It’s been a while since we’ve done an update and we’re in full off season mode. Silver Coral is tucked away in Virgin Gorda getting some work done, but we have the CatZillas in the water and are running a September special for the first time ever! Book online and use promo code SEPTEMBER to get $100 off.
This past season brought some changes to St. John including all the Covid restrictions being lifted; no more travel portal, no mask mandate and a small sense of normalcy has returned. Traveling has not exactly gotten easier but we have seen some decent flight prices in recent months to STT airport and we’re gearing up for a really good season next year. it’s a good time to start thinking about charters for next season and I’ll get into the BVI drama a little bit below.
If you chartered with us in the past few months or last spring you may have met two new faces, Captain Ben and Captain Luke, both of whom we are thrilled to see coming back this season. Captain Eric and Captain Scotty are both moving on to new ventures stateside, but we exoect to see them pop up here and there for a visit or two.
One notable island change that we want everyone to be aware of is; RECYCLING! Island Green Living has managed to bring plastic recycling to St. John along with the already existing can program. This is huge for St. John and the logevity of our island as a whole. You can recycle numbers 1,2 and 5 plastic and easily drop them off at the same spot where the red dumpsters are across from E&C Gas Station, just ook for large circular Blue recycling bins.
Real Estate on St. John continues to flourish and our short term rental programs are a highlight for new buyers. Contact me at Katie@holidayhomesvi.com for more info on St. John or St. Thomas Real Estate
The BVI Update is more of an explanation of what is going on and what we are trying to do to mitigage it.
The BVI does not want US Based boats coming in. They have implemented serious restrictions and certifications that we have to figure out in order to do charters over there and I’ll spare you the boring details and pages and pages of fees but to be frank, it’s atrociously expensive and the smaller businesses can not really afford it. There are some lawyers working in the background on this and we’re hearing rumors of changes coming but right now it’s status quo. Meaning, we cannot do BVI charters YET. I’m saying YET because we are working on a few things and hope to be able to offer BVI charters to you in the near future; but keep in mind that when the St. John companies start offering BVI charters, it’s going to be really expensive. We have to cover the costs of getting the licensing done, paying someone in the BVI to do it for us, work permits for our captains and on top of all of that the customs fees are going to be more expensive than they were in the past.
That being said, I’m going to leave a survey link below, let us know your thoughts on the cost, the number of you who would want to pay for it, and if it’s worth it to you.