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I hate boaty ball.

Posted By: warren460

I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 04:32 PM

We left Anegada at 9,undecided about our next stop being Cooper or Peter or Norman. 

There is no reason that we should be forced to decide on a destination before 7am. Many factors will impact our choice. Such factors include wind and sea conditions.

We arrived at Cooper at noon.  Not one fcfs ball available. 

We only wanted to stop for lunch on board. Over a dozen bb unoccupied. We moved on. We did not want to borrow a bb. if the people arrive with the mooring reservation they would be stressed. No good reason to cause them stress.

Why should we be forced by boatyball to use boaty ball or avoid Cooper? 
The old fcfs system was fine.

There are not enough fcfs balls at Cooper.

It is the same situation at great harbour on Jost. That place is almost entirely boatyball.

A few days ago, We needed to clear back into the bvi. There was only 1 fcfs ball available. Lots of empty BB.

BB is out of control.

They are owned and controlled by foreigners. The come down here to establish relationships. That is working and I understand that they don't have permits.

I can wait for the day that they add pushed out of the BVI.



Posted By: Sedona

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 07:17 PM

I agree 100%. Based on our experience this week, I think the only way to ensure a ball at Cooper is to pay Boatyball the $400 advance fee. If you do that, you can reserve the day before. Otherwise it’s try to snag one at 6:59:59. We were able to do so exactly once. We got a fcfs ball at Cooper but only because we arrived early. BB has most of the balls at Cooper and we watched many boats all day leaving in frustration, while the BB moorings stayed open.

I think BB would work if they only had 25% of available moorings. That way people who really want to reserve in advance could pony up the $400 fee. Everyone else could continue to use the 75% of moorings that are fcfs. Right now, BB’s disproportionate share of available balls leads to a crappy experience for everyone.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 07:41 PM

And gives them the power to behave outside of the best interests of the bvi and it’s visitors
Posted By: BaardJ

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 08:22 PM

I visit the VIs 5-6 times a year, typically with a crew of 8. Cooper Island was a regular lunch time stop for us - nice microbrew beer, rum bar, and boutique - and no problems finding a FCFS mooring ball midday. Since BB came along and the subsequent lack of FCFS moorings midday, they have been unfortunately OFF my itinerary since early last year.

Great Harbour, JVD has also been my regular stop for clearance from/to USVI (along with visits to the several beachfront restaurants). I've also noticed the declining number of FCFS balls and I will likely bypass Great Harbour and return to clearing-in/out at Soper's Hole with its many more FCFS balls, particularly as their rebuilding continues,
Posted By: GeorgeC1

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 08:22 PM

We used to stop at Cooper all the time around noon. Drop the tanks to be filled and head to the club for lunch. Wife always spent money in the Boutique. Can’t plan on that anymore. Have moved on to other options.
Posted By: ScurvyD

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 08:46 PM

I know this doesn't solve any BB problems, but is it possible to anchor overnight in Haullovers Bay? Dink around the point to the club, or bad idea?
Posted By: bailau

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 08:48 PM

Cooper & Great Harbour JVD are on my personal redlined list...neither are worth it given all the other things you can do with far less hassle and better service. If I want hassle and bad service I can just go into Washington DC any day

If you want to make a difference go to Trip Advisor and rate Cooper accordingly and mention boatyball as someone just did. At some point maybe Cooper will wake up...
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 09:01 PM

You could anchor at haulovers. The dining at the restaurant at cooper in my view is not the destination. The location is stunning and they have a decent happy hour.

If I was at haulovers, I would stay put.
Posted By: d_fish

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 09:43 PM

Are boatyballs in every anchorage now? We haven't sailed there since May 2018, so not sure what to expect.

