Most visitors heading into the British Virgin Islands from St. Thomas or St. John are doing a one-day trip — Jost Van Dyke for a beach bar crawl, Virgin Gorda for The Baths, maybe Norman Island for the Willy T. For that kind of trip, the fees structure is much simpler than the cruising-permit world most blog posts describe.
Here's what you actually pay in 2026.
The short answer for day trips
| How you're getting there | BVI customs & entry fees (per person) |
|---|---|
| Private charter (day trip, standard weekday) | $75 flat |
| Private charter (weekend or public holiday) | $75 + ~$10 customs overtime |
| Passenger ferry — e.g. Inter-Island Boat Services | $30 flat (plus ferry ticket) |
Both numbers are per person, regardless of age — kids, infants, adults all pay the same. Every guest also needs a valid passport; passport cards are accepted for sea travel only, not flying.
Private charter: $75 per person, flat
For a standard BVI day trip on a private charter out of the USVI, the operator will bill a single $75-per-person "BVI fees" line item on your invoice. That one flat number is doing a lot of work — behind it sit close to a dozen separate government, port, and clearance charges for both directions of the trip. Here's the actual line-by-line breakdown.
Arriving in the BVI
| Fee (per person) | Amount |
|---|---|
| BVI cruising permit | $16 |
| Document preparation & filing | $25 |
| Per-boat entry, Red Hook wharfage & BVI immigration processing | $14 |
| Miscellaneous taxes & port fees | $10 |
| Environmental fee | $10 |
| Arrival subtotal | $75 |
Returning from the BVI to the USVI
The trip home carries its own departure and re-entry charges. Operators typically bundle these into the same flat quote — the per-boat items get split across everyone aboard:
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| BVI departure tax (per person) | $20 |
| USVI customs dock usage — St. John & Red Hook (per person) | $8 |
| Outbound boat clearance, average (per person) | $6 |
| U.S. entry fee (per boat, split across guests) | $25–$35 |
Because the per-boat fees are divided across the whole group and the cruising permit is prorated to a single day, a reasonably full boat lands right around that $75-per-person flat rate for a weekday day trip. Smaller groups pay a little more per head; larger groups a little less. That's why operators quote one clean number instead of the line items above.
On a Sunday in May, our charter company quoted $75 per person in BVI fees, plus a $10-per-person weekend surcharge for Sunday customs overtime — $85 per person all-in. It matched the written quote to the dollar, with no surprise charges at the dock.
What's typically not included in the $75:
- Weekend / holiday customs overtime (see below)
- National Parks Trust fee if you visit a park like The Baths ($4 per person per day)
- Gratuity for the captain and crew (15–20% of the boat rate, paid directly)
Weekend and public holiday surcharges
BVI Customs charges overtime when officers clear boats outside standard business hours — that includes Saturdays, Sundays, and BVI public holidays. The surcharge gets passed through to passengers on top of the flat $75. In practice it runs about $10 per person (that's what we paid on a Sunday), though it can reach $20–$30 at some Ports of Entry or on major holidays. Always ask your operator what the all-in weekend total is before you book.
The exact 2026 weekend/holiday rate is set and periodically revised by BVI Customs. Your charter operator will have the current figure — confirm in writing before your trip date.
BVI public holidays that typically trigger overtime: New Year's Day, Commonwealth Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday, Sovereign's Birthday, Territory Day, Emancipation holidays (early August), St. Ursula's Day, Great March Day, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day. Midweek trips avoid all of this.
Estimate your group's BVI fees
Set your group size and trip type to estimate the per-person and all-in BVI customs & entry fees for a private charter day trip. This covers the flat BVI fee only — not the boat charter, fuel, or gratuity.
Ferry: $30 per person, flat
If you're ferrying over (no private charter), the customs fee drops to a flat $30 per person, paid at the BVI terminal on arrival. This is confirmed in the pricing schedule on Inter-Island Boat Services's Red Hook ↔ Cruz Bay ↔ Jost Van Dyke route page. Other ferry operators on the same corridor (Native Son, Road Town Fast Ferry) charge comparable BVI fees.
