Airline Industry’s Annual ‘Ya Gotta Regatta’ Party Returns For 2018
If ever a place needed a boost in tourism, it’s the British Virgin Islands.
And it’s got one from the Moorings Interline Regatta.
The annual airline industry’s “ya gotta regatta” 10-day festival returns for 2018, a year after it was canceled due to Hurricane Irma.
The Virgin Islands, and in particular the BVIs, took a walloping from Irma the previous year. Several businesses were destroyed, one was completely wiped out, and bar owners and residents were begging for tourists to return so they could rebuild and even survive.
And as I write this, nearly 1,000 people are boarding planes headed to the BVIs, or have already landed for this early fall party, Oct. 9-18. It is an event like none other, an island-hopping theme party that hits many of the famous bars of the BVIs, and pumps money into an area that is still staggering from the damaged caused by Irma.
Oh yes, there’s a regatta, too, but primarily this is a flotilla of party boats” going from costume party to costume party throughout the BVIs.
One traditional stop and party place has had to be replaced. That’s because it does not exist anymore. The Bitter End Yacht Club was completely wiped out by Irma.
Other places, tho, are still on the schedule and of course there’s always the unscheduled stop at the Soggy Dollar Bar, home of the famous Pain Killer drinks.
Other daytime stops include The Baths, snorkeling The Caves, diving The Chimneys and of course, the daily “dingy wars” that break out when the boats anchor in the harbors each afternoon.
So yeah, they gotta regatta. And the bar and restaurant owners, the boat charter companies and everyone else who lives and works in the BVIs is glad to welcome them back for another year.
Cheers!
Leave a Reply