BVI charter report - Page 2

fujijon · #11 (**permalink**) 10-23-2003

Returned from another BVI charter, this time with North South, and used some suggestions collected from this board, which help us have a even better vacation.

Simple politeness, sincere greetings and a little joking around worked absolute wonders with the deliteful BVI residents. I got invitations to see there homes, eat dinner etc. I realized I''m a guest in their country, and I should show respect to there way of life. There definitely is such a thing as ISLAND time - do not fight it!!!!
Give yourself ample time and don''t be in a rush. The Customs official in Jost Van Dyke purposely put a rude A--hole to the back of the line for being obstinately loud derogatory -so - typical tourist mentality.
Does not work in the BVI.

VIEXILE · #12 (**permalink**) 11-02-2003

I know everyone doesn''t understand. If you lived here, you might have a clue. Boycott them for awhile. Maybe they wouldn''t be so quick to confiscate boats under the guise of "no fishing license" when you couldn''t even get one when they seized the boats if you wanted to, and they couldn''t tell you how to get one, nor would they bother. With the 30# limit on fish in the BVI (one good dolphin, tuna or wahoo), you HAVE to deliver everything over 30#''s to the fisheries minister''s brother. Cute. You might get the heads. You might lose your boat.

Wega24 · #13 (**permalink**) 11-24-2003

I have to agree withMagnus

1. We also had a tall black intruder inour boat. Funny that he walked in ( 2.am) our solo guy, who thought it was one of us and jokingly pointed a finger at him and yelled BOOOOOM ..... the guy turned around , just to be in front of the second guy, who came up from the other side ( catamaran, obviouly ) totally naked with a huge morning wood. The guy was spinning around and leaped from the boat,and never stopped running... we complained to Conch Charter the next day, and they took care of everything. Upon our return ( the last night) we observed securityat the docks. They found the guy inthe meantime, comes to find mout that he was mentally disturbed and most likely just was looking for a place to sleep..... our boat was a bad choice....

we stayed 16 days and yes the attitude becomes a problem , the longer you stay. Of course we didnt let anybody destroy our vacation witht their attitude. But in all reality, its very expensive and you can expect a little more than at the local walmart dinner.

Again we had the time of our lifes, and we will be back. But its a little nerving.

By the way Conch Charters was exceptional, outstanding marvelous simply the best !

Thorsten

S/VNirvana · #14 (**permalink**) 01-31-2004

My wife and I chartered with the Mooorings in October, 2004, for 2 weeks.. The marina had a security guard on duty 24/7. The Moorings had people on staff 24/7 and everyone we saw in the area were workers or charters.

I think during the summer months the BVI''s must be packed and the natives are on overload. We experienced this in our travels throughout Europe. We then decided to travel on the off season and found that the people couldn''t do enough for you. Even the French.

We anchored almost every night and sometimes we picked up any individual''s mooring, because it was unmarked. One time we picked up an unmarked buoy and the captain of the charter vessel whose mooring it was, came over and told us it was a private mooring.

When he saw it was unmarked , he marked it again and told us we could stay the night, no charge. Before we left I rowed over to his boat and gave him a bottle of wine and thanked him. His comment was in 15 years no one who used his mooring showed any appreciation.

cgates · #15 (**permalink**) 05-27-2004

I''ll add a comment, even though my experience was last August (2003). After a charter that ended on an extremely sour note, I went into a little store and asked if they could recommend a place to stay for the night, my flight was the next day. Well, the woman there could not have been nicer, in fact started calling places immediately and asking if they open and if so, did they have anything available. On top of that there was a cab driver in the store getting some groceries, he wasn''t working. The lady and the cab driver conferred, resulitng in a call to the Da Loose Mongoose because they have a couple of rooms. There was a room available, so the taxi driver, who had his little daughter with him, offered to take me there. I, of course, accepted and when we got to the Da Loose Mongoose he went into the place, it was fairly early in the morning yet, and made sure there was indeed a room.

Once that was settled I asked him much I owed him, he said something like $3.00. I was astounded. Here is a guy that is not working, and had not intended to be doing business, goes out of his way to help find a place, then goes out of his way to get me there and then ensure I had a place to stay.

I gave him $10.00, which he said was too much. I said, that was fine I appreciated everything he did for me.

Now, neither he nor the lady in the store were what I would call "warm and friendly" but it was clear they were caring and sincere.

There was an incident of rudeness at Saba Rock when I was at the wheel and made a fiasco of trying to dock. But, other than embarassment, I probably deserved the castigaiton.

I won''t go into the ridiculous chain of events that led to the sour ending of the charter.

I loved sailing there and would say almost all of my contacts with the locals was positive.

magnusmurphy · #16 (**permalink**) 05-29-2004

I had a different encounter with a cab driver:
The airline we arrived with lost a separately packed item. It arrived a few days after our charter started while we were anchored right next to the airport off Beef Island.

Sunsail informed me that the item had arrived and that they will send it with the next cab driver that will be bringing Sunsail customers to the airport. I waited at the airport at the designated time and met the cab which was full of customers with a smile. The smile disappeared quickly however when the cab driver sourly demanded from me the full fare of a return trip from the Sunsail base to the airport before he would hand over my package. This in spite of the fact that he was making the trip anyway with a full load of paying customers, courtesy of Sunsail, and the fact that my package weighed almost nothing. My protestations were to no avail. He clearly felt that I owe him the full fare.

I paid it, but that reinforced the feeling in my mind that paradise had been spoilt, probably a long time ago...