TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Charter Boat Reviews and Questions Do BVI Moorings Charter Boats Have AIS

We’ll be doing a BVI Charter in a few weeks. And this is the first time since ‘17. I’m curious if now the Moorings boats have AIS. Automatic Identification System would be cool for families to track us.

Re AIS:
My experience, including two weeks ago, no. I believe the capability is there in the standard Raymarine chart plotter equipment. But they do not have all of the features turned on. The Moorings boats typically have standard features across their fleet, and they keep it simple for maintenance reasons. I’ve never seen an EPRB on a Moorings charter either. Subscription costs would another reason.

Thanks…but AIS uses a transponder that broadcasts via DSC over VHF. There is no subscription service. And is required for ships over certain sizes…which I can’t remember, and is optional for others. Seems to be a lot of boats in the BVI transmitting AIS. And seems more than would be without charter boats. You can monitor, or look up any boat by name at: myshiptracking.com

You can use a smartphone to send simulated AIS data to
Marine Traffic . Load the mAIS App from Google Play Store and away you go. Don't know if there is an apple equivalent.

Easiest way is to probably turn on (and share with family/friends) "Find My" with Apple device (ie phone)

I just came back from a Moorings charter. The boat was a Nov 2022 delivery and it had working AIS. It is however the first Moorings boat with it installed and working. Looks like the brand new boats will have it.
G