Smith's Ferry Services

As many of you know, the ferry companies in the USVI and the BVI’s took a major blow following Maria and Irma. Specifically, my dear friends at Smiths were especially hit hard. Following Irma, they lost all their vessels.

Many of you have probably rushed up to the ferry counter and have been greeted with a big smile from Marjorie. She seems to always be there and ready to help everyone get on their way to Tortola. Through the years, I have had many trips on Daphne, Sterling and the infamous Bomba Charger. Well, I have a bit of good news to report. Bomba Charger has been completely refitted, painted, and has recently received seaworthy certificates from the US Coast Guard and the BVI authorities. She will be back on the schedule very soon if not already.

Unfortunately, Daphne and Sterling have a way to go. Marjorie and her son have worked tirelessly through the many months following the hurricanes to get Bomba Charger back in service. And to add to the tragedy, the founder and Marjorie’s father passed away due to the stress of losing everything. I can only ask each of you needing ferry services from St. Thomas to Tortola to consider supporting Marjorie and her team at Smith’s Ferry Services. And when you see that beautiful smile, please say hello to her!

PS: If anyone has any experience with GoFundMe, I’d love to set up a page where we can help get Sterling back into the fleet.

Good God, that boat has 9 lives!

LOL, I think the first time I ever set foot on that boat was in 1985

Bomba Charger is QUITE a ride!

I guess we should excuse all the years of crappy service and make donations to a go fund me because they didn’t have the foresight to buy insurance.

It was almost brand new in the early early 70’s and in the 90’s it was called the Roach coach

A few years ago I asked the captain of the Bomba Charger how long it had been in service and he informed me there had been a few "Bomba Chargers". As one was retired from service, the replacement was then named Bomba charger.
Fred

Bomba Charger and Bomba Challenger went in service in 1971 and is the same boat as in service now. Bomba Challenger became the Paradise Challenger on the JVD route. BTW, The Bomba ferries were NOT named for Bomba of the surf shack but Wilfred "Bomba" Allick, a St Croix based captain.

..and the "Bomba Challenger" ended up on the roof of a restaurant ( Sydneys?) in Little Harbour JVD after Irma. I just saw the "new" "Bomba Charger" in Road Harbour. It certainly looked nice and its easy to wax nostalgic about it...but it should have been replaced years ago with something much more efficient rather than have many thounsands of $$$ spent on constantly patching it up. The JVD ferry is perfect example of a modern, comfortable ferry..

Cats are the way to go. Much better thru waves and lots of room. Also a/c makes a big difference. Bomba Charger had its day.

One advantage the Bomba Charger has is that, at 95 passengers, it is the right size. Everybody else is running 149 passengers half full on most runs.

The Bomba Charger is the best boat as its much faster than the rest no matter how old she is and the charger has A/C