The Baths closed to residents from 9am to 2pm on cruise ship days
The National Parks Trust (NPT) has decided to put a limit on the number of persons allowed to access the territory’s national parks at any given time.
The Trust did not disclose what this limit will be when it announced the change on Thursday.
But it said the decision was made to avoid overcrowding, to maintain ‘travel bubbles’, to allow for social distancing, and to comply with local COVID-19 protocols.
“On days when cruise ships are on the port, the Greater Baths National Park will be closed to residents and non-cruise ship guests between 9 am and 2 pm,” the NPT said.
“The park will reopen once the necessary cleaning and sanitisation procedures have been undertaken,” it added.
Notices will be posted on the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands Facebook page, it further stated.
Meanwhile, the NPT’s announcement came a less than 24 hours before the arrival of Celebrity Millennium of Royal Caribbean Group’s Celebrity Cruises. It’s the first cruise ship to return to the BVI since in more than a year.
No exclusive access! Nat’l Parks Trust ordered to reopen Baths to all
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Is this even legal? I thought all beaches were public? What about the other visitors who have spent vast sums of money to be here and offer much more to our economy. No warning. How do we think they feel? Bubbles aren’t being employed elsewhere in the Territory any more, so what benefit does this serve? Seems like someone made a back door deal with a cruise operator to give them private access, likely against the laws of the BVI. Once again, our own people seem to have been sold out by our leaders.
Only tourists can go beach, this is discrimination
So wrong. Is this discrimination or what. We can’t go there because it’s whitey time.
Whitey is saving your non vaccinated black a** from getting Covid. Whitey is vaccinated and doesn’t give a s**t. Your dumbass is not vaccinated and the uneducated stupid are being seen in the growing number of Covid cases in the Territory. Soooo, please bend down once again and kiss whiteys a** for saving you….again.
Look like you are a racist a**hole!!!
Don’t make this about race, because it isn’t. This was for cruise ship visitors, who can be any race. And the exclusion applied to all other visitors and residents. So white people staying on charter boats or in hotels would not have been allowed either.
The beaches and parks are public areas, all people should be equal.
are we soon going to be denied access to all beaches, restaurants or even the airport on certain days????
Nope, nope, nope! This is unacceptable. This is segrgation to its core. Further, what is the purpose of being vaccinated then? This is just to appease a few people who do not want to see or mingle with the darker shade of people of the territory.
What about all the beaches on Tortola and the taxi operators? It seems like everywhere should have been closed and the cruise passengers left to roam freely.
The employees of the national parks trust always think they can make law themselves.
At one point they decided to charge residents who are non-belongers even though this is not in line with the rules. They even printed out the constitution to show who is not a belonger.
And now this…. ridiculous.
sturpss… set of jokers still making rules on the fly with no plan.
People listen and understand. We cannot allow our Government to even look at this through their rear view mirror, we must with every force within us put an end to it at whatever it costs us.
If Norl Lloyd didnt stand up ,we couldnt go on Wickhams Cay and Nanny Cay today, and ofcourse if we let this one go, we would hear the samething goes for Canegarden Bay, then Brewers Bay. So we have to do all that it takes to stop this Shit from happening now.
REALLY!!! SEE, THIS THE KIND OF BS THAT CONTRIBUTES TO DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES AND LAWLESSNESS
FAKE NEWS
We need to take a chapter out of the Book name St Croix, and read the Fountain Valley event and stop it now.
We cant let a few dollars from the cruise shis frighten us that we let them say we cant go on our beaches when tourists come here. Also what about the tourists who are here in our Hotels.
Our government thief our eyes out of our heads now the going to come lying to us.
It is high time we statt going face to face with these people..
Let us come together and dialogue what we the people are going to accept and dismiss what we going reject.. we dont need the COI help with this one.
I was a board member some years ago and recall the then Director presenting to the board members a numbet of issues, including insuffient funding; the need to charge a higher fee than 3.00 p/person, the carrying capacity at different times of day; especially the problem of overcrosding and accommodating the hotel and villa guests who often must reschedule the day and time or opt to visit otother beautiful beaches, such as Savannah, my favorite, and Spring Bay. The problem is actually bigger than locking out locals. Dr.Pickering, during his time, had a study done on the Baths, especially focusing on catering to the cruise market as well as to the on island tourist. The finding was a bit controvercial, on the part of said on island guests, who threatened to bypass Bvi for other destinations if we couldnt fix the situation. Meanwhile Governnent has recently purchased several acres, (5 or 10), next to the Taxi drop off and pickup area. That can very well be the answer; as far as venders being able to display and sell their products, But first, we must avoid the bickering and disunity and do our part to get our country Covid free and our economy back on track #BviLoveForReal
time for NDP