For those anxious for an update on Yacht Club Costa Smeralda (YCCS) information about what is happening with the rebuild and when the resort be operational has been extremely hard to come by. Here are four things we know or have heard to date:
1 – No Website Infomation: The YCCS website only offers the following message, “We apologize for any inconvenience, however due to damage caused by Hurricane Irma, the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda Virgin Gorda will remain closed until further notice.”
2 – No Communication: They last posted on Facebook on December 24, 2017 after Irma.
3 – No Evidence of Rebuilding: The photo above taken in late March, 2019 shows no evidence of any progress in the rebuilding as the YCCS Clubhouse looks exactly the same as it does in the post Irma photo below. More importantly the docks are gone!
4 – Projected Opening Date: According to a December 24, 2018 article in the BVI News no exact date was given for the re-opening of YCCS. In the article, Premier Dr D Orlando Smith was quoted as saying, “Yacht Club Costa Smeralda, more commonly known as YCCS, are also slated to resume operations shortly.” This statement leaves us very confused.
BVI Traveller will continue to keep you updated as more news becomes available.
Top photo: Courtesy John Fischetti
Bottom photo: Courtesy AP
5 – The Good News: In case you forgot what YCCS looked like immediately after Irma, we found the photo below. The resort has certainly come along way since then.
BVI Traveller was created in September of 2017 to help tourism in the British Virgin Islands recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma.
To that end, we met our goals. In the past 7 years there have been over 1.2 million visits to the website and over 3 million pages have been viewed. There are over 1,000 pages on the site featuring news posts and detailed listings on all hotels, villas, restaurants and sailing charters located in the BVI. The BVI Government and many business, hotels, villas and sailing charters have all agreed that the site “moved the needle on tourism” after Irma.
The site, however, has run its course. It has served its purpose by bringing visitors and local businesses together to rebuild the tourist industry and it is now time to shut down operations for good.
I want to thank everyone for your help and support.
Chuck Metter
