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I'm hoping you guys can help me. My wife and I are flying into St Thomas on Monday Feb. 27. Originally our flight was scheduled to arrive at 2:30 pm and we were going to catch the ferry to West End, Tortola to get to the house we rented for the week. Unfortunately our flights arrival time got changed to 4:37 pm which I don't believe will give us enough time to make the ferry. As I understand it, the last ferry leaves Red Hook at 5 pm. From my experience driving on St Thomas, 20 minutes will not be enough time. If we have to we will get a room on St Thomas for the night and catch the ferry in the morning but we already have a room rented on Tortola and would hate to pay twice for a nights stay! Are there any other options for us to get from St Thomas to Tortola after 5 pm. I looked into to the island hopper flight service out of CA but looks like service to Tortola doesn't start until April and pretty limited anyway. I'm wondering if there are water taxis you can hire or a charter of some sort??? Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated!
The ferry schedules are under "Quick Links" top right this page. It would be cutting it super close and probably isn't doable but if you only have carry-on and your flight is a little early, you could check with the Charlotte Amalie/Tortola ferry operators on their schedule. That terminal is only a 5 minute drive from the airport.
There are two water taxi operations here, Dohm's and Dolphin but it's going to be a very expensive trip. It may be less expensive to overnight and I recommend the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort which is on the airport road on a lovely beach and takes single night reservations. From there you can either taxi to Red Hook in the morning or to the CA terminal, whichever schedules fit you best. Hope it works out for you without too much hassle and that you enjoy a wonderful vacation!
Smith's ferry has a 5:pm trip from Charlotte Amalie. You can call and ask if they can wait a few minutes for you. Your trip from the airport to the ferry dock should take no more that 10mins. People do this all the time.
Good luck
What airline are you fllying? Are you going thru San Juan? Can you switch flights to Tortola?
If not, don't check bags. Arrange for a private taxi to pick-up at the airport and hustle up.
Thanks everyone for the great input but we have decided to arrive in St Thomas a day earlier and avoid any issues. We're booking a room at the Best Western Carib Beach resort right by the airport for the night and then catching the first ferry to Tortola monday morning. We figured why be stressed out and hurried on our vacation and besides an extra day in paradise will be great!
Thanks again!
Good solution. Win. Win. I find it always takes me a day or two of acclimation before fully entering island mode anyway. Enjoy your trip!!
