Sue thanks so much for all the valuable information you've posted here. I'm the husband of LoveSun. We're trying to come up with some itinerary hypotheses for our Christmas charter, and we're already committed to a US-flagged boat out of St. Thomas.
Below I've appended an email exchange I just had with Greg Romney, Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Government of The [British] Virgin Islands.
Me:
"Dear Her Majesty’s Customs,
Could you please answer a question for me? In December I am chartering (bareboat) a US-flagged vessel for my family from a company in the USVI, and hope to include the BVI on the charter itinerary.
A representative of the charter company has informed me that at present, due to COVID, US-flagged vessels may not enter the BVI. But the BVI section of
https://bb.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/covid-19-information/ states "Effective 15 June, travellers who have been fully vaccinated with the final dose administered at least 14 days before travel can enter the BVI by sea through the Road Town Jetty; Soper’s Hole Dock, West End; Dog Hole Dock, Jost Van Dyke; and St Thomas Bay Dock, Virgin Gorda.”
Everyone who will be on the vessel during my December charter is already fully vaccinated. Could you please clarify for me whether we would be allowed to enter the BVI on a US-flagged chartered vessel?"
Mr. Romney:
"Good morning,
The BVI has not opened for foreign based charter vessels to enter and cruise in our waters. I cannot say that in December that will still be the case as this is a decision only our government can make.
However, the BVI is open for all persons to enter, vaccinated or unvaccinated. I hope this clarifies your question."
It is exceptionally difficult to find information about this "foreign based charter vessels" ban on official BVI government websites. An International Foundation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) legal review dated 5/8/20 of BVI COVID emergency decrees cites the official legislation and orders (see
https://disasterlaw.ifrc.org/sites/...rch%20-%20Virgin%20British%20Islands.pdf):
"The COVID-19 Control and Suppression (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2020 (No. 5 of 2020) was signed on 1st April, 6 enabling orders to be made quarantining individuals, prohibiting or restricting the entry into BVI of ships and aircraft and prohibiting or restricting assemblies. ... Under this Act, a ferry, pleasure boat, commercial vessel, commercial airline, private aircraft or any other means of transportation at any port in the BVI is prohibited or restricted from entering the Territory, except as the Minister in exceptional circumstances may by direction in writing authorise."
A footnote to the latter sentence references "Prohibition or restriction of commercial vessels or aircraft (COVID-19) Order, 2020" which according to
https://bvi.gov.vg/media-centre/two-covid-19-orders-and-two-bills-gazetted-today were added to the BVI government's official record ("The Gazette") on 4/9/20. I attempted to subscribe to The Gazette at
https://eservices.gov.vg/gazette/ so I could read that order, but the damned website's new account creation logic was malfunctioning. So I quit in frustration after hours of scouring the Internet trying to find the fricking official information.
In summary I misinterpreted the statement in the BVI section of
https://bb.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/covid-19-information/ stating "Effective 15 June, travellers who have been fully vaccinated with the final dose administered at least 14 days before travel can enter the BVI by sea through the Road Town Jetty; Soper’s Hole Dock, West End; Dog Hole Dock, Jost Van Dyke; and St Thomas Bay Dock, Virgin Gorda.” I guess that must only apply to ferries or BVI-flagged vessels carrying travelers from other places (or something).
Do you happen to know the COVID-related entry protocols for the SVI? Since they're also US territory (part of Puerto Rico), I'm hoping there would be little to no testing requirements and travel portal submissions etc. to go back and forth between the USVI and the SVI. I'll look into it and post back here with whatever I find.
Cheers,
Randy
S/V Grenadine
