Boat between STX & STT

No, as of today, there is no ferry between STT and STX and no one has any idea if/when there will be one. If I were you, I'd look into the seaplane or Cape Air.

Thank you for your response

I have been reading about the lack of ferry service from SST to STX and it is a ashame that they can't get it together. My question is, If some one was interested in brining down a high speed ferry to fill in the gap where or who would they have to speak to other than the Coast Gaurd ?

I am sure that it is not easy or some would have done it buy now. Any feed back would be great. One more thing Why does'nt the powere that be just buy a retired ferry at auction somewhere and then they would own it out right and not have to worry about monoplies and contracts?

Maybe they could take a look at www.shipspotting.com and see if there are anything out there or get feed back from some people in the commercial maritime industry.

Just a thought, Take care and thank you for your time.

Rhum

My husband often buys at military auctions. Recently they had 2 landing crafts for sale. I will research and see what they went for. We considered buying one but with the move to STX we are tapped out. They were excellent boats for a ferry. They were previously used to transport big trucks and tanks to shore in addition to transporting a large number of personnel. One of them even had a big commercial kitchen and bath and shower facilities. They can land right on shore to off load. The owner operator could live aboard if needed. I don't think they would need alot of work to convert to a ferry. Anyway just a thought.
Tammy

This is not as simple as it seems. The passage between STT and STX is deep and usually rough. And it takes at least 90 minutes to go one way. My understanding is that it is not a profitable route. Most people who want to go back and forth take either the seaplane or Cape Air. Island Lynx started with high hopes and did not generate the ridership necessary to make it work.

I'm not saying it's not possible, but is must not be easy.

Its not quite as simple as buying a boat, and then using it as a ferry. Aside from the business licenses and the (I'm sure) exhorbitant insurance costs, approvals / permits would be needed friom the Port Authority, Coast Guard, and Public Service Commission, the latter would have a big say in what your fares would be. Most inter-island ferries are heavily subsidized by the state they operate within, and becauseof the aforementioned insurance and permitting process they go through, most of them are run by state governmemts or public authorities. Check out the NC Department of Transportation, for instance. they have an extensive ferry system for the eastern part of the state. It is very reasonably prices and customer friendly. It also is subsidized heavily by the state, and if it wasn't, tyhe tickest would cost ten times as much as they do.

Ferries are expensive, the capital outlay is enormous. That is why a private system operator has to granted a monopoly. Whenever a service is granted to a monopoly [provider, the public Service Commission has to0 be involved. Don't count on this getting resolved anytime soon.

I just heard on the radio this morning that a Boston ferry company wants to start a ferry service, but the stipulation would be that they are the *only* ferry service allowed. The government said that they couldn't make any decisions yet, because they still have an agreement with Island Lynx. Even though Island Lynx isn't running right now, the agreement still is there. Who knows what will happen. 🙂

Now the Smith family from Smith's Ferry in Tortola and STT announced today that they will be running the Royal Miss Belmar on the STT-STX run! That's the same boat, isn't it, from Island Lynx?

RL

I was on the old ferry several times, you needed an air sickness bag every time and I'm a boater. It was NOT like the St.John ferrys that were about the same size if not smaller. It was 2 hours of people laying on the floor, throwing up all over the place every time I been on it (4)
They also tried a large Cat from Puerto Rico everyone just kept getting sick. The trade winds stir the water up to much for a boat size that can make any money as well as fit into Charlott Amolie.

I recently took the ferry to St. Croix, and yes it was pretty rough and there were people getting sick. If I hadn't taken Dramamine, I would have been one of those people. Take Dramamine, or something like it, before getting on the ferry and you should be fine. We sat on the top deck, which I think helped also...good view of the horizon with the breeze blowing on our faces.

Yes, A lot of Dramamine and plan to deal with a huge hangover and balance shake-off at arrival.
I would suggest anyone taking the boat do it at night.
If you go during the day don’t plan on having busy day and NOT attempt to rent and drive a car after getting off that ferry.

I personally have lay on a bench mid deck (just above the waterline) and been able to see the horizons going up full sky to full sea in the windows. Some mopeds and building materials had come loose and started flying around spilling 2 stroke around the rear deck where people were running to get sick.
Its was some sight !!

does the ferry take large dogs in a crate with its owner? moving to stx trying to figure way to get our dog over to stx.

Does anyone have the number for the Ferry service that travels from STT to STX?
Thanks!

Here is the link to the Island Lynx web site. Their phone numbers are listed -- HOWEVER I doubt that you'll reach anyone because they stopped running back in August or September 2006. Their future here is questionable at this point. I believe that negotiations are underway for another company to take over the ferry service. You may want to do a search of this board for another thread where this was discussed (or just go back to the first post of this thread and read through... ;)).

http://www.southerlandtours.com/islandlynx/

If your request was for the phone number of the company that may take over the ferry service between STT & STX, I think you'll have to wait a bit since nothing has been officially announced about who that will be. (At least it's not been announced in the two local papers that I read.)

Good luck! 😀

You need to call Smith's Ferry 340 775-7292. They have it now.

RL

Thanks for the info re. Smith's Ferry. They are running Fri.-Mon. and may start running Wed. from STT to STX.

I just found out this afternoon that the ferry has started back up. Sorry about the erroneous info...*-)