There are lots of new charterers who come here looking for tips, so I'd like to jump in here with something we saw SEVERAL times, and we were shocked every time:

If you have a reservation for a slip somewhere, you STILL NEED TO RADIO AHEAD and get your dock assignment so you can set your lines & fenders. You CANNOT just tie up to a random dock & go looking for the dock hands or throw a line to the nearest employee. No less than 3 boats, one private & 2 separate charters (one Moorings cat, one Horizon mono) arrived at Scrub almost simultaneously to jockey for whatever unoccupied spots they could find. The 2 charters had reservations & didn't know they were supposed to radio in & neither had any fenders or lines out. The private boat had no reservation, tied up to the T-dock & went looking for the poor guy who was dealing with the other two. And none of them knew how to dock, so one guy made five fly-bys before getting close enough to throw a line. While it was good for entertainment value, it was utter chaos for about 30 minutes with crew scrambling to get everything out, attached, and somewhat near the dock. And all of them were alongside the dock, not in an actual slip. This also happened at Peter Island with different boats. Both marinas were busy & Peter was more crowded than we've ever seen it.

If you don't have a reservation, YOU CANNOT TIE UP IN A SLIP just because there's an empty one! At Leverick a boat pulled up without calling/radioing & started to pull into the slip beside us. When the dockhand asked them what they needed they yelled back that they were "just pulling in for an hour or two to go do some shopping". Whaaaaat??? Take a mooring ball.

We have all had our share of screw-ups, God knows we make all kinds of mistakes... but not calling ahead was a new one to me. It's not a parking lot. Would you walk into a hotel & throw your bags onto a bed in an open room & THEN go check in? What are people thinking? Use your noodle and be considerate to the people working on the docks.

On that happy note, I'll add: TIP YOUR DOCKHANDS. It is a much harder job than you can possibly imagine, especially when it's busy.