Anonymous said:
Sorry to say this but I have 16 people on two catamarans coming in late July and they have to have some certainty in their return trip to St. Thomas so they can get home for important matters. This will most likely be the last time I do this. It has been yearly since 1981. I imagine that I along with my friends spend upwards to $70,000.00 yearly in the BVI and that will stop. I just can't feel responsible for their travel yet in the past I had "no worries". Wake Up BVI
The ferries are no longer a scalable or practical solution to move airlift passengers between countries. The rigorous safety standards, the security of two independent nations, the price of oil, the cost of trained labor and the cost of modern boats doom the business case. In the BVI and STT combo the taxi politics further doom the practice of the past. The land in STT, that requires some to go through US immigration, get your bags, get a third world taxi, ride a taxi or van, to find and catch a third world ferry boat, then handle C&I on Tortola, to then find and ride yet another third world taxi to your hotel. Yes to some that is great fun and adventure. To so many other that is a BS way to add hassle and risk to family or group travel.
Either get St. Thomas to allow simple ferry transport direct from the airport to a reasonable BVI ferry hub. Or go forward with a major jet port at EIS. The way I read the paper neither set of Islands want the cross border ferries to work? Without the full support and cooperation of both the BVI and USVI the STT as the air gateway is doomed.
Today there is simply no way to determine how many hours a traveler must budget for the cross border airport. If the ferry is part of your flight plan you need to add a day on both ends just in case the ferries do not work out that day.
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