St. John Customs Dock Fee

We returned last night from a week long trip and were charged a fee to dock at the customs dock in Cruz Bay when we were checking back in to the US. I don't recall ever being charged in the past. Has anyone experienced this in the past? The charge was $0.60 per foot and it was assessed by the Virgin Island Port Authority which had a window near the exit to the customs office.

Heard about this last year but you are the first I have heard being charged. USVI government is hurting for cash so ports authority added a $10 ferry departure fee and a docking fee to clear.

We've been in and out of St John a bunch of times and only saw this the last time we cleared in. I asked about it and was told it had been in place "for some time now", guess I managed to time my arrival with their lunch break.
Some suggested tying off at the NPS dock across from Customs and walking around - not that I'm recommending this....

This has been in place for at least a couple of years. The first time I cleared in during a trip in 2014 I was even charged for "docking" my dinghy. That's why most people use the dinghy dock next to the Park Service building and walk over one block.

We've been charged once or twice out of (I think) 6 or 7 check-ins this season. It was $6.66. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Tonguea.gif" alt="" />

Have never been charged for docking our dinghy there, which we've done every time.

I think it may have to do with whether they have enough staff to man the second window... Kind of like sending your bags through the x-ray machine, which we've had to do twice.

The fee has been in place for as long as I can remember. They just don't always charge it. Better to anchor out and dinghy into the park service dock. I was charged the fee for a dinghy 7 or 8 years ago.
G

Thanks for all of the feedback. Hard to believe that we never hit it in the past but I agree that maybe our timing has been good. I figured Sunday has to be one of the busiest days for Cruz Bay customs so that probably increased our chances. Thanks again for the feedback.

We just checked in today. Tied our dingy at the park dock to the left of customs. Walked over, no hassles, place was empty since no ferrys there. No problem, no fees. We started our trip in BVI, they charged me a whole $2 checking out my crew of 5. I did say we'd be back in 2 days. As long as it's just as easy to get back into the BVI, customs both places has been great

Customs made us pay the dock fee last year, we tied our dingy up to the very western edge of the concrete dock. I guess they watch the dock closely, hard to notice a 10ft dingy way down on the end.

Prior to that, never charged, done it about 3 times before.

Anyway, this year (Feb 2016) we went to the dingy dock over by the ferry dock and walked over. Not sure if this is technically OK, but I have read a lot of posts where others do this and had not read about any problems. Tying the dingy up on the dingy dock north side of ferry dock works best for us, as we usually like to look around Cruz bay after we clear in. US customs have always been easy/smooth for us. BVI seems to take longer, but with the NP Fee and other fees I guess that is to be expected.

BTW, I think they charged us $6.66 too, I wanted to pay $6.67 but no go....

We leave the boat at Lind Point ....

We do the same. Also tie-up to the dingy dock at the ferry terminal and walk directly to C&I.

It is a VI Port Authority dock where C&I is located in STJ - I believe that is who collects the fee for docking.

I heard that D.Trump is going to double the dock fees, if voted in... Just for that.. Vote for the other guy!
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/canada.gif" alt="" />

Inappropriate political content......Please, Please, Please don't turn TTOL in to a political debate.

Local Sailor - You are correct. That is exactly who collected it.