mooring or docking?

Mooring will be the only affordable option to leave it in the water. I think the permit is 400 a year and you will have to install the ground tackle or have it done. Other than that you would have to work out dry storage at one of the marina's.
Jay

I applied for a mooring at the first of May 2007 and still have heard nothing from DPNR. I have visited occasionally to check on the application, and they always tell me the same thing: they are not processing mooring applications at this time. I had heard when I began this process that it has often taken a year or more in the past to obtain a mooring. When I have checked with them (office upstairs at the airport, by the way) they always pull my application out of a very full filing cabinet drawer and show me it is still awaiting processing. The cost is $5/foot per year. Renewable in June each year. Partial years are prorated. You pay when the application is approved.

Many moorings are in regular use around the island that are not currently permitted. There is very sporadic enforcement. You could probably put down a mooring in a location where there are already others and evade mooring fees for up to a decade...

I got same-day service once I brought in my completed app, with photo etc. Same with my neighbor.. Perhaps things have changed in recent months.

if you have a 17 foot zodiac on a mooring...isn't someone just gonna cruise by and steal it? How do you protect yourself from having that happen?

DPNR is slowly trying to work through a number of problem issues with moorings. I spent the better part of a year getting a problem with my mooring permit resolved, and learned a lot about the various issues associated with mooring permits. A big part of the problem is the large number of abandoned, derelict, and otherwise unseaworthy boats legally and illegally moored throughout the VI. Obviously, this impacts the ability of other well intentioned boaters to find a safe place to keep their boats.

Given their lack of resources and the legal and technical difficulties associated with removing derelicts and illegal moorings, DPNR somehow decided the best way to deal with the situation was to put a moratorium on new mooring permits. For example, they closed everything on St John except for Chocolate Hole (not the best place to keep a boat given the exposure).

I believe that DPNR will still allow you to apply for an anchor permit for various areas. As long as you understand good anchoring techniques and have decent ground tackle, this could be a viable option. This is what I did while I waited to get my mooring permit. The down side is that if you take your boat out, you may find someone else there when you return (not that this doesn't also happen with moorings once in a while).

This problem is only going to get worse as more people "discover" the VI. The best solution would be for boaters to get actively involved and figure out a way to help the DPNR better deal with the situation. There are a number of people already working in this direction, and hopefully we can get more of the boating community to participate.