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Changes Happening at White Bay

swim buoys
Image credit: Rock’n Rolla boat charter

For those of you who’ve been lucky enough to visit White Bay over on Jost the past few days or perhaps you’ve been checking out Soggy Dollar’s webcam, you may have noticed a new addition to the water just offshore.

New buoys were installed earlier this week creating a new designated swim area along portions of White Bay. According to our friend Iggie, who captains Rock’n Rolla, he said the buoys are currently only in front of the Soggy Dollar Bar and down to the area near One Love. (We were at White Bay last Saturday, and they had yet to be installed.)

There are a few breaks between the swim areas where boats can drop off their guests close to shore or dinghy them in. Boats are no longer permitted to anchor right offshore, however.

An screenshot taken from Soggy Dollar's webcam Wednesday afternoon.
An screenshot taken from Soggy Dollar’s webcam Wednesday afternoon.

Some people are happy that there is now a designated swim area while others are upset that they now have to potentially swim further to shore. We’re curious what you think. Please let us know by voting in the poll below…

6 thoughts on “Changes Happening at White Bay”

  1. Unless someone has been chopped up by a prop (which I don’t think has happened in all this time) it seems to be overkill especially if boats can enter to drop off and pickup. However, I suspect Soggy Dollar’s insurance carrier is requiring this…

  2. Be very, very careful with everything you do anywhere in the BVI henceforth. An acquaintance with hundreds of BVI stamps, scrupulously law abiding, was “detained” for a long day recently for “not going directly to WE customs”. All paperwork was done, ziplocked with passports. Never landed, never stopped moving, never got out of the boat, but ended up paying $5000 to get their boat back from HM Customs, who had filled the boat with garbage before returning it several days later. (The fine is $10,000, apparently even if not guilty). You MUST go to “the nearest point of clearance,” apparently, according to the thugs on the big gray enforcement boat. It took several hours to “find” the keys. Was treated like dirt, with constant threats of strip search of crew members, jokes and weekend detention. Had an acquaintance with BVI Immig. not taken over, there would have been a weekend in lockup. One of the guests was a visitor from Stateside, and will never, ever go back to the BVI after having an HM Customs woman come at her with rubber gloves on laughing. The new rules for clearance will be enforced, people will be “detained” and International Treaties will be broken while the BVI collects cash. Each and every person on a vessel must now bring their belongings and clear in. Boats will be searched over and over. And they WILL tear things apart. Opportunistic parasitism has always been a problem, but now it is going to blossom. Be very, very careful and know all the “rules” before you enter BVI waters and enjoy. And always be respectful of the BVI officers, no matter what they do. Many are simply looking for an excuse. All this while belongers running back and forth bring coca, mota y illegales over on a daily basis. Oh, and there isn’t any “more” to this story. Just sayin’ be very, very careful. I won’t be going to Anegada or VG without clearing in WE or JVD first. Hmm. Which is “closest.” Remember, clearing back into the U.S. you HAVE to go to Cruz Bay (first point of entry coming from BVI). I’m surprised that one hasn’t been enforced HARD yet, but it will.

  3. This REDICULOUS rule will cost millions of dollars for the BVI AND the USVI. Tourism in the entire region will suffer tremendously, and the economic backlash will be immeasurable. There are probably thousands of guests that visit the USVI that will never ever go to JOST VAN DYKE again. Everything along the chain will suffer, including losses to 1)bars and restaurants on the BVI islands, 2)the boats that take people there, 3)the fuel and supplies that the boats use, 4)the entire USVI tourist industry and its economic base of hotels, villas, restaurants, stores, etc., etc., etc. 5)the airline industry which flies people to the Virgin Islands.——-as you can imagine, the list can go on forever.
    It seems clear that this new immigration law will be one of the biggest blunders ever made by the powers in charge.
    We should all fight this tooth and nail until sanity returns to those fools who created this mess. The law MUST BE RECINDED !!!!!

  4. Our previous comment applies to the new immigration law—-NOT to the placement of buoys in front of the beach at White’s Bay—-(although they aren’t necessary either). In fact part of the charm of the bay has been sitting in a beach chair in the water with a painkiller in hand while watching the boaters swim to and from shore. Don’t switch pitchers in the middle of a winning inning.

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