Sailing from Tortola to St John - CUSTOMS

Hi there - 12 of us are sailing around the BVI this coming July. I would love to visit St John but one of our group members claims that customs via sailboat will be awful. Any insight as to what customs entails - to/from the BVI from the US? I would hate to be that close to St John and not visit.

I never heard of it being awful.
It’s actually friendlier then anywhere in the Caribbean.
It’s a simple process just grab a mooring ball outside the harbor and bring everyone to Customs with their passports and the boat papers.

Agree, it's fairly simple. Dress appropriately, have your papers and passports ready and be respectful and it should go quick.

It is straight-forward to clear into St John (after you first clear out of the BVI).

- While you're home, download and complete CBP Form I-418 Crew List and as much of the CBP Form 1300 Vessel Entrance Form as you can (you can finish filing out the vessel info once the charter company gives you the ship's papers).

- Grab a mooring ball near Lind Pt, St John. Dinghy with entire crew into Cruz Bay. Take the north channel past the yellow National Park Service building and tie up at the NPS dock (do not tie up at the commercial wharf).

- From the NPS dock, turn right at the main road and walk 100 yards to the CBP trailer just inside the iron gate on your right side (opens at 10:30 am).

- Usually takes less than 5 minutes to clear-in my crew.

- Cost = $0 except a small surcharge on holidays.

- You do not need to clear-out of the USVI when returning to BVI.

- Returning to BVI, you will need to clear-in - typically, Great Harbour, JVD or West End, Tortola. Only the ship's captain needs to report to C&I. Rest of crew stays onboard. This should take less than 20 minutes.

- You'll need to fill out the same immigration form for each crew member as you filled out when you first ferried/flew in. In addition, there is a ship's manifest & crew list form to be filled out. The ship info is similar to that you put on the CBP Form 1300 and your charter company should have the info.

- The BVI customs processing fee is ~$20. I do not know if you will need to re-pay the $10/person Environmental Tax that you paid on your initial entry. You'll also have to pay the $6/person/day BVI cruising tax for remaining days in the BVI.

Thank you all so much. It is one fun hater that claims that the customs process will be terrible. Even after I communicated this advice he was like "Wellll....." I think I will just toss him overboard. We haven't left and I am already over him ha ha ha ha.

He literally just sent us news articles "specific, credible Iran threat against US forces triggered carrier deployment, sources say" and "Gulf of Oman tankers attacked." I am beginning to think he doesn't understand we will be in the Caribbean and no where near the middle east. I am so frustrated.

To quote RickG "if they whine at home they will whine more in the islands" you do not need that kind of negativety in your life. Go to St John and leave him home. St John is by far the nicest island in the Virgins.

Right? I absolutely agree. If he doesn't want to go so bad, he can stay on the boat or not go at all. I am really MAD. I can't believe we would completely ignore most of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean because he is worried about Iran and Omar.

You will have the St John national park anchorages and beaches all to yourself in July. Well...I'll be there on Cuvée from July 9-19, but don't tell anyone else.

We just got back from the BVI and spend 3 days at St John. We have the ROAM apt and our cat is registered with the current annual sticker so we check in by my iPhone. This is the second time we have used ROAM to register with US Customs. IT is so nice and easy. We were in StJohn on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Only had to share anchorages all three nights with 3, 4 and 6 other boats. IF you do go to the USVI, remember if you check back into the BVI on a Sunday, BVI charges an extra fee of $20. For the 2 of us, fees leaving the BVI were $5 and checking back in on Monday was $10. Also, if you have a Senor pass for the US Parks, the mooring fees are $13 as opposed to the full price of $26.

Tell him he can stay shore-based in the BVI while the rest of the crew enjoys St. John. Drop him at Scrub and tell him you’ll be back in a few days. Or, I suppose if it really becomes a sticking point everyone who wants to do St. John could take the ferry over for the day while the stick-in-the mud sits on the boat at Jost alone - though that doesn’t seem very fair to everyone else. Who’s the acting captain of the boat?