The $30 is in addition to your ferry ticket. For Red Hook → Jost Van Dyke round-trip you're looking at roughly:
| Line item | Per person (round trip) |
|---|---|
| Ferry ticket (varies by season/operator) | $80–$100 |
| BVI customs & entry | $30 |
| USVI / BVI departure taxes (if not bundled) | $10–$20 |
| All-in per person | ≈ $120–$150 |
Weekend and holiday overtime can apply to ferry passengers too, though in practice the ferry companies often absorb it or bundle it into the ticket price on published sailings.
Ferry vs. private charter — which is cheaper?
2 people: the ferry wins clearly. ~$120–$150 per person all-in vs. a private charter's $75-per-person customs plus the cost of the boat (typically $1,500–$2,500 for a full day — see live USVI & BVI day charter prices on CharterBid).
6+ people: a private charter starts to make sense. You get your own boat, your own itinerary, and can island-hop multiple stops instead of committing to a single ferry destination. See our full USVI charter pricing guide for base-boat numbers.
Plan a BVI day trip
Browse our charter guide for route ideas and operator info — or post your trip on CharterBid and get quotes with BVI fees already factored in.
What to bring on the day
- Passport for every guest (adults and children). Passport cards work for sea travel only.
- Some cash in small bills — customs often prefers USD cash for small fees.
- BVI entry form — your captain usually pre-files it for private charters. Ferry passengers fill it out on board.
- 30–60 minutes of buffer for clearance at the first Port of Entry, especially on busy mornings.
If you're doing a multi-day BVI cruising charter
This is the part most other fee explainers focus on, and for good reason — once you're spending multiple days in BVI waters, you're no longer paying a single flat $75. Instead, the operator (bareboat charterers: that's you) pays each line item separately, and the cruising permit becomes the biggest single cost.
BVI cruising permit
Charged per foot of boat length, per day. Varies by season:
- Peak (Dec 1 – Apr 30): $2.00/ft/day (foreign-registered), $0.75/ft/day (BVI-registered).
- Off-peak (May 1 – Nov 30): $0.75/ft/day (foreign), $0.50/ft/day (BVI-registered).
A 40 ft foreign-registered boat on a 7-day peak-season charter pays $560 in cruising permits alone.
BVI environmental and tourism levy
$10 per person per visit, on top of everything else. One-time charge, not per day.
Customs and immigration
$10–$25 per person for the initial clearance, depending on Port of Entry and whether you're cleared as a day visitor or overnight. Weekend/holiday overtime still applies.
National Parks Trust (NPT) fees
Only charged if you visit a National Park or pick up an NPT mooring ball:
- $4 per person per day to enter a National Park (The Baths, etc.)
- $35–$45 per night for overnight on NPT moorings at premium spots (The Baths, Cooper Island, Norman Island); day use is often free with a small donation.
BVI mooring fees: NPT, private moorings & anchoring
Mooring fees in the British Virgin Islands are a separate bucket from the customs and cruising-permit fees above. If you're bareboating or on a multi-day crewed charter you'll interact with three overnight options — free anchoring, NPT mooring balls, and private commercial moorings — and the costs are very different. Day trippers usually don't touch these at all — the short-answer section at the top covers the day-trip case.
| Where you're staying | Typical cost per night | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free anchoring (outside a National Park) | $0 | Legal in most non-Park bays. Bring proper ground tackle for coral bottoms. |
| NPT mooring ball inside a National Park | $35–$45 | The Baths (Virgin Gorda), Great Harbour & Diamond Cay (Jost Van Dyke), parts of Peter Island & Norman Island. Anchoring inside a Park is not permitted. |
| Private commercial mooring | $35–$60 | Owned by resorts or marinas — Cooper Island Beach Club, Marina Cay, Bitter End (North Sound), some Norman Island spots. Often includes a restaurant/bar credit. |
| NPT day-use mooring | Free / small donation | The Baths, Devil's Bay, Fallen Jerusalem — day-use donation runs $5–$10 at the ranger boat if one is on station. |
| Marina slip (Nanny Cay, Village Cay, Scrub Island) | $2.50–$4.50 / ft | Per foot of boat length. Adds power, water, and shoreside amenities. |
How BVI mooring fees actually get paid
At NPT moorings, a Trust ranger boat circulates through the anchorage in the late afternoon and evening to collect fees in cash (USD). Bring small bills — they may not have change. For private moorings, the resort or bar collects at the beach — either at the check-in desk, at dinner, or via a tender that comes out. Neither uses a mobile app; the BVI mooring system runs on cash and paper receipts.
