VINP To Start Enforcement at Cruz Bay Bulkhead This Week

VINP officials will start enforcement action at the Cruz Bay bulkhead, above, as Tip Top Construction prepares to start renovations, which are expected to last 120 days.

Anyone who leaves their dinghies tied up at the V.I. National Park bulkhead should move them by next week.

VINP officials have awarded the contract to repair the dock to Tip Top Construction and the first phase of renovations will get underway soon, explained VINP Superintendent Mark Hardgrove.

“We’re going to start enforcement warning next week for people to relocate their abandoned dinghies to from the VINP bulkhead to the Port Authority docks, which were repaired by Chamber of Commerce and community volunteers,” said Hardgrove.

Park officials waited until after high season and St. John Festival festivities quieted down before launching the dock work, Hardgrove added.

“We need the dinghies to start migrating to the Port Authority docks in Cruz Bay which were reconstructed by the community,” he said. “We waited for those docks to be repaired, for high season to slow down and for Festival to be over before we started the project. Now we are going to need to put out the containment booms.”

“We’ll use half the bulkhead for the construction zone leaving room for about six or seven dinghies for folks using the moorings to pay their fees and get information from the visitor’s center,” said the VINP Superintendent.

Work is expected to last 120 days and after renovations are complete, VINP officials will be instituting new rules for the use of the bulkhead, Hardgrove explained.

“When we reopen at the end of the 120 days, we’ll talk more about usage of the area,” he said. “There will be new rules and new signage going up there.”

Dinghies left at the VINP bulkhead will either be moved to the seaplane ramp or turned over to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Hardgrove added.