We have done all the islands south of Miami except Venezuela. When the dust settles the fleets will be restored in the BVI for this reason first. The ease and short distances between islands or bars. No other place has anything like that 10 months(even 12) out of of the year. Before the storm the BVI was way over subscribed many weeks out of the year. Raising the fees and increasing the level of services would be a plus for the local economy and environment. Unless we want to go to a practice where you must have a mooring reservation like Nantucket and Catalina..... then a day will be reached when the total number of boats out on the water must be limited. There is zero need to hurry or rush lhat along. When you look at the total costs of a charter trip starting with transport to the airport and end with transfer home from the airport the overnight mooring fee is a small fraction of the total trip cost.
If you have not tried it.... the food is always far better in the French Islands.
Everything can be described as a small portion of the total cost. In the end however all those items add up to become the total cost. I know several friends who will no longer sail in the BVI because they feel they are being gouged everywhere from the moment they arrive until they leave. I have talked with several dedicated BVI sailors. They never went anywhere else until Irma forced them to move their trips this fall. They now don’t plan on coming back to the BVI after seeing other options. If the BVI government were smart they would use this as a opportunity to retool the entire visitor experience from the moment you set foot at the customs dock.
