It is with some disappointment that I find myself writing this e-mail from the United States Virgin Islands.
Following a smooth, pleasant check-in at immigration at Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, my husband and I proceeded to explore and enjoy VG and Anegada. We enjoyed it so much that we wanted to extend our stay.
We therefore sailed to Road Town specifically to extend our immigration status. A very pleasant lady saw us and agreed to extend our stay.
She then told us we would have to visit customs to pay a fee. We inquired as to the nature of this fee. She telephoned customs and relayed to us that we would need to pay $201 to temporarily import our vessel as our stay was to exceed 30 days.
Now this seemed odd to us: We are British, our boat is British registered, and we are visiting a United Kingdom overseas territory. Moreover, we have European Great Britain passports, the same as nationals of the VI. A resident there was very proud to show us his burgundy covered EU Great Britain passport and to have all the rights that go along with having this passport that we ourselves feel proud to carry.
We felt this was just a scam tax to get money out of cruisers. Following further discussion, we decided not to pay, and left the VI for the USVI.
The “Annual Tonnage Fee,” as we have since discovered to be its name, would be more appropriately called a “Cruising Permit” — but that would not be so palatable to us cruisers.
This seems to be a very short-sighted measure by the VI government: On average, we spend $1,500 to $2,000 per month living on our boat. We spend all of this money wherever we are, so now we are spending it in the USVI instead of the VI.
Us “live-aboards” may seem small fry to the VI government compared with the charter crowd. But we have more time, we can keep coming back, and we tell our friends to visit or not, as the case may be.
I hope that this letter causes some discussion among the VI community, especially Premier Dr. Orlando Smith. After all, he is the minister of tourism, and he pledged in his message in the BVI Marine Guide 2014 to “ensure that the necessary legislation, policies and procedures are carried out that will further advance our reputation as a Yachtsman Friendly Destination.”
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