I’m confused. The area being discussed *IS* BVI waters, right? As pointed out, Innocence Passage can be disallowed in certain special circumstances (most governments appear to agree that “pandemic” qualifies).

Sailors often say its the captain’s responsibility, That’s because it is. Remember when rules were rules and laws were laws, and most people didn’t think of reasons of why the law breaker shouldn’t be punished. If we broke the law, we knew it and knew the consequences of getting caught. Ignorance and “accidentally” were not acceptable defenses.

Five pages and most responses seem to defend the boat captains; few “captains responsibility”. The consequences for the BVis may be worse than the punishment they are giving, but I’m not apt to defend the boat captains.