is fine, no problem. I took the prior post to mean that to visit Trinidad or the Grenadines you had to pay $10 per person per day.

The high BVI fees don't bother me as I doubt we would go there anyhow. The BVI's are a huge tourist trap. Dinner and a couple of drinks at Foxy's? Figure minimum $100 per person. Crazy. I guess its fine if your on a week long splurge of a charter vacation but if cruising there are too many other places just as sweet and not crazy expensive. Besides, the way the BVI treats cruisers turns me off (I have read a good bit about the recent famous "fishing" case and the corruption in the BVI Govt.).


Reality Check: Where are you getting the info that the case in point in the BVI was repeat offenders? Thats not at all what I have read.



Terry

[Hud3]

Terry,

I hear ya! The BVI is a great place for charterers, but if you're on your own boat and can go anywhere you want, there are much more rewarding places to drop the hook.

Dominica, for example, is the opposite of the BVI. No fancy restaurants, no mooring fields full of boats, just Nature at it's best. By the way, I heard they've changed their clearance policies there to allow yachts to clear in and out at the same time, if staying for two weeks or less. Really trying to make it easy on the captain and attract more yachts.

[timentide]

Have just spent 2 years in The Virgin Islands , The islands to the west were called Danish West Indies before US decided to change the name to United States Virgin Islands. The Virgin Islands have always been called the Virgin Islands and have never been renamed the British Virgin Islands. Anyway back to the thread and to say that the fees quoted above are for charter boats and their guests. As a private boat there is minimal entry fee and a $10 departure fee. Hardly bankrupting!! A stay of 30 days is allowed. If you want to stay longer then you can temp. import the boat for a year for $200. Seems reasonable to me. To not visit the Virgin Islands would be a shame. What other country bans jet-skis, MacDonalds, KFC and other US fast food outlets and doesn't extend their airport thus preventing large jets landing and overcrowding the place with mass tourism. Each to there own but we rather enjoyed the stay and are now back cruising the southern Caribbean enjoying a different experience.

[Hud3]

Timentide,

You're right. The Virgins are really worth seeing. I'd include the Spanish Virgins, too. But, for me, after several times there, it just gets too crowded and you have to find a mooring, if you want one, by 2pm, or you could be frozen out.

[GordMay]

The first residents of the present Virgin Islands (both U.S. and British) were the Ciboney, Caribs, and Arawaks.

In 1493, Christopher Columbus visited these islands. He had been searching for a route to India and consequently he called the people he encountered Indians. Columbus named the beautiful islands 'The Virgins' in reference to the legendary beauty of St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins.
The Virgin Islands were named "Santa Ursula y Las Once Mil Virgenes" by Columbus after the 11,000 beautiful virgin followers of St. Ursula.

It was a Dutch privateer named Joost van Dyk who organised the first permanent settlements in the Territory in Soper's Hole, on the West end of Tortola (prior to 1615). The British Virgin Islands came under British control in 1672.

Although the islands, which presently form the British Virgin Islands, have been under British control since 1672, a number of other islands* came under the control of the British Crown (some more than once) during the subsequent period, but no longer form part of the Territory. At the time the British took control of the territory, the following islands were considered part of the Virgin Islands:
* Danish West Indies: St. Thomas, St. John, & St. Croix

The Danish West Indies consisted of the Caribbean islands St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The colony was sold (for US$25 million ?) to the United States in 1917, since which time the three islands have been known as the United States Virgin Islands.

[timentide]

As I said there is no such place as The British Virgin Islands, only The Virgin Islands and The United States Virgin Islands.