From a friend who left Tortola yesterday (Wednesday, Feb 12)
"So--- for our trip home so you know. Our 10 AM Road Town fast ferry left at 10:30 because of slow downs by the new customs rules going thru Red Hook. When we got to Red Hook we went thru customs but they didn't take our checked bags off the boat! As we got off (from the center door labeled emergency exit only) the boat captain announced that if you wanted to stay in Red Hook the crew would get your bags to you. But all the bags were in a big pile on the back of the boat and we were in the crowd getting off so you couldn't do much at the time but keep moving in the mass. I guess we should have asked for our bags before we left the boat which we could have done if we knew before hand (all bags are stacked on the back of the boat). It took about an hour for all to get thru customs and we were back on the boat (didn't seem to be an option to take a cab to the airport without our bags) (which were the last off the boat because we were the first to check in). We arrived in town at 12:30 instead of 10:50 as expected and the bags were taken off the boat with no further screening (our carry-ons bags were screened in Red Hook) but the problem was that so many people were picking up the bags as they were taken off the boat and were leaving the terminal there were not enough cabs to take everyone to the airport. So we had 11 in our cab that had 10 seats! At the airport the lines were very long but we got thru in about an hour. All out flights were all 1 to 3 hours late but we were home by 11PM rather than 9 as we expected but we were home which was GOOD!"