I do not wish to reserve a boatyball in advance or be subjected to sailing into an anchorage, only to find all FCFS moorings unavailable in the most popular anchorages given the limited number of FCFS, hence I will forget about Cooper. I typically enjoy the following anchorages:

1. Anegada
2. Deadmans Bay, PI
3. Somewhere in North Sound, usually Leverick one night and then on to Saba
4. Kelly Cove, Norman Island
5. Diamond Cay, JVD
6. White Bay - usually dinghy from Great Harbour, JVD


On the other hand, we could simply avoid the BVIs and move on to the USVI and SVI, sounds less stressful.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 09:50 PM

1. Anegada has lots of fcfs balls.
2. No bb.
3. Leverick many bb. Nowhere else in north sound open yet. Saba, please hurray.
4. All of Norman, bb free, bb has not spread there.
5. Thank goodness no bb.
6. White bay is bbfree. Great harbour has almost no fcfs. So stay away from gh


Posted By: mcevog

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 09:51 PM

100% agreed. Very limiting. Cooper is almost inaccessible now (having said that I did snag an FCFS ball last week, but only because I dodged into the bay to avoid a squall and that was at 11am) forget about getting a boatyball... all gone immediately at 7am. There is ABSOLUTLEY NO WAY I will pay $400+ for the pleasure of getting an advanced booking, quite apart from anything else I only went to boatyball mooring fields twice in the 7 nights I was sailing and I am not spending 240$ a night for a 30$ ball!

The management at Cooper Island in particular must realize that their lunchtime business is taking a hit??
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:06 PM

It must be the same with great harbour on JVD.
Posted By: mcevog

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:10 PM

They haven't taken over Gt Harbour on Peter yet Warren... I think you mean Great Harbour on Jost?
Posted By: TorontoBoater

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:13 PM

Yes BB has got to go it's a real problem and even worse this visit. I dont understand how people are not complaining to tourisum.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:15 PM


Please consider sharing your views re boatyball with members of the bvi ministry of tourism.

Their email addresses are:

Hazel Penn hpenn@bvitourism.com
Perla George pgeorge@bvitourism.com
Carolyn Blackett cblackett@bvitourism.com
Keith Dawson kdawson@bvitourism.com

If enough people write, perhaps they will take action before boaty ball ruins the bvi.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:16 PM

Corrected
Posted By: Carol_Hill

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:26 PM

Warren--I understand that you hate BB. I get that. Thank you for editing the post to take out the reference to cancer.


Posted By: d_fish

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 10:31 PM

Thank you for the update Warren.

I decided to look at the boatyball website to determine where boatyballs are located. Unfortunately I cannot browse their website without providing an email address. I do not wish to sign up or provide an email address. Would someone be able to tell me what anchorages boatyballs are located?

It would also be nice to know how many boatyballs are in each anchorage versus total FCFS balls are available in the same anchorage. That may help sailors determine in advance if they wish to test their luck at finding an available FCFS mooring.
Posted By: cyclingdoc

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 11:18 PM

Always a place to moor in the USVI. As I come more and more, I am more and more happy not going to the BVI. Sure, we incorporate it into some trips, but others it’s all USVI.

Or go during the “off” season.
Posted By: Sedona

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 11:34 PM

Originally Posted by d_fish
Thank you for the update Warren.

I decided to look at the boatyball website to determine where boatyballs are located. Unfortunately I cannot browse their website without providing an email address. I do not wish to sign up or provide an email address. Would someone be able to tell me what anchorages boatyballs are located?

It would also be nice to know how many boatyballs are in each anchorage versus total FCFS balls are available in the same anchorage. That may help sailors determine in advance if they wish to test their luck at finding an available FCFS mooring.

We encountered BB at:
Great Harbor JVD
Leverick
Cooper
Cane Garden Bay

And they are in a few other spots as well.
Posted By: fromaway3774

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/18/2020 11:52 PM

We chartered back in 2016 and had to arrive at Cooper by noon in order to secure a FCFS ball for an evening stay. This was waaaaay before BB. I'm a little surprised that anyone who regularly follows this board would expect to arrive at Cooper around lunch time and secure a ball, without also encountering empty BB's. It's like showing up to the Caribbean during Christmas holidays and being surprised that you don't have the place to yourself. And then the icing on the cake is to talk about how Cooper's lunch time business is taking a hit, when there was intention to use a mooring, but not actually dine at the restaurant!
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 12:11 AM

Sometimes you get lucky getting a fcfs ball at Cooper in the early afternoon.

Before BB we never had a problem getting a ball at copper. Sometimes we would wait a bit for lunch time turnover.

Sometimes we would have lunch on shore, other times not.
Posted By: GeorgeC1

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:12 AM

There is usually a ball or two that turns over in the afternoon. Beware powercats when that happens. They will blow through the mooring fields at 12 knots to beat out that slow sailboat! Swimmers and kayaks had better move!
Posted By: BoatyBall

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 02:09 AM

We agree with Warren. There needs to be more moorings in the BVI and BoatyBall is encouraging local businesses to install new sea floor anchors.

