I posted this link in another thread and the only response indicated he found that Mr. Chinnery was a lazy,drunk. I felt that was a bit severe-- this testamonial reflects a lot closer to my experiences over the years. Admittedly they were different times back then.

https://stjohnsource.com/2010/04/21/unsung-hero/

Very nice, makes me wish i had been fortunate enough to have found JVD back when he was it's "ambassador"...

Maybe you have forgotten that in the early 70’s very few boats went to JVD and Albert Chinnery would sometimes not have a visitor for a few days but he wasn’t a lazy drunk. He partied through the night and slept at the bar he was at and the JVD residents would tell you where to find him. It wasn’t like he was sleeping in the streets of maybe your hometown.
JVD was a stress free place without paved roads which many apposed when they constructed including Foxy

When we stayed at the Sandollar in October 1999 we took a water taxi direct St. Thomas to White's Bay. Got there late afternoon. I don't know who the C&I officer was but the hotel took us oiver to clear the next day and I recall the guy being very nice and professional. And the entry fee was $0.10!

My husband fondly remembers arriving at Beef Island in the mid 1960s, shortly before the airport was built. The plane's first pass chased the livestock and upon landing there was a sign saying "Customs closed, come back tomorrow."

I remember flying into Beef Island when the airport was only an outside hut (mid 90's?). We arrived short "one article of luggage". We took an open taxi/truck to the Moorings and then sailed back to Trellis Bay the next Day. We took the hardshell dinghy to shore and walked over to the airport. There was no one around, anywhere. But, our article of luggage had been delivered and was sitting, by itself, under the airport overhang.

I remember that airport too, I loved it. What a great way to get introduced to the BVI. I also remember the toll on the Queen Elizabeth bridge to Beef Island. The man in the toll booth had a can on the end of a stick to collect the toll. My young daughter thought he was offering us a treat.
I am so happy to have these memories during this time!

If you looked a little closer it wasn’t a rusty can but a coconut shell.
Everyone loved it

LOL. And that was probably the fee for the form...

That 10 cents was the charge for the immigration form. In road town the lady would never have change, so I always made her give me 10 aka $1.00. pretty sure her retirement was built on 10 cents at a time as she never had change.

Yup, that's what I remember, the coconut shell. That, the chickens & goats at the airport and the airport 'bar'. Also, boarding passes that indicated gate 1 of...

Ah, love my childhood memories of JVD in the late ‘70s and early’80s when life was simple and we were often the only boat in White Bay. Was sometimes an adventure getting Traumerei in there with her deep draft and spotty engine but memories of building sandcastles with the local kids on the beach in front of The Sand Castle hotel are priceless.