What is going on in the BVIs?

[DEAN2140]

Anyone need a good class action lawyer? You may have to file your claim in Mauritius, where some other charter companies "reside".

[jmschmidt]

Personally, I am not shocked at this. I owned a charter boat in the BVI for several years. I had no trouble keeping her compliant with the local BVI requirements, or the British "Yellow Code" for commercial vessels as well as the USCG regs since she was US flagged. It was not rocket science. I can't imagine that a company like The Moorings fell out of compliance.

I suspect this is the local cops and government bureaucrats throwing their weight around to justify their salaries. Covid gave them the excuse to manage to nearly destroy the best and most profitable charter venue in the western hemisphere, maybe in the world.

It will be interesting to see who picks up the baton next. Somewhere else in the Caribbean, French Polynesia (I had a boat there too), Fiji...Tonga could use the income. The Med has already priced and regulated itself out of the business. Maybe Panama and Central America. Bocas sounds good but that whole part of the world will have to clean up their piracy issue first.

[contrail]

Originally Posted by Saleen411

Yea.....this is strange.

Maybe Contrail will chime in with "the rest of the story"

I am in Florida, at the moment, so I am not yet up to date with all the details, and hesitate to comment on what will turn out to be a complex situation. But, from my experience, I will offer a few thoughts, in no particular order, that are, at least, part of "the rest of the story":


With regard to licensing in the BVI: many charter boats are flagged in the US or wherever their owners come from. This has always been fine; I flagged mine in the US for years and years. But, technically, that meant that a boat would not meet the very narrow definition of " BVI based", which is what it actually was, and which, for many reasons, legal, financial and regulatory, one would want to be. The charter industry, itself, pursued this and eventually got the law changed so that you could be foreign flagged but BVI based. I was one of the vocal proponents of this, over a number of years, and the Commissioner of Customs, the same Wade Smith quoted in all the articles, said,"Don't worry, we all know you are BVI based, you have been here forever!" Well, then VISR (the Virgin Islands Shipping Registry) reared its ugly head, as it has often done. Understand that they have a very narrow understanding of commercial realities and, more so than Customs, always are looking for ways to up revenue. Once upon a time, they drew up a new regulation, released it in early December, mandating compliance by that January 1. This would have required most of the 900 odd charter boats to be hauled out in that month, an impossibility even if it were not the busiest month of the year for chartering! This difficulty never occurred to them. Fortunately, after quite a battle, and with intervention at the highest level, they relented. Anyway, the principal vehicle for VISR to raise funds is by getting boats to flag (register) in the BVI, and they constantly scheme to achieve this. So, when the whole issue of many foreigners wanting to flag their boats elsewhere came up, again, their answer was, "why not dually flag a boat, just like people can have dual passports?" It took some very careful explanation that countries that take registration seriously, rather than as purely a moneymaker, won't accept that. Just check with the USCG, which VISR had not done.



Well, not to be deterred, in the past year, they got the requirements for being BVI based changed back to where you could not be foreign flagged, unless you got a pricey exemption. So, there will have been a huge backlog of boats struggling to get their exemptions, with a shortage of available gear needed to become compliant with the new ruling. I am not sure if a new VISR compliance survey will have been required, but if so, that would have caused a second back-up. But it has always been the habit of the BVI to schedule things at the last minute! So rather than change a rule at the beginning of the off season, when people have time to become compliant, they tend to release new regs right at the beginning of the season, when it becomes a struggle. In my many years of meeting with various parts of the BVI Government, when they called for a meeting, it was never more than two days in advance. Not once. Even the massive ceremony to grant about 1500 foreigners citizenship status as "belongers", for which some had waited for decades, was announced on a Friday, the gathering being on the following Monday. Of course, attendance was mandatory! This was in 2018 or 2019. So, it is important to understand that while the Government moves slowly, it expects everyone else to drop everything when it asks them to.



But I digress! Understand that the industry, mostly self policed, has had an incredible safety record for decades. I do not think there has been a single loss of life or property, due to a lack of propane detectors, bilge alarms, insufficient number of life jackets or fire extinguishers or any of the other things that VISR and Customs were complaining about, and frankly, most of the boats come standard with exactly those things and many more. The BVI regulations (part of the UK's MCA regulations) have always been much stricter than those for a US uninspected vessel.



When Customs says they "worked closely" with the charter companies, I do not know exactly what that means. I do know that when the industry has asked for meetings with Customs, they have not always been receptive. And, the current Government trumpeted, throughout the peak Covid period of March to December of 2021, that it was working closely with the marine sector and had a plan for the re-opening. This was an absolute fabrication; the industry has two very active trade associations, and neither was able to get a single meeting with Government, for almost the whole time. Although I was no longer on the Board of either association, I was able to get a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition, but that was a poor second. And, when things were re-opened, the resulting utter chaos completely contradicted any idea of having a plan! The Premier still gets ridiculed for that little episode.



