What to Know When Taking the Ferry from St Thomas to Tortola (and back)

This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you buy or book through one of these links, I may earn a small commission .

Are you traveling to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands soon? Chances are you will first be flying into either San Juan, Puerto Rico or St. Thomas, USVI. Typically, it’s easiest and cheapest to fly into St. Thomas to take the one hour ferry ride to Tortola. Plus, it’s a scenic ride that will take you past all the gorgeous North Shore beaches of St. John.

It is possible to fly from either San Juan (SJU) or St. Thomas (STT) to Tortola’s Terrance B. Lettsome Airport, but these flights are very expensive and book up quickly. However, if you do want to spring for a flight, I recommend comparing prices and times on Cape Air and Seaborne Airlines. Note: only Cape Air appears to offer direct flights between St. Thomas to Tortola.

Today’s article will cover in depth the more common option of taking the ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola. It can be tricky having a travel day with so many moving pieces, so I’ve included every tip I can think of to keep things running smoothly. From choosing your flight to STT to every BVI fee to be aware of, it’s all in here!

---

Taking the Ferry from St Thomas to Tortola

Book Tickets for St Thomas to Tortola Online

The most popular ferry times between St. Thomas and Tortola are likely to sell out. Therefore, you should book your tickets in advance to get the time you need. Ferries generally leave from St. Thomas at the following times:

• 9:00AM-10:00AM
• 2:30PM-3:30PM
• 5:00PM-6:00PM

Tickets typically run about $60-$100 per adult each way (plus taxes), with an extra $5-$10 to check any piece of luggage beyond a small personal item. It’s helpful to search for one-way tickets, rather than roundtrip, since oftentimes the return ticket you need will be with a different ferry company.

Three ferry companies schedule weekly routes for the one-hour ride between St. Thomas and Tortola. I’ve listed the main days they run below, although they tend to schedule routes on additional days sporadically throughout the month.

• Smith’s Ferry: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
• Native Son: Monday, Wednesday Friday
• Road Town Fast Ferry: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday (most expensive, but direct)

Choose Your Flights Wisely

Make sure you choose a flight that will allow you to make your ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola in time. It’s best to arrive at the Charlotte Amalie ferry dock at least one hour before departure. This will give you time to fill out necessary customs forms and pay your BVI port fee (more on that below).

For example, my husband and I recently stayed on Cooper Island BVI, which required us to take an additional ferry from Tortola to Cooper Island. In order to make the Cooper Island ferry, the latest ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola we could take left at 2:30pm. Therefore, we booked a flight into St. Thomas scheduled to arrive around 11:00am to have a generous time buffer for catching our ferry.

If you arrive into Charlotte Amalie early, there is a cute little restaurant above the ferry dock called Petite Pump Room. The food and drinks are just okay, but there are gorgeous patio views over the harbor. There are also plenty of other little lunch spots available within walking distance.

Factor in the Taxi

Make sure to allow time for taxiing between the airport and ferry dock. Even though the trip is only about six or so minutes, the taxis outside the airport don’t like to leave until they are full.

It is easy to grab a taxi for about $10 per person in cash right outside the airport doors. However, if you think you’ll be tight on time, you might want to consider booking a private shuttle in advance.

Taxis in the US and British Virgin Islands usually require cash, so make sure you have enough on you for any additional rides you expect to take.

---

Pack the Necessities

For the ferry ride from St. Thomas to Tortola, there are some essentials that you will absolutely need to bring. Tortola is part of the British Virgin Islands, and a separate territory from the US Virgin Islands, so be ready to present your passport on arrival.

Additionally, there are some essentials you may want for the ferry ride itself, particularly if you wish to sit on the sunny top deck:

---

BVI Fees

You will pay a myriad of fees upon entering and leaving the BVI. Credit cards are not always accepted, so be sure to bring at least $40 in cash per person. Although the islands are a British Territory, the currency in the BVI is the US Dollar.

Here is a summary of what we paid:

• $20 port fee ($10 per person), paid before boarding the ferry to Tortola
• $20 environmental fee ($10 per person), paid going through customs in Road Town
• $40 departure fee ($20 per person), paid before boarding the ferry from Tortola to St. Thomas

CHECK HERE for other travel protocols still required to enter the BVI. Protocols for entering the USVI were suspended as of June 1, 2022.

---

Getting from Tortola to St Thomas

Taking the ferry from Tortola back to St. Thomas can be nerve wracking, since you don’t want to risk missing your flight with any delays. Departures from Road Town are generally as follows:

• 7:30AM-8:30AM
• 11:30AM-12:30PM
• 2:30PM-3:30PM

I’ll use our own suspenseful experience to show why you must allow plenty of time for making the trip back to STT:

First off, our ferry from Cooper Island did not leave until 8:30am. This meant 11:30am was the earliest ferry we could catch from Tortola to St. Thomas.

The ferry from Tortola left on time and we arrived into St. Thomas around 12:30pm. However, we waited for all the baggage to be loaded off the ferry before we were allowed to disembark, which took around 10-15 minutes. At that point, we still had to go through customs before catching our six-minute taxi back to the airport.

We ended up having a very tight window to catch our flight, which boarded at 1:35pm. Thankfully, there were already taxis waiting outside, but we ended up sitting in one for ten minutes while the driver waited for more passengers. Aaron ended up paying him double to just take us because we could not afford to lose any more time.

We were heavily relying on our Global Entry, which usually gets us through security very quickly. If we needed to go through the regular line, our only hope would have been the kindness of other passengers letting us go ahead of them.

Crazy enough, even our Global Entry line faced delays from computer systems malfunctioning that day. We made it to our gate with five minutes to spare, and thankfully our flight had a slight delay.

• • •

That covers the ins and outs of taking the ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola. As you can see, things can get very hairy, and delays are par for the course.

However, if you plan ahead for all these contingencies, you’ll be fine. Just remember to have plenty of patience, and know that there’s usually a bar in the vicinity for when things get tough.