British Virgin Islands mooring fees vs. cruising permit — different bills
A common point of confusion: the cruising permit (charged per foot per day — see the sample table above) is what buys you the right to move through BVI waters overnight. It does not include the mooring ball fee at wherever you tie up that night. If you pick up an NPT or private mooring, that's a separate charge on top of your cruising permit. Anchoring outside a Park is the way to avoid the mooring fee entirely — you just still owe the daily cruising permit.
A realistic 7-day BVI mooring budget
For a typical bareboat itinerary — Norman Island, Cooper Island, The Baths, North Sound, Jost Van Dyke, back to base — expect three to four paid nights (mix of NPT and private) and two to three free anchoring nights:
- 2× NPT overnight ($40 avg) = $80
- 2× private mooring ($45 avg) = $90
- 3× free anchoring = $0
- Occasional day-use donations = $10–$20
- Total mooring fees for the week ≈ $180–$200
That's on top of the ~$800 in cruising permit + customs + environmental fees calculated in the previous section, so BVI government/mooring fees for a full-boat week land around $1,000 before the boat rental itself.
The mooring fee for a day trip is nothing
If you're on a private day-trip charter out of the USVI, none of these mooring fees apply. Your captain will drop the hook or grab a day-use mooring, and the whole thing is bundled into the boat rate you paid. The only per-person cost is the $75 flat customs fee at the top of this page, plus the $4/person park fee if you visit The Baths.
Sample total — 7-day BVI bareboat on a 40-foot cat (4 guests, peak season)
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cruising permit ($2.00 × 40 ft × 7 days) | $560 |
| Customs / immigration ($20 × 4) | $80 |
| Environmental levy ($10 × 4) | $40 |
| NPT moorings (3 nights × $40) | $120 |
| Total BVI fees | $800 |
| Per person | $200 |
Compare that to four people doing two day trips instead: 4 × 2 × $75 = $600. The multi-day permit math only makes sense if you're committing to genuinely multi-day cruising.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the BVI customs fee for a day trip in 2026?
For a private charter day trip into the BVI from the USVI, expect a flat $75 per person in BVI customs and entry fees — adults and children the same. This bundles the cruising permit, document preparation and filing, per-boat entry and Red Hook wharfage, BVI immigration processing, the environmental fee, and miscellaneous port taxes. Weekend and holiday arrivals add a customs overtime surcharge of about $10 per person.
How much is the ferry customs fee to the BVI?
Ferry passengers pay a flat $30 per person in BVI customs and entry fees on top of the ferry ticket. Inter-Island Boat Services runs the main routes from Red Hook (St. Thomas) and Cruz Bay (St. John) to Jost Van Dyke and Tortola.
Do kids pay the same BVI customs fee?
Yes. For day-trip customs purposes, BVI entry fees are charged per person regardless of age. An infant pays the same $75 private-charter fee (or $30 ferry fee) as an adult. Every guest also needs a valid passport.
Are there surcharges on weekends and holidays?
Usually, yes. BVI Customs charges overtime for clearance outside standard business hours — that includes weekends and BVI public holidays. The surcharge varies and is sometimes passed through to passengers as an added $10–$30 per person. Always ask your operator or ferry company what the all-in weekend total is before you commit.
Can I pay BVI customs fees with a credit card?
Bring USD cash. BVI Customs and immigration windows are cash-first, and smaller Ports of Entry often can't take cards at all. On a private charter the operator usually collects the flat BVI fee up front (paying them by card is fine), but keep small bills on hand for any on-the-spot National Parks Trust or mooring fees.
What time does BVI Customs open?
Standard BVI Customs hours at the main Ports of Entry — Road Town and West End (Soper's Hole) on Tortola, and Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke — run roughly 8:30am to 4:30pm on weekdays. Clearing outside those hours, including any weekend or public-holiday arrival, triggers an overtime surcharge of about $10 per person. Hours vary by port, so confirm with your operator before your trip.
Is there a BVI departure tax, and is it different for a ferry vs. a private boat?
Yes. Everyone leaving the BVI pays a departure tax — about $20 per person by private boat, and typically bundled into the ticket price for scheduled ferry passengers. It is separate from your BVI entry fee and from the U.S. re-entry and boat-clearance charges you pay back on the USVI side.