I have always been in favour of strong regulation, well thought out, transparent, and applicable to all, and I have supported the BVI Government in that. It would be good for the whole Territory, not to mention the charter industry. But, when I read the current reports and put them in the context of my own experience, I can only think that a good bit of the blame probably rests with the Government and its agencies. Certainly, enforcement could have been done without causing such dismay to a huge number of tourists.


Now, a little on the other side of the coin, regarding issues like importation, commercial licensing and other bureaucratic (and money making) items: three charter companies were mentioned, Moorings/Sunsail, Dream, and a small one named Captain's Compass. I have no idea how the latter does its business, so I can't comment on that. But a few years ago, Dream got into huge trouble for not getting commercial licenses for its boats, which, in the BVI, is a real biggie. It's what allows you to operate commercially, it exempts you from having to pay import duty and it requires prior compliance with trade license and work permit regulations. Some Dream heads rolled as a consequence. They would be a prime target, as a result. On the other hand, with full knowledge of Customs, VISR, et. al., Moorings has gotten by with various special interpretations, for decades. Nothing necessarily underhanded, just neither transparent nor consistent with the rest of the industry. Things like operating all the boats under one Trade License, even though each boat is an individual business with an individual owner. Or not having all the boats inspected, because some were sisterships of a boat that was inspected, things like that. Moorings was always treated differently, because it is one of the two largest and oldest employers (other than Government), in the BVI. So, it comes as no surprise that if Customs wanted to make a point, they would know exactly where to look, and that Moorings/Sunsail might be caught somewhat flatfooted and without the time to get everything squared away. And, maybe not even taking everything seriously, given the special treatment they had always gotten. There are plenty of rules that are flaunted in the BVI, from motorcycle helmets to citizenship, so a deadline hard to meet might well have lacked total credibility.



With regard to Customs, starting about ten years or so ago, it has ruled with a very heavy hand, which has come at a huge reputational loss for the BVI. NOTE that they have not always been wrong! The back story on some of the issues that have been featured on this very Forum has often been that they were actually right and that the public version of the "aggrieved" may have omitted a few facts. But, enforcement has been so draconian as to instantly encourage the notion that Customs has done something wrong or, at least, unfair, when that may not be the case. Huge fines routinely get scaled back to just a fraction, but that doesn't make the papers...or forums. To underscore this heavyhandedness I need only go back to the beginning of this season, when Customs announced (at short notice, of course) some "symposia" on the industry and its relationship to Customs. Most of the attendees were eager and enthusiastic to hear about the new policies and regulations; bear in mind that Customs had never done such a thing, before. However, the very first words out of the Senior official, to the industry members, was, "you are liars and cheaters and we are going to put a stop to that," which is more or less verbatim. What a great way to encourage a cooperative relationship!


The BVI is a great place, with mostly great people. It was my home for many years, and may be my home for many more. It is hard to talk about its warts. Thus, it is only fair that I say that I generally have extensive and great relationships with a very diverse group of people, Belongers, Down Islanders and expats of all nationalities. There has always been a streak of racism between the different races, and sadly, that includes black on white and white on black. Such is the legacy of slavery, as is well demonstrated elsewhere. It has been a bit more outfront over the last few years that the current administration has been in office. Some of its members, frankly, have found it politically useful to stir the pot, as has been done elsewhere, including the US. The next elections are no later than early next year, and it will be interesting to see if the current Government is returned to power. It is largely unpopular, but the Opposition has not gotten its act together, yet. The elections are fair and very transparent, by the way, which is possible in such a small country! But, change of Government or not, the average BVIslander is a very nice, kind and welcoming person, and it is very sad to see all get a bad reputation, because of a few, particularly a reputation for racism. It's a wonderful place to visit, and I hope anyone that reads this is not put off, in the least, but may have gained some understanding of a complex relationship between a country and one of its largest industries, mostly employing outsiders.



