Arriving in BVI by Private Yacht

Although my boat was in charter with TMM for two years, I will be bringing her back to the BVI (as a private yacht) for the first time since taking her out of the TMM fleet in 2020. I’ve looked carefully at all the available information provided by the BVI government, but I can’t determine the likely cost for bringing Ocean Song (Lagoon 42) back into the BVI for 30 days or so. Anyone with experience have any idea? My wife and I live aboard and will jump from Portsmouth, Dominica to the BVI this weekend. Thanks!

I was just there for a week on my private vessel. $72 for various C&I fees, $10 per-person Environmental Tax, plus $1 per-foot Port Authority fee when you clear in. Clearing out cost me $15 total.

Cost depends heavily on where your vessel is flagged.

I don't know how many times I've cleared into the BVI in the past - certainly over 50 times. I don't think that I've ever paid the same amount twice.

I think that your entry visa is limited to 28 days, while the boat can remain longer. I've found that purchasing a "temporary import" (required if the boat stays in the BVI longer, e.g. for storage during the hurricane season) for around US$150 per year has made a difference to my clearing-in and clearing-out fees.

But you have another potential problem that can be quite expensive. Your boat is a charter boat in the USVI. When you come to the BVI they can treat the boat as a foreign charter vessel and charge charter fees. Even if you are the owners. I was clearing in to Spanish Town once and 4 French people ahead of me were in that situation. One couple were owners and the other were friends. The boat was in a charter fleet in St. Martin. The officials charged them over US$1000, I believe it 1500, for one week. They argued for quite a while but in the end had to pay the fees as the alternative would have been to sail back upwind to SXM (non-Americans need a visa to sail to the USVI and all of them didn't have one). This despite having clear paperwork.

Hi Arnd,

The people asking the question are planning on bringing a private boat into the BVI. The boat has not been operating as a charter boat for several years.

Does this impact your response?

@Warren460 - the response remains valid, but if the boat is now in private possession and not chartered the warning doesn't apply to them anymore. But before posting I just googled "Ocean Song Lagoon" and the first hit was for bareboat chartering it.

Thanks to everyone for your responses, all were very helpful. We checked in at Jost without any problems. We had assembled all the documents that we thought would be necessary to establish that our boat was no longer a charter boat. As it turned out, the customs official did not ask any questions, look at any documents, or have any concerns about our boat as an ex-charter vessel. We checked in at a total cost of $107 US. It was as smooth as silk.

Was your boat still BVI or US flagged?

Congrats on the "easy" entry. Have a good time cruising the BVI. I'm planning on returning this season, but my boat is still in Grenada and I travel there next week.

I've found that Jost van Dyke is also the easiest/fastest place to clear in and out.

U.S. flagged

Last time we took a USVI charter boat to the BVI for a week ( pre covid) the BVI fees were +$1100 for a 42 cat with 8 crew.
Has anyone done this recently? What is this costing now?

US flagged is not bad. The one time I brought a French Flagged boat into the BVI I had to take out a second mortgage!