Registering a boat or mooring - STX

Edward tell us more! Were you able to get a mooring spot (did they have a recommended area,ect) or is there a wait? Any unexpected surprises with registration of your boat. Thanks!

DPNR is not allowing any additional placements of mooring in the Christiansted harbor.

If you know anyone with a mooring that they intend to sell, you still arent' guaranteed DPNR to let you register the mooring to your boat. If your boat is longer in size than the one on the mooring you intend to take over, you need Forbes to come over and inspect the actual boat on the mooring.

Forbes is a great guy. I don't know who Molinar is.

I just registered my boat but didn't apply for a mooring.

What they said was to find a place where you want to put your mooring kit and come in to register it.

Their advice was to ask other boaters about good locations. Of course, it should be well away from others.

They didn't say anything about a moratorium on new moorings in C'sted harbor.

It didn't seem there would be any wait to register a mooring.

No surprises in the boat registration process.

I'm sure the officers at DPNR will be happy to discuss any specific questions. I found them to be friendly and helpful.

Well, as a boat owner with a mooring in C-sted harbor, I urge you to please follow the rules. There is indeed, or at least there is SUPPOSED to be, a moratorium on new moorings in C-sted harbor. Why? Because there really aren't any spots left.

We had to wait for years before finding a mooring in the harbor. But, then a few months later, some A-hole came in and just plopped his mooring close to ours without proper permission. I guess what I'm saying is PLEASE don't come in and try to squeeze a boat in amongst the already-overcrowded boats in the harbor. If you must be in the harbor, do what everyone else does: wait for an already existing mooring to become available.

When I applied for a mooring for my 51 footer, I first dropped an anchor in the spot and then sat there while currents and winds swung the boat and the neighboring boats every which way. We were in a good spot and invited DPNR to check me out. They did and approved. Then I wrote down the GPS Coordinates of my spot and the surrounding moorings. I did this over a period of time to get an average for the other boats.
I made a sketch of the area with my boat in the middle and the other boats were also included. I wrote down their coordinates, the name of the vessel as well as the length. Also whether or not they were legal. This protects me from someone taking over/renting/buying a neighboring mooring and placing a larger vessel there. Be it thr original owner or not. If a larger vessel is going to get placed in that spot then the permit process will have to start over again.
One of my neighbors was slowly moving his big anchor closer to me to make room for another mooring. DPNR was notified and the vessel anchor was moved back.
I have 2 sand screws, one 100 lb and a 55 lb, all with chain joining at a monster swivel with then 2- 25 foot lines. I am in 12 feet, plus almost 6 feet of freeboard at the bow. There is very little slack on the chains, therefore I swing very litlle. There is a 26 footer next door that can move almost 100 feet. Those are the moorings that need to be addressed.
This was done in 1998. I renew faithfully every June, even when I take my boat south for the Hurricane season.

cayennita,

Where do you go during hurricane season?

Either Trinidad or Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Although this year it is at Nanny Cay on the hard for sale. I am now using my mooring for a 36 footer that's at STX Marine

I know this is an old post, but I feel I need to update it to correct some of the information and add some additional interesting facts about how moorings are managed here in the VI. I do not doubt Edmond’s account, but I have recently been told some contradictory things by one of the same source of information he cited. Unfortunately none of this information is supplied directly on the dpnr web site.

1. Ground tackle is not forfeited when the mooring permit corresponding to it expires. On the contrary, the owner of the tackle retains ownership. This means two things: a) it is very hard for someone to register a space that has been abandoned or long delinquent and b) if you do apply for a permit for that space the former owner of the tackle can come and remove their tackle at any point, try to sell it to you, or re-instate their old permit and reclaim the spot entirely. Basically dpnr does not like to register any spot that has pre-existing ground tackle on it. If the site is abandoned they rater remove the tackle than allow the new permit owner to occupy it. (Of course, it is not clear how they can remove private property if ownership rights are not forfeited, but this is what I have been told.)

2. Moorings are sorted by the name of the owner and registration numbers. If you think dpnr has a master map keeping track of all gps coordinates, you are wrong. This means that they cannot tell you if a particular set of coordinates are registered or not. The only way they can enforce mooring regulations on site is through boats. There is no way for them to tell, in a bay full of only moorings, which ones are legal, which ones were placed without permits, and which ones have expired permits. It also means there is nothing stopping someone from dropping and registering a mooring that is too close to other existing moorings if dpnr allows them to register the coordinates without visiting the site.

In my opinion, the current regulations are set up in a way that encourages people to abuse the system. There are plenty of mooring being used that have not been registered for years and there are also mooring out there that have never been registered to begin with. The rules that make it so hard to take over delinquent moorings enable these people are able to keep using their mooring for free. I mention this because dpnr is supposed to raise mooring fees astronomically in the next two years. I have heard various reports, I do not know the actual numbers, but the projected increases published on the dpnr web site propose increases from 200 – 700%. That’s a huge hike and of course it will only affect those of us who actually pay for our moorings.

Ahem, do you have a boat in the harbor? Did you go to the DPNR meetings that were held on all the islands? It seems you are making accusations about DPNR that may or may not have factual evidence.

Marlene

Marlene, if I said anything you believe to be incorrect please do not hesitate to speak up. I have been trying to find out information about the mooring system, my information has come from dpnr officials. It is not my intention to making accusations against dpnr and honestly I am not sure what you are referring to. The opinion at the end was just that, my opinion. If you know something I do not, please share. That is what this site is supposed to be all about.