This season has seen boat charters at pre Irma levels while the number of maintained moorings are significantly less. With places like Bitter End Yacht Club, Saba, Marina Cay, and others not open for business there are around 150 less mooring balls being used than pre Irma. There is definitely a supply and demand issue when it comes to maintained moorings balls in the BVI.

It will no doubt take time for these sights to rebuild and to get the number of available moorings back up to pre Irma levels. We ask for your patience and support of the locals as the rebuilding continues in the BVI.
Posted By: GeorgeC1

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 02:40 AM

There is no additional room for balls at both great harbor and Cooper where the main issues are happening. Why does boatyball not step forward and convert most of their balls in both locations to FCFS balls. You originally stated you would have FCFS balls. How many do you have currently available?
G
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 03:03 AM

George, I look forward to the BB response.
Posted By: LRSail

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 03:25 AM

I've lurked on the forum for quite a while and really have trouble understanding the vitriol around advanced reserving of moorings. There is a real scarcity right now and I appreciate knowing I have a place to land without racing others to the mooring fields by noon. Personally, that's worth the 7am rat race and is no different than any other industry practices that involve advanced reservations for restaurants, parking, tickets, accomodations etc. I can appreciate that it ruins lunch business at Cooper and maybe there is a lunch reservation solution on BB that would be a way to help that. But if I am emailing the Ministry of Tourism people listed above, it will be in support of the BB model and advocacy for expansion of the total mooring ball supply. I suspect there are many others lurking these threads who feel similarly and are afraid of being flamed for speaking up in support of mooring reservation capability.
Posted By: nevar37

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 07:34 AM

I'm sure Boatty-Ball is aware of the ill will they've caused with their product. It seems to me, they could satisfy most of us, if they offered reservations for lunch and overnight on the same ball ie 10AM to 3PM and 3PM to 10AM. It's a win win.
Posted By: jphart

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 08:12 AM

Cooper, according to Yogi:

”Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded”
Posted By: Kryssa

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 08:34 AM

LRSail, I agree with you, but there should be more moorings in the high demand areas. It's not like you can just drop a hook in most of these locations.

We like Boaty Ball because we often book rendezvous diving for 2-3 morning of our trip. This means not getting a ball in the right location can really cause a mess. We like not having to cast off at 8 am and be on our evening ball by 11 am at places like Cooper. The best part of our last trip was diving from the North Sound with Sunchaser in the morning, making a quick lunch, leaving for Anegada at 1:30 pm and then picking up our reserved BoatyBall in the late afternoon. We really got a day a filled with fun.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 08:53 AM

Kryssa, days with multiple stops as you describe was not a problem before bb. But it sure is now.
Posted By: GeorgeC1

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:14 AM

There is zero issue anchoring at Anegada. The bottom is outstanding holding. The short fetch with Moorings on sand screws can be a issue if you get a late night thunderstorm.
Posted By: mcevog

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:36 AM

When the supply and demand issue goes away there will be no need for Boaty Ball at all... everything can go back to being FCFS and wouldn't life be so much more straightforward. Also lets not kid ourselves, booked time slots for moorings through the day? Thats a crazy idea. There are enough issues with people grabbing moorings that they have not 'reserved' already via BoatyBall. That would only get substantially worse if you were trying to claim your time slot from someone over running at lunch ashore!
Posted By: BoatyBall

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 12:26 PM

George, glad you asked. There is actually room in both bays for more moorings. 10 moorings were removed from Great Harbour after Irma and there are six less at Cooper than before Irma. We are hopeful that the local business will invest in replacing the ones that have been removed or damaged over the years.

BoatyBall originally built the application to simplify payment for FCFS moorings and this is still an option for mooring ball owners. At this time none of the mooring ball owners have chosen to put their moorings in the FCFS program.

However, making all the moorings FCFS will not solve the demand issue. Yesterday morning we had at least 109 boaters try and reserve 15 moorings at Cooper. If all 30 moorings at Cooper were FCFS they would have filled up fast.

As you mentioned in your previous post even if you waited around for one to open up you would probably lose out to a power cat racing through the mooring field. Unfortunately, this is something many of us have experienced.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:23 PM

We understand that several boaters per boat are trying to reserve balls so they they increase their chances at the morning BB lottery.

