We met some folks who ponied up the $400 to BB for advance reservations. Split between the 4 couples on their boat it was $100 per couple. They said that reservations at every spot were wide open the day before and they thought it was worth it, especially at Cooper and Great Harbour.
At the end of January we had no problem getting a ball anywhere except Cooper and Jost Great Harbour. That's only 2 nights out of a week that we could have used the advanced reservation feature. $100/couple is very steep for just 2 nights. Plus you'll probably wind up using BoatyBall at other islands when there would have been available FCFS balls, so you spend an extra $10/night unnecessarily. Yes, I get it, you get some peace of mind from having a reservation, but for me this would be more than offset by the haunting knowledge that BoatyBall swindled me out of yet another $10.