So, what's my bottom line on this, without knowing all the details? I think Government came up with some policies that they thought might be good for the industry and good revenue makers, but never bothered to check with industry members to see how it might play out. Probably VISR was the main mover, but that is just my guess. Customs would have been only too happy to step in as the enforcer, and had its own agenda of long standing resentments over special treatment. The new policies were presented too late for compliance, given supply chain problems. Probably the charter companies did not treat the deadlines as really hard ones, although I understand that, in at least a number of cases, the charter companies had dated order forms to prove that they had ordered the required gear months ago. Without the gear, they would have been unable to complete the rest of the registration and exemption process, so many boats would have been in a grey area, with charters booked, but boats technically not quite cleared for business. The Labour Department has been particularly slow in processing work permits, this season, with only a single official empowered to approve them, so there will have been workers in grey areas, as well. But, make no mistake, no one would have been operating "unsafe" charters. The statistics prove this, and the bureaucrats can't disprove it. But, being bureaucrats, that probably did not bother them. Throw in a personality difference or two, and a Government that has not been helpful to the charter industry, during it's four years in power, and you have a recipe for a good brouhaha. Throw in the BVI's propensity to be chronically blind to the consequences for the money spending tourists, and that is where things are now. There could have been many different ways to enforce compliance, even heavy handed ones, without disrupting charters for hundreds of people. This will also bring negative consequences to our industry and all who work in it, directly and indirectly. Hopefully, some lessons will be learned, although those who should be doing the learning can be pretty hard headed!


And, hopefully, negatively affected people will be somewhat forgiving, and give the BVI, and its mostly wonderful people, another chance, or maybe a first chance. It is still the charter capital of the world, the sky and the water are still blue and visitors, especially sailing visitors, will still have the time of their lives. And, if you have gotten this far, thanks for reading my take on the "rest of the story"!

[LittleWing77]

Thanks for your perspective, Contrail.

Excellent response.

LittleWing77

[Hermia II]

About time I think.
The authorities have notified them for a long time and has had the decency to wait taking action until after the peak of the season.
The resulting increase in charter fare will be a small insurance to pay.

[CHM]

My family and I were supposed to be on the BVI this week. The cost would’ve been approximately $10k. We cancelled for many reasons but generically didn’t feel the BVI welcomed tourists at this time. We would love to go back some day. We frequent the USVI and find the access, costs, and attitude toward visitors more favorable.

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by Stewie12

The government of the BVI has always ripped off tourists to their islands believing that, not matter what they charge, the tourists will still come. I hope they have a day of reckoning whereby they will understand that without tourists they have nothing¡. Boycott the BVI until the prices come down.

I lived in Hawaii for 25 years. For at least 10 of those years I depended on the tourist trade for my livelihood. The government in Hawaii had the same attitude you express about the BVI. The problem is, they're right. Doesn't justify their actions, but it's pretty much a cardinal rule of western capitalism: charge what the market will bear.

A corollary to that is "If you lose one customer because of price, there are two more waiting to take their place".

Folks save up a long time for their 2 weeks in paradise and, unlike cruisers, that may be a once in a lifetime experience.

Sucks for those of us who want to return again and again. Unfortunately there's not enough of us to make a significant dent in their economies.

My hope is that there will still be some relatively untouched place to sail to until I cross the bar for the last time.

As Dory would say "just keep swimming".

Aloha

[winschwab]

Just chartered a cat out of St Thomas in January from Dream Yachts. Curious to know if "Nightmare Yachts" referred to in this thread is this company. Certainly fits for our experience: boat not prepped delaying departure, 3-person capacity dinghy for nine people with bad outboard, took two days to get outboard replaced ruining plans, no working depth sounder ("you don't really need it"--we insisted and they found a replacement sender), etc., etc.
After the charter I spent a week visiting friends in BVI. At the end of my stay I visited the Moorings HQ inquiring about their ownership program from three employees at the service desk. I needed to speak to someone that they would go get, but turned out to be unavailable, meanwhile they were searching through all the drawers at the counter looking for a business card. Couoldn't find it, so they wrote a number on a scrap of paper. Said there was an inquiry book to write names in but couldn't find it. They didn't even take my name. Meanwhile I'm watching an overhead video playing about all the fabulous wonders and benefits of ownership and the great service of the staff.

[NormanMartin]

Report from the small company for whom I have worked for years. They are all certified and it was a real headache. But... they remain in business.

In the early 1970s I was a pro on 70-90 ft charter boats in St Thomas. Then the USVI got strict and everyone moved to BVI. I think after Irma and Maria the government realized it needed to have some control over the fleet... too many junkers/derelicts.

I'm not a regulations guy by and large. A few would really help businesses and I think holding tank pump out stations and regs are one example. Also a mooring use plan.

I am not going back there to work. Too old for one. Not fun any more for another. But you kids should go and have a great time.

[Montanan]

Winschwab, unfortunately been there done that as to the hit or miss state of readiness of the chart boat at time of arrival. With somethings one cannot do without being in "ship shape" and other missings or inoperable items are more of inconvenience or annoyance status for which one may seek a discounting, yet others are no-departure permitted issues. I have now built in at least one full day's delay in departure into my chartering plans as there is always something that requires resolution and it takes quite a bit of time for one to progress through a check list of all the functioning bits of a vessel, kind of like a real survey of the craft including a short voyage sailing and motoring and anchoring, then a return to the dock to load up the personal items and provisions. Negotiate upfront a steep discount for delayed departures due to non-ship shapeness attributes of a vessel as terms of the charter, kind of like a trip insurance policy put onto the charterer. Literally a warranty.