This means that far less than 109 boats were trying to get a ball.

Let’s not confuse boats and boaters.
Posted By: sunman60

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:23 PM

I don't see any mileage in hating BoatyBall, Cooper Is (and to some extent Great Harbour) are the only real problem areas and as Mr BB above says, 109 boaters were trying to reserve 15 balls, so even if you had 50 FCFS balls it wouldn't solve the problem. there's a plethora of different types of customers in the area & we're on the 'sailing side', ie we like to have a sail during the day so the option to turn up to a reserved ball at 5pm is a great plus for us, to get into a scrum to arrive before midday to get a ball anywhere has zero appeal to us, it's a sailing holiday after all.
we haven't been in the highest season but dread to imagine what it might be like, Moorings / Sunsail have 250+ boats out at the same time, plus all the other companies, plus all the privateers, how on earth does everybody manage??
now that scenario I definitely would hate.
Posted By: TorontoBoater

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:23 PM

Cleary if you agree with Warren then you should consider leaving the BVI and surender the idea of Boaty Ball. Being a visiting Boater I find the Boaty ball system very restrictive and unfair to the boating community. Please contact the Ministry of Tourism and outline how to exit the business .
Posted By: sail445

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:32 PM

Instead of enjoying a BVI vacation it seems most everyone due to BB is tense and only thinking about getting up early trying to get a ball instead of taking a swim and enjoying the morning.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:36 PM

Sunman60,

Cooper is a beautiful anchorage. Lots to do there in the afternoon. So, I don’t see the point of arriving at Cooper at 5pm. You miss out on the snorkeling, lunch on the deck, boutique, rum bar and great happy hour.

Prior to BB, you could nearly always get a fcfs ball at cooper if you arrived by 2pm.

Highest season is not that different. Nothing to hate there.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:36 PM

Right on.
Posted By: JasonHelmbrecht

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by d_fish
Thank you for the update Warren.

I decided to look at the boatyball website to determine where boatyballs are located. Unfortunately I cannot browse their website without providing an email address. I do not wish to sign up or provide an email address. Would someone be able to tell me what anchorages boatyballs are located?

It would also be nice to know how many boatyballs are in each anchorage versus total FCFS balls are available in the same anchorage. That may help sailors determine in advance if they wish to test their luck at finding an available FCFS mooring.

Anegada, Leverick Bay on Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, Soper's Hole on Tortola, Cane Garden Bay on Tortola, Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke, and Diamond Cay between Jost Van Dyke and Little Jost Van Dyke.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 02:50 PM

BVI tourism has requested that any concerns/comments re boatyball be forwarded to the following email address :

info@bvitourism.com

Instead of the addresses I posted above.

Posted By: madman57

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 03:19 PM

Please don't flame back too much (this is such a hot topic), but:

Why does BB induce stress? What happened without BB when arriving somewhere with all the FCFS balls already taken? If anything, that should induce stress -- but of course we should all have backup plans.

And for the situations people describe of boats racing to get the last FCFS ball, didn't that also occur before BB?

I'm not a constant visitor to the BVI, but in 2011, that was my experience, especially trying to spend an evening at Cooper. Lunch, yes, there's an issue to work out.

But overall, I much prefer being able to plan ahead. I contend with that all the time sailing in the northeast. Am I the only one using something like Dockwa to plan ahead?
Posted By: Rush

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 04:15 PM

I too am a planner and like to have a good idea of where I will be on a given day. I have had reasonable success with BoatyBall in the past. On three separate trips, I had 2-3 stops where I wanted to arrive in the afternoon and be sure to have a ball (Cooper included). I don't mind getting up early to get those reservations, and I had about a 75% success rate of getting those reservations at 7 AM on the dot. HOWEVER, my trips were not during high season, and I have now noticed how many more balls have gone from FCFS to BoatyBall.

As I am heading down in a week and half, I have been monitoring the availability on BoatyBall in the morning (at 7 AM). I may have misread (and BoatyBall can correct me), but it appears that there are a majority of balls pre-reserved a day ahead. I thought there were supposed to only a limited number. Either way, they are all gone (at places you need them) at 7 AM. I don't mind paying the extra $5-10 per day, but the Tax on the "pre-reserved" balls is too steep, IMO.

