My family and I just returned from an outstanding, too-short charter in the BVI. After seven trips, the Admiral insisted that we visit St. John. I had always been dissuaded from this by the thought of spending valuable vacation time in the Customs & Immigration offices. I am providing a somewhat detailed report about our experience in the hopes that it might help someone who is considering doing this.

We chartered at Hodges Creek Marina with Dream Yacht and spent our first night in the Bight. We headed for West End the next morning to clear out of the BVI; picked up a ball across from the C&I dock, loaded myself and five passengers into the dink armed with passports and ship's documents. There is a dinghy dock to the right of the ferry dock. The C&I office was tiny and the officer told me that the crew did not need to stay as long as I had their passports. I completed a one-page Marine Control Document which provided vessel identification and ownership as well as crew/passenger information, and paid $6.00 ($1 for the form and $5 for "Customs Services"). From the time we piled into the dink until we were cleared took about 15 minutes. This did not include the time it took to take down and put up sails, but we made the best of it by using it as a timely lunch stop. We did not have to compete with any ferry traffic but if we had, we could have eaten lunch before clearing out and let that traffic pass.

With step one complete, we made off for Cruz Bay. After doing some research on this, I was still a little unclear about where we would moor or anchor to clear in. There are mooring ball fields at Caneel Bay, and Salomon Bay, which is a little further west. The balls at the west end of Salomon were taken so we took one a little further east than I would have liked and, again, piled everyone into the dink with passports and ship's papers in hand. On the ride over, there was a lone red ball close to Lind Point. This turned out to be an available ball that could have cut our dink trip in half. Oh well. As we continued further on, there was ample room to the northeast of the ferry channel in Cruz Bay that I will drop a hook next time we go there, and save a one mile (actual) dinghy ride. We tied up next to the National Park Service building and walked back around (200 yds) to the U.S. Customs building. This didn't seem quite right but we didn't see a dinghy dock closer to the building (I suspect we missed it??).

In U.S. Customs (again there was no ferry traffic), we were met by business-like, but friendly staff who cleared my crew in whilst I completed a similar document to that of the BVI (crew was required to clear-in in this case). We were cleared in 15 minutes and out the door to begin our exploration. I had read that clearing out was not required and forgot to confirm this with customs personnel, but we did not go back to clear out.

By the way, in the various bays in the USVI there are floating pay stations where you pay for your mooring ($15) on the honor system. These are perhaps 10'x15' floating docks with a file box and pay drop. You open the file box to collect a mooring envelope/permit and USPS Mariner's Resource Protection Guide that contains mooring information and a useful map (also available on-line). You write-in the date, vessel name, etc., tear off a perforated permit, seal the envelope with your payment and drop it into the lock box (have correct change since no one is there to provide any).

After our visit, we were ready to clear back into the BVI. We had a brisk, beam reach over to Great Harbor, JVD arriving just before 4pm (C&I closes @ 4:30). As an aside, this was the first time we had been back to Great Harbor since the moorings were installed and by evening, every ball was taken - lots of boats! The C&I office is directly in front of the government jetty/dinghy dock.

Only the Admiral and I went to C&I this time, and we were met by a brusk, young C&I officer. We were advised by the West End C&I officer who cleared us out to bring back our copy of the aforementioned Marine Control document, "some cash" and to use the precise words "We are re-entering" upon our return to the BVI. Apparently, this is a source of confusion and irritation, at least to him. Anyway, this went pretty smoothly except that we did not carry our Cruising Permit with us. Despite their somewhat unofficial, even whimsical-looking appearance, this is an official, numbered document that we needed to bring with us. I offered to zip back to the boat to retrieve this but while we were discussing the matter, the officer received a radio call that there was a ferry arriving shortly and he let us off "this time". We paid $15 to clear back in - $5 for custom services and $10 for something else that is not decipherable on the form.

All-in-all, the whole process was uneventful and not very inconvenient from my perspective. A little preparation and planning goes a long way. We were happy to be able to explore some really pristine bays and do a little hiking on St. John, and would not hesitate to visit again. I hope this helps! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Cheers.gif" alt="" />