SPECIAL REPORT: the state of the BVI, post-Hurricane Irma.
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?
The first signs that things were not exactly back to normal appeared at the Aeropuerto Luis Muñoz Marin in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was awaiting my connecting flight to Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands, at the sports bar near the gate. The atmosphere was strangely inert. No mofongo to savor. No reggaeton songs playing. I looked up at the bar’s array of flat-screen televisions. Each showed only a DirecTV logo bouncing against a black background.
A half-hour later, walking across the tarmac to a Seaborne Airlines prop plane, I saw that a corner of Terminal D had been ripped away. There was only mangled rebar across an open wound. It was astounding to imagine the force of a wind that could strip concrete from a structure as solid as an airport terminal.
Our team from Soundings’ parent company, Active Interest Media — including editors from our sister magazines PassageMaker and Power & Motoryacht, as well as our AIM Marine Group publisher — was en route to document, by way of a four-day charter, the recovery efforts following Hurricane Irma. From above, on our 47-minute flight, the Caribbean looked as gorgeous as ever: lush, green hills surrounded by deep azure seas that blossomed in turquoise at the edge of white beaches.
But as we descended to the runway that lies like an accent aigu between Beef Island’s northwest and southeast shores, the bird’s-eye mirage dissolved. Homes were covered in tarps. Palm trees looked like the festive ends of spindly party toothpicks. And boats — boats were everywhere, but rarely where they should be. They were upside down, on top of one another, washed ashore and marooned.
It was a heartbreaking sight, for sure, but happily not all the sights of the next few days would be like it.
SCRUB ISLAND
Our first stop was MarineMax Vacations, which is operating out of Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina in Irma’s wake. The season had not officially begun, but crews were hard at work in early December, and the resort is now providing hotel rooms, as well as dining and marina services for MarineMax guests. The pool, spa, market and other amenities are scheduled to open for the public soon, and in the meantime, MarineMax is offering bareboat and crewed charter yachts, provisioning, dive equipment, tours and water-toy rentals. In fall 2018, MarineMax plans to open its new base in Nanny Cay.
Raul Bermudez, vice president of MarineMax Vacations, says the company has 42 charter vessels in its BVI fleet. About half were in service as we went to press, and repairs were ongoing, with additional boats returning to service at a rate of roughly one per week.
We spent the night at the Scrub Island dock aboard the MarineMax 484 (see sidebar). The next morning, we’d pick up a Moorings 433PC built by Robertson & Caine (see sidebar) for our tandem cruise through the most popular BVI spots.
ROAD TOWN
At The Moorings base the next morning, a swarm of energetic workers were hammering, painting, cleaning and generally getting the place shipshape for its reopening, which was just a few days away.
The Moorings base looks beautiful. Its Mariner Inn Hotel has only ocean-view rooms open for now — others should return to inventory in April or May. The Renport Boutique is open for customers who need to rent electronics, including Wi-Fi hotspots. Sail Caribbean Divers is back in business. The restaurants Charlie’s and the Mariner Yacht Club are serving guests of The Moorings. Amara Spa has reopened, and water toys are available for rental at Water Sports.
Ian Pedersen, marketing manager for the Americas at The Moorings,
said the BVI operation was running near capacity, and shipments of new, repaired and relocated yachts were arriving all the time.
“Sprits are high, progress is being made, and our initial charter guests are returning with some truly heartwarming reviews of the cruising ground and the marina,” he said. “It is good to be back.”
Our crew made the short walk to RiteWay to provision. The supermarket was well-stocked, but it was hard to miss the many stacks of generators for sale, arrayed upfront. Much of the BVI was still without power, though power has now been restored in Anegada and Jost Van Dyke. Work is ongoing in Tortola and Virgin Gorda, and extra teams of linemen from Jamaica were expected to speed the recovery in January.
As we left the supermarket, it started to rain, and with all our groceries to carry and one more crucial stop to make (at the liquor store), we hailed a taxi. Our driver, Derek Tuckett, said living through Irma had felt like being at war.
“Like bombs, like they dropped bombs,” he said, describing the island as Irma hit. “I stayed inside where I lived and peeked out. I saw two tornadoes