As to the non-functional dinghy outboard motor, I once had a similar experience of it needing a tune up to operate functionally and reliably which tune up would have delayed departure by at least two days of the two-week charter. Resolved that by personally simply purchasing a brand-new outboard at the nearest outboard motor dealer which was delivered within the hour by simply making a phone call from the dock and deducted the US$2,750 cost from the charter fee. The charterer could have lost three days of charter revenue plus the cost of on shore lodging and ancillary costs, or the charterer could adsorb the cost of the immediate fix of the mechanical problem and have a new asset. This is one of the advantages of paying for services by use of your credit cards, because one can always just deny the charge at the end of the charter when one receives your monthly bill from the credit card company then contacts the credit card company to dispute and revert the charge and the credit card company steps out of the way of the dispute. Kind of puts a hammer down on the vendor when they don't have your credited funds and you have left the country / region. Only to be used as a financial tool rarely when disputes cannot be worked out amicably between the parties. Kind of like cancelling a check before it clears.

The lack of a working depth sounder, now that is a real bother, particularly when navigating in waters without intimate local knowledge and experience as it does put a lot of reliance on accuracy of available charts during the charter and increases one's caution and wariness as to entering shallows. Navigating by braille touch is a bit dicey; that is when it is advantageous to have a swing keel that is unpinned and can become your depth sounder. Otherwise, one needs to proceed slowly and drop sounding lines to measure, and call out the depth - "Mark Twain".

A stated desire to have a larger tender, so as to accommodate 9 passengers is IMHO excessive as that ancillary service craft would need to be massive for that kind of loading. Although the charter should have detailed specifications of how the boat is equipped, including the size / type of dinghy and motor; if one needs a dinghy with real 5 person load out capacity then that should be specified upfront when making the charter arrangements, there should not be any surprises of what the boats accessories are and are not. My major concern would have been if there were adequate life raft(s) capacity for 9 souls on board. 9 passengers on one boat, now that is a crowded vessel; albeit I am of the persuasion that generally a boat's occupancy is rated as 6 for drinks, 4 for dinner and two to stay aboard; only on rare occasions there being need or desire for crew to provide turns at watch for long voyages, because one rarely if ever takes a truly long voyage on a chartered boat. Never had the need for such in the short day hops within the beautiful Virgin Isles.

Each chartered vessel experience has been unique, some wonderful, some NOT so wonderful, not dissimilar to say my AirBnB experiences, albeit the charters do cost much more per night than any of my AirBnB fees. Only once have I had to stay at a hotel instead of my AirBnB lodging and I put the entire cost of the hotel onto AirBnB for the five days as resolution settlement. Pretty sure that the lodging owner was banned from ever utilizing AirBnB again, their loss for not fulfilling the rental service contract to expectations. Significant out of pocket costs incurred by AirBnB or by charter companies tend to induce assertive managerial response and curing of no further similar issues arising.

In the instance of the charter parties not having their fleet of boats within regulatory compliance, now that is fully upon them as that is just a normal everyday function of the management of a charter operation. Sadly, there must have been quite a few disappointed charters whose vacation voyage plans have been seriously disrupted.

[goboatingnow]

I chartered twice in the BVI. Nice but not a patch on most places in the med. the whole place smacks of nickel and dime ( rather like Croatia has become ) this is the problem when the only income becomes a single “ industry “.

As to the fitness of charter boats I’m constantly amazed at the “ crap “ that gets presented as a proper boat , where you paid big money to rent.

[elee]

I agree with Montanan. I have done 11 charters around the world over the past 10 years. 5 of them with either Moorings or DYC. I have done 2 in BVI. I'd say 40-50% of the time we were able to leave as scheduled. The other times, because of some delay due to departure orientation or mechanical issues, we were about 1/2 a day late. Yes, they sell the dream of a trouble free vacation, but I've learned to factor in hiccups and adjusted my expectations to have that be part of the experience.

It's probably not unlike buying a new boat, and expecting there to be no issues, whereas researched clients will know it will take 6-12 months to shakedown a brand new boat.

Having said that, my experience with Mooring and DYC have been good. I felt that they have always reimbursed me for lost time to my satisfaction. I know that doesn't seem to be the experience reading the forums, but I would unhesitatingly charter from these companies again.

YMMV - I bareboat exclusively. I wonder if crewed is any different.