May 15th, 2018
LATEST UPDATE IN THE WILLY T SAGA: Finally… From bad news to great news for all wannabe pirates and fans of the Willy T all over the world! The owners of the William Thornton floating bar and restaurant have been working with the BVI government and have announced that they have agreed on a new location for the Willy T to operate. According to a statement in BVI News, the Willy T’s owner, Ewan Anderson said, “We are pretty well confirmed to be definitely moving. We are not going to be in The Bight [but] at Great Harbour on Peter Island.” In addition, he said, “It will be ok. It’s another location, it’s on the water, and it’s good for tourism — good for Great Harbour.” On May 15th the Official Willy T Fan Club Facebook page posted the following message. They wrote, “Sooo, when are you all going to come see us over at GREAT HARBOUR on Peter Island??!! This is our new home!! We’re in the process of finalizing all the required permits as we speak. Hope to have that all accomplished this week! Looking forward to seeing everyone over at Great Harbour!! It’s been too long…”
Read the full article in the BVI News
PREVIOUS UPDATE ON THE WILLY T: Bad news for Willy T fans and wannabe pirates all over the world… One of the territory’s main tourist attractions, the Willy T floating restaurant and bar, is being kicked out of its usual location. Premier Orlando Smith and Hon Archibald Christian, Junior Minister for Tourism, reportedly have told owner of the Willy T to find new location in order to make way for a new development on Norman Island!
Read the full article in the Virgin Islands News Online
ORIGINAL REPORT: The Official Willy T Fan Club has just confirmed what you all want to hear. They reported, “The William Thornton floating bar is finally on her way back home! The Willy T should arrive back at the Bight at Norman Island sometime between May 13th – 15th! We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family from all over… it’s been too long! See you soon! BVI Strong!” The Willy T floating bar and restaurant has been one of the top tourist attractions in the BVI for over than 35 years. The new Willy T will be bigger and better than ever. The replacement vessel is almost an exact replica of the previous boat, just a bit larger. It will continue to operate in the same place as before, on the south-west corner of The Bight off Norman Island.
The William Thornton: +1 284-340-8603
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