Nanny Cay was buzzing with activity last week as the BVI Charter Yacht Show kicked off its 36th year.
Near Peg Leg’s Restaurant, yachts settled into the marina and workers readied registration tents for brokers, boat crews and vendors. But a few minutes down the road, many large sailboats remained stacked like dominoes, and Catsy, the now-iconic flipped catamaran, was still parked squarely on top of Nanny Cay’s former security checkpoint building.
It’s a new dichotomous reality for visitors arriving after Hurricane Irma — despite the territory’s cheery “open for business” status and Premier Dr. Orlando Smith’s official welcoming of tourists on Nov. 1.
The BVI Tourist Board also announced that the Anegada Lobster Festival will still proceed as scheduled on Nov. 25-26, and that the sister island will “ring in tourism high season.”
Yachting
Many charter companies, depending on the level of damage to their fleets, have been able to hit the ground running after Irma.
As the owner of Virgin Motor Yachts, Alexia Lucas, put it, “guests have been banging at the door to come in.”
On Nov. 1, the company welcomed its first charter guests, a family that has been coming down to the territory since the mid-1980s. The family even sponsored the BVI Strong Flotilla at Ivan’s Stress Free Bar on Jost Van Dyke on Sunday.
Ms. Lucas said charterers have a unique opportunity post-Irma, and are looking forward to a busy Christmas and New Year’s schedule.
“There are those that say it’s too soon. Well, on the charter boat it’s not too soon. It’s self-contained: You have food, water and they’re not taking resources from anyone,” she said.
There are guests who have cancelled their upcoming charters, she said, but they’re mostly first-timers. Virgin Motor’s repeat guests, by contrast, have been excited at the promise of visiting a more “vintage BVI,” she explained.
A different dream
Susan Restauri, who heads charter bookings for the yacht network Waypoints, also said she anticipates VI tourism getting back to basics.
“It’s a different way to sell the dream, because you’re going back to the original dream,” Ms. Restauri said on Tuesday at Nanny Cay. “Mother Nature decided to make some changes. Let’s bring it back to what it was. Temporarily, we’ve lost some of the clientele that comes in, who are going to go to other places. Well, good for them. They’re still going to come back, because this is the sailing dream.”
Ms. Restauri, for one, believes charter guests and visitors will inevitably be attracted by the promise of a minimalistic Caribbean experience.
“It doesn’t matter if there’s a shack on the beach with a little sign that says, ‘Now open for business,’” she said. “If they have ice, if they have a beer, sunshine, blue water and sand, these people are going to go and they’re going to have a wonderful time and make new memories.”
On land
Just how many visitors will, in fact, return to the territory through each tourism sector has been much debated.
Dozens of restaurants, shops and bars — along with a small handful of hotels — have said they are ready for guests.
But the owner of Fort Recovery in West End, Anita Macshane Cottoy, said she has already gotten cancellations from visitors for January and February.
Several villas remained intact on her property, but after Irma the clientele has been mostly lawyers, local business owners, or homeowners who want to check on their nearby properties, Ms. Cottoy said.
Regular visitors to the territory might still stay at the hotel, she speculated, but she isn’t so sure about “neutral tourists.”
“If you were a tourist or visitor who saved up to go on a vacation all year, would you think [the territory] is ready?” she said. “It’s a very precarious time, and it certainly doesn’t bring property up.”
The cruise ship sector is similarly uncertain at this stage. Officials have said that major cruise lines plan to send representatives in the first half of this month to assess the Tortola Pier Park — which is back open after repairs were made to relatively minor damage — and the rest of the territory and decide what needs to be done before their itineraries can regularly include the VI again.
‘Work hard, play hard’
Meanwhile, many regular visitors to the territory have been searching for a way to vacation while also assisting the local community.
An organisation called Sailors Helping was first created to funnel in supplies and coordinate evacuations, and has now begun to focus on matching those in the sailing world with aid projects and providing up-to-date information about accessible ports.
Victoria Fine, a boater who lives in Puerto Rico, started the group with her husband, Jon Vidar.
“There are boaters in the community who wanted to do something but didn’t know what to do,” Ms. Fine said. “We wanted to become a central place for people who want to help.”
Just this week, Sailors Helping launched an interactive map on its website, outlining specifically which ports in the VI, Puerto Rico and Anguilla are functioning.
The map includes information about docking, customs, electricity, potable water and other essential amenities at each port of call.
It also details aid projects in the area, such as “Rebuild and Repair Anegada,” which is looking for carpenters, project managers and painters for various building efforts.
“It’s an opportunity for charter companies, guests and anyone who wants to include volunteering in their vacation,” Ms. Fine said.
And for those who want to “work hard, play hard,” Sailors Helping is hosting its own flotilla in January, which will launch from Puerto del Rey, Puerto Rico and move around several different islands.
Those on the “Rally to Rebuild” will be able to volunteer with different relief projects around the region.
“We were looking to help cruisers and visitors come back to the Caribbean instead of being confused or scared,” Ms. Fine said about the rally. “We want people to feel confident and welcomed, because it can be intimidating to come into an area after a natural disaster strikes.”
This article originally appeared in the Nov. 9, 2017 Beacon print edition.