I understand all of the arguments made here that the traditional FCFS system is better. But even if this is a tool that someone wants to use, then has little chance of succeeding (i.e. actually successfully reserving a ball at 7 AM), unless you purchase the "pre-reserved" pass, then I don't see it working at all for many people. I will report back my experience after my trip.
Posted By: sail445

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 04:19 PM

Each have their degree of comfort.
If you are ok with trying to get to the BB website at 7am and compete for a mooring amongst the masses instead of enjoying your morning stress free and if you get a BB mooring and you arrive in the afternoon and notice someone else is on it and they’re at shore for happy hour and then you can repeat it daily for the remainder of your stay then it’s fine for you.
Posted By: Brian21097

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 04:42 PM

I'm chartering for the first time in BVI in April and am not looking forward to having to use boatyball. I have been looking every morning to see availability and it seems pretty stressful process for a vacation. Understand April probably won't be as bad as now, but will consider other charter destinations in the future to avoid the whole boatyball system.
Posted By: Alec Atteberry

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by Rush

As I am heading down in a week and half, I have been monitoring the availability on BoatyBall in the morning (at 7 AM). I may have misread (and BoatyBall can correct me), but it appears that there are a majority of balls pre-reserved a day ahead. I thought there were supposed to only a limited number. Either way, they are all gone (at places you need them) at 7 AM. I don't mind paying the extra $5-10 per day, but the Tax on the "pre-reserved" balls is too steep, IMO.


Just a slight point of clarification. Less than 7 users per week have the advanced reservation feature enabled and they are still limited to making one reservation per day. That means that over 90% of reservations are through the standard same day system.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 05:10 PM

Why should anyone be forced to use boaty ball. That's a big problem
We have been down for a week and have not used boatyball at all.
Posted By: TorontoBoater

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 05:15 PM

Warren I was on a boat yesterday and wanted to see the turtles at cooper but unfortunately could not find any balls to use. There were a few unmanned Boaty balls but did not want to cause problems and tie up even if we were going to be there for a few hours . Really wish someone would do something about going back to letting people go where they want and when they want . Right now Boaty ball actually controls BVI boat parking go figure.
Posted By: Sedona

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 05:34 PM

Why don’t they change BB check in time to 3 pm and let anyone use them without reservations if they are vacant during the day? Would need some kind of system in place to remove squatters at 3 pm, of course...
Posted By: BEERMAN

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:23 PM

We have a charter booked for July and I suspect that BB may not be an issue off season, if what I've read so far is accurate? but as a what if I am just starting to research. I haven't even looked at BB's website yet, but will soon. I've read more cons than pros in regards to how we plan our days. I am most concerned at knowing the layout of the moorings so when approaching a field I'll know what the heck I'm looking at, is the BB website the only accurate mapping of the fields? Are balls mixed here and there throughout the field? or clustered together?

We have had to race other boats into Cooper, one victory was the last available ball. But we've always arrived early enough to have a backup plan if ones not available, but I'm now curious if our nearby backup plans are also competitive in regards to the amount of BB's vs FCFS balls. We always wake up o-dark early, but trying to time the perfect 0700 reservation certainly isn't our style, I'll be cooking bacon!
Posted By: madman57

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:42 PM

It's that racing to Cooper that exists with or without BB, at least in my limited experiences. As for July, I don't know. I've been monitoring BB for the past couple of months, and, yes, in high season, they usually go quickly at 7:00 a.m. sharp. I'm chartering the first week of March, and intend to use BB. I personally like the concept, but I guess I'll soon find out if it works in practice in high season. Maybe I'm just used to high contention in the areas I usually sail in. I do appreciate all the comments everyone makes here.
Posted By: Philggct

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:52 PM

So the real issue is Cooper and Great Harbor JVD. Cooper has the fewest moorings of all islands and has the worst holding ground and sea grass that needs protection. Great Harbor is always high demand. If Cooper is really high on your list, then you either get thee real early for FCFS, use BB or skip it and head to Norman or Peter which are still all FCFS. Great Harbor, get there early, use BB or go to Little Harbor and take a cab.

