TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Boat owners in VGYH are in trouble!

Irma destruction of all of the yachts in VGYH was difficult enough to see. However, after 8 weeks post Irma, the VGYH management has not communicated with owners nor have they set a plan to recover the boats in the yard. Owners are getting very frustrated with the lack of communication. When compared to Nanny Cay, VGYH is a one, on a scale of one to ten. I wish anyone who has made them their home port or summer storage yard all the best. I'm guessing that our boats in the yard are not important to the local investors and due to the extent of the damage they feel it is would be better to be elusive rather then proactive. If they want to continue as a marina and yard, especially after buying the 320 ton travel lift, they should start with coordinating with owners of boats in the yard,

Lots of movement this morning on VGYH. Several of us (me included, although I do not have a boat there) posted on Meade Malone's FB business page about the lack of communication. I got a PM from him this morning asking for my phone number. Another boat owner was contacted as well. Funny, a post just showed up in the VGYH FB page. and one of the boat owners made contact with Keith Thomas. We all understand that people come first and that patience is needed but lack of communication when clearly they have the ability to do so is not going over very well. Hopefully this will continue to be a back and forth conversation and information will flow more freely. The info might not be what you want to hear but at least there is some progress.

I know Kim has been in touch with Keith. I think patience is the key word here.

Patience is not an option when voices are ignored

Meade Malone (BVIIC president) is now apparently my new best friend.. after several pm’s he has told me that he will have information tomorrow and will keep me informed.

So now you have a boat in VGYH? Only one voice I have heard from. Owners I know say they are communicating.

Nope, no boat in the harbor. Not sure who you are talking to but there are a lot of pissed off owners who have heard nothing after repeated contact with VGYH management. I just suggested a different route to communicate and made contact with Meade Malone for the owners who are so frustrated. Ball is now in the owners court to follow up. Lots of my info coming From Candy Cooke on the ground there and she is one of the pissed off parties as well as Ramona who owns Next Wave, and owners of Dive BVI etc..

This was just posted on Facebook:
"VGYH Update:

We have secured a larger crane to assist with the current crane in the boatyard to help move boats that could not be previously moved - this is now en route to VGYH and we will update when it arrives.

We are continuing to sort boats in both the marina and boatyard, actively hauling, launching and rechocking them where possible. As you can imagine, with over 200 boats this is no small feat and will take time. Before your boat can be moved, insurance, adjusters or your surveyor needs to inspect boats - anyone of our team members would be happy to assist your representative in anyway possible.

Owners are welcomed to come to VGYH to inspect their boats. However, persons are not permitted to stay overnight on their boats in the yard - with the hurricane damages, it is not a safe space for overnight stays. Please ensure you have a place to stay before arriving as hotels and accommodations are minimal on both VG and Tortola.

If you need to talk with us, please email us at vgyh2017@hotmail.com or come see us in person - we are running out of a temporary office in the Harbour, with office hours from 9am-3pm, Mon-Fri. Please note we have very limited internet access and minimal telecommunication resources.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this difficult time. #VGStrong"

https://www.facebook.com/VGYHarbour/

That is the same information that has been circulating for weeks. It was on its way 2 weeks ago according to people there. Now there telling people to come visit your boat but there no place to stay and you can't stay here. Please email us at the e-mail address that no one answers. People have been using that email for weeks with no reply. Eric was given a list of most of the boats in the yard, owners name, description of boat and where it is in the yard 2 weeks ago and promised to get in touch with everyone on the list.. Not one person off the list has been contacted or their boat secured. This is the frustration of many who have boats there.

It must be so frustrating dealing with the boatyard. I just assumed this was a new email address since it was just posted on FB. Geeze.

Now Lloyds insurance affiliates are saying the Virgin Islands, both USVI and BVI's along with St. Maarten/St. Martin and Puerto Rico, are off-limits to cruising sailors when you attempt to renew your boat insurance. Wow, it just keeps getting worse rather than better!

Off limits all year? Or just during hurricane season? If a large majority of boats have to re position during hurricane season someone better come up with a place for the charter boats to go and there is going to be a shortage of charter boats in late summer. Or maybe Lloyd’s has a small percentage of insured clients in the BVI

Fairly common for insurance companies to do this for hurricane season - not sure how charter boats would work. I know when Kristine and Doug were bringing Dharma there, they could not be down before November and had to be gone by May....

The off-limits stipulation is on new insurance but does NOT affect charter boats. This off-limits provision is for private boats (cruisers) during the current term of the new insurance - meaning all year, even during the non-hurricane months.

"even during the non-hurricane months."

Wow. That doesn't even make sense.

That's what I was thinking. That's dumb.

The insurance companies are worried about sunken wrecks and debris in the water, along with limited resources in these islands to make repairs because of the infrastructure damage, so I am told.

I agree, it is not good at all. Besides that, insurance rates have increased over 50% for renewing or getting new policies.

Our renewal date is 11/30 and the rate remained the same as last year.....just got the notice yesterday....

Who are you insured with.

Caribbean Insurers, Ltd....Road Town and VG

I suspect the off limits is temporary and will be removed shortly. Most charter companies plan to resume operations between now and 15 Dec. I suspect once charters are running full speed the limitation will be lifted.
G

The big crane heading for BVI...would this be the same one that recently departed SXM because of problems with the Dutch side government??

Yes, apparently. Even though the government in SXM said it was going back to the Bahamas.

If you want to be insured throughout the Caribbean during hurricane season give your address from a VI or PR address and they'll insure you.
Try Blue Water insurance, they have a selection of insurance companies including the slowest to pay Loyds of London