Well it aint like it used to be, even here in the US. Check out this article- http://www.business.uiuc.edu/orer/V12-2-1.pdf
Federal law, using law that was established when our founding fathers promoted freedom for their citizens, where ships were granted freedom to anchor free of charge, and the law stated that they will always have that right, well federal law still supports that right and there have been Anchorages established through most of our water ways, and the Coast Gard over-sees compliance and safety. However, our rights in many ways are slowly being taken away from us, and specically these "rights of anchorage" have been taken away. I''m not trying to get political here, but state/local governments are more concerned about "protecting" the water view of it''s land owning citizens than "protecting" your rights to anchor freely. Home owners place pressure on local government, and that is slowly leading to not only more and more restrictions, but fees that we cruisers must pay if we want to stay at certain achorages. (what was promissed to us by the founders of this country, is slowly being broken) As to how it''s handled internationaly, you would have to look up the rules there. Some places allow you to stay for free, for a certain amount of time, after clearing into their country. Some places have a 1 time entrance fee for a specific amount of time, and that''s the only fee you have to pay. As to those specific places you asked about: Fla- has both, free and duty anchorages with restrictions, BVI''s- I chartered there, and you had to pay some nominal fees to stay in those waters, but after that, anhoring was free; I haven''t looked at the other 2. From many things I''ve read in current times, this is becoming more and more of a problem in the desireable places to stay, since there is a higher concentration of boats, it bothers the locals who own big houses by the water, that you can share the same view as they do, but you dont have to pay the taxes they pay for that house.... maybe they should spend some time in the cramped, rolling quarters you''re in, and really see if it''s something to be jealous about.