It really is different strokes for different folks. We start our cruise on Sunday and we are skipping Cooper because that field is way too tight and we did that last year. We are skipping Great Harbor too and planning on an extra day in Anegada and a night off Guana instead. Norman, Leverick and Peter will round out our week. And all my plans are subject to change based on weather if I have to. If my crew really wants Great Harbor or Cooper I would use BB without hesitation.

Boaty Ball has not created artificial demand. They are accommodating demand for those that choose it. The moorings are full so the owners are happy and the users are probably happy. If they were FCFS, they would still be full and boaters would need to plan on being there early enough if they really wanted to be at Cooper. Some of the haters sound way too wound up about this.
Posted By: SailOrion

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/19/2020 10:52 PM

Hi Rick. The Boaty Balls are pretty much grouped together and it is obvious (by color) which they are upon entering an anchorage. The BVI Mariner site we maintain has mooring ball counts, but not a layout of the field. Anchorage and Marina pages are currently being updated to ensure accuracy ... see the Oil Nut Bay page here for the new layout which includes a Navionics chart and Windfinder wind & weather forecast. My son is in the aerospace industry (Go Hokies) and hooked me up with a company that does daily satellite imagery ... we were thinking of adding these images to the Anchorage pages as well. Hope this helps.

Thanks! - Mark

https://www.bvimariner.com/explore/anchorages-chart-2/virgin-gorda-deep-bay-2/
Posted By: d_fish

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 12:08 AM

SailOrion: Awesome website - this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you for sharing.
Posted By: sail445

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by Alec Atteberry
Originally Posted by Rush

As I am heading down in a week and half, I have been monitoring the availability on BoatyBall in the morning (at 7 AM). I may have misread (and BoatyBall can correct me), but it appears that there are a majority of balls pre-reserved a day ahead. I thought there were supposed to only a limited number. Either way, they are all gone (at places you need them) at 7 AM. I don't mind paying the extra $5-10 per day, but the Tax on the "pre-reserved" balls is too steep, IMO.


Just a slight point of clarification. Less than 7 users per week have the advanced reservation feature enabled and they are still limited to making one reservation per day. That means that over 90% of reservations are through the standard same day system.


Ok less then Seven users per week as you say still have to make daily reservations. So your saying with your $400 program they still have to go through the routine?
Your system is a disaster and does nothing to produce a stress free vacation except for you and your cronies.
I know you’re probably laughing at the BVI Tourism company but you’re pissing off the charterers.
They don’t want your system and it’s a matter of time before you’re out along with some corrupt politicians 😁👍
Posted By: henryv

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 12:54 AM

We have been coming to the BVI's three times per season for 15 years. Pre boatyball we had a feel for which bays we needed to get to early and it just seemed more relaxed. The boatyball system has been a very unpleasant addition and we tend to avoid spots where we need to use them.
It is my hope that once Peter Islanid adds their 60+ moorings and the North Sound mooring fields are back in service that the boatyball experiment will end. I also suspect that the shore based businesses will start to complain as no doubt they are losing significant afternoon revenue. Many of the JVD Great Harbor BBs were empty for much of the afternoon when we were there a few days ago resulting in fewer on shore visitors.
Posted By: BEERMAN

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 01:08 AM

Philggct, yes people are wound up, change is difficult sometimes. I have been going to the USVI/BVI for 38 years (I'm 56yo, started young) and some serious change has occurred. Sometimes change is good, but quite often I've seen negative change. I can see how many feel negative towards this, it takes a sense of freedom away. Chance was always a part of life moving around on a boat, getting tied to a technology lottery at 0700 puts a new twist on it.

Mark, thanks and GO HOKIES! Looking forward to being on Orion again!!!!
Posted By: BoatyBall

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 04:13 AM

Warren, thanks for pointing out that it is possible to go to the BVI during high season and not use BoatyBall.

It is obvious that no one forced you to use it.
Posted By: BoatyBall

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 04:25 AM

Philggct, the demand is high because we are still waiting on locations like Marina Cay, Peter Island, The Last Resort, YCCS, Bitter End, Saba Rock and their associated 160+ balls and slips to come back online. Not only did these provide additional places for boaters to stay it also spread boaters out. Today boaters are very concentrated.

