We anchored at Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, the water was the clearest we had seen anywhere and two turtles swan around behind the boat. We’d heard much about the BVIs and it all appeared to be true. We got a couple of hours of sleep then headed in to check in with customs and immigration.
We went in the the office and diligently waited in front of the Immigration window as directed by signs. Three customs officials milled around, plus two cashiers but no one was in the Immigration department. An older sailor beside us also waited patiently, he’d apparently been given the forms to complete but since then the official had disappeared. Four more sailors arrived. We all waited. We could see someone in uniform stood around doing nothing outside. 40 minutes after arriving a surly young official (the one who’d been outside) reluctantly returned to his seat and asked with all the petulance of a stroppy teenager if he could help. Knowing that any signs of displeasure on our part would make our checking in extremely hard, we smiled and asked for the forms. The rest was completed fairly quickly and the fees were not as much as we had expected. However, it was hard not to see the deliberate waiting as anything other than a power game.
We had lunch at a cafe in the marina and had a walk round the nicely landscaped marina and the little shops behind before returning to the boat. When we got back we had a lovely afternoon snorkelling around the boat. I could not believe the water clarity and the number of fish.
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