We cannot wait for these locations to open back up. It will be great for the BVI people and the boaters!
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 08:51 AM

Correct, we did not use boatyball. However the presence of boatyball meant we did not visit cooper island, although we stopped by to try. Also, we cleared into the bvi at jost. Mid morning and almost no fcfs balls available. We were not going to use a ball that someone had booked. Boaty takes a great deal away from the pleasure of visiting the bvi. Thanks for pointing it out that we did not use boatyball.
Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 08:54 AM

Demand is not the issue. It’s supply of balls that’s the issue. Boatyball made the. Supply of fcfs balls a much larger problem. We were down in November 2018 , before boatyball descended on the beautiful bvi. Life was great in the bvi. If you did not get a ball, move onto plan b.

Boatyball is a disaster for repeat visitors that don’t need to map out a detailed itinerary before they arrive in the bvi.
Posted By: sunman60

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 09:41 AM

Warren, I'll chime in with one last post & reply to your previous post to me, we're not all the same my friend, some of us have different demands and lifestyles, -we don't enjoy getting to our destination before or by lunchtime, and re the snorkelling & happy hour we don't miss out on that; BB let's you stay till 12 noon, before then we get up at our leisure, sort ourselves out & then go for a nice long morning swim/ snorkel/ walk; then we have a nice brunch aboard & depart somewhere close to noon; we like to sail so we'll go for a 3-5 hour sail;
'beer o'clock' happens when we're moored/ anchored up & cocktail o'clock is around 6 sometime before dinner; so we do everything you like to do, just in a different order.

in our (the Mrs & I) opinion BB's are a blessing, I do hear what you say and I get it but there's what? 75 BoatyBalls out there in the whole area? & how many boats? 500+? so I really don't think it's worth getting in a big fuss over.

and one last thing, we're Brits & sail a lot in the Med too, we'd kill for mooring balls of any sort there, there's a massive shortage of marina berthing so when it's busy the free swinging on anchor is chaos to say the least, if you're still reading this BB could you pop over to Greece & Croatia & talk to the folks there please?

we're all sailors Warren, we love the sea, I wish you peace and happy sailing.
Posted By: bailau

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 11:24 AM

Boatyball IMHO does not make things easier in the BVIs. Hard to see a system where you have higher than an 86% failure rate of reserving a ball (15/109 at Cooper per BB), making things easier. I cant speak to any other area outside the US. We do have docking reservation ability in the states that I use but you can log on at any point and reserve (or not if they don't have capacity) in the future. I use parking and driving reservations systems in DC and spend thousands of dollars per year for these. I am totally comfortable after spending money to charter a plane and a boat a few extra dollars for convenience but BB simply doesn't provide it to me personally. The systems I mention above (Dockwa, snagaslip, parkmobile, EZPass) are all simply money collection systems and don't require me to reserve at 1 time each day competing for a 14% chance of success. Further, any business that sets its clients up for an 86% chance of failure is going to have some unhappy people especially when there are credibility issues surrounding the system itself.

The BVI businesses need a money collection system...leaving the balls as FCFS and setting boatyball to collect would have accomplished that.

For now simply avoiding Cooper and Great Harbour in the high season avoids most issues as the ratio of BB to FCFS moorings is too high.

The answer is not necessarily waiting until other moorings open as I am quite sure BB, like any business, wants (and needs) to expand. The main issue is the ratio of BB to FCFS at any particular harbor.

I do commend BB for starting a counter marketing campaign here and with local businesses to counteract and deflect these issues and getting new people involved on their behalf on TTOL but it is another buzz kill to see the grenades (personal attacks & broadbrushing people with the opposing opinion) being tossed by both sides on what is otherwise a great board.

All IMHO





Posted By: warren460

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 11:49 AM

The same to you.
Posted By: BoatyBall

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 02:17 PM

Warren, November 2018 was one year post Irma and there were a lot less boats going out on charter. The number of boats out on charter is significantly greater today than Nov 2018. This is great for the BVI and for individuals like you that have boats in charter programs in the BVI.

However, as we have mentioned in previous posts the number of maintained and available mooring balls still remain significantly less than pre Irma levels. This creates a supply and demand issue that will not be resolve until more moorings become available.
Posted By: Eric_Hill

Re: I hate boaty ball. - 02/20/2020 02:24 PM

This whole thing has gotten completely out of control. No one is changing anybody's mind or listening to either side.

It is going around and around in constant circles of the same babble over and over and over again and again.

This is done and I am not going to allow future thread to go into the vast black hole that this and similar threads have manage to achieve.
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