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(This report is a continuation of my post of May 26 entitled British Virgin Islands a Sailor’s Delight). 

The next morning we motored through Little Camanoe Passage on our way to Guana Island where we stopped at Monkey Point for some snorkeling. Then we sailed west for 19 km along the north side of Tortola on our way to Great Harbour on the shores of Jost Van Dyke.

The smallest of the BVI’s four main islands, some believe Jost Van Dyke was named for the 17^th century Dutch pirate Joost Van Dyk who once used its harbours as a hideout. But whatever its provenance, this laid-back island of just a few hundred residents features spectacular beaches, beautiful bays, and some of the most entertaining beach bars in the Caribbean. And for that very reason, we had planned our itinerary so that we would be anchored here on May 6 to celebrate Samantha’s 20^th birthday.

Surrounded by white sandy beaches, lush green hills, and dozens of beautiful yachts, we began our celebrations with drinks in the boat’s cockpit where Sam opened her gifts, including a teal-coloured baseball cap with the inscription “Women who behave rarely make history.” The cocktails, beer and shooters continued until sundown, at which point all of us stumbled into our dinghy for the trip ashore for dinner at Foxy’s Tamarind Bar. All, of course, except Adam (aka Hooligan) who tumbled into the bay after attempting to leap into the dinghy head first.

After dragging Adam from the water, we motored ashore to Foxy’s where we met our good friends (Anthony, Tom, Robert and Chuck) who had shared dinner with us at the Bitter End. They had agreed to join us for Sam’s birthday, which was now beginning to look and sound more like a rowdy island festival than a small gathering of friends.  Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the song yet.

Sometime between anchoring and dinner, Brian and Adam had created a birthday song for Sam loosely based on a popular Caribbean song called “Hot, Hot, Hot.” And now it seemed we were breaking into song every 5 or 10 minutes, regardless of what was going on around us.  I’d like to say that things calmed down after we finished dinner, but they didn’t. Instead, what followed was more singing, lots of dancing, some falling down, and a dinghy ride back to the boat that resembled a scene from a Marx Brothers’ movie.  

Needless to say, the next morning came far too quickly, especially since it had rained heavily during the night and we had forgotten to close the top hatches in the dining room or bring in various items from the outdoor cockpit including Sam’s camera. So with lots of cleaning ahead of us and threatening skies, we decided to motor over to nearby Little Harbour for a quiet afternoon followed by a delightful dinner of Conch Stew and Lobster at Sydney’s Peace and Love Beach Bar.

By the next morning we were fully recovered and the weather had improved, so we made our way over to Cane Garden Bay on the north shore of Tortola, which is arguably one of the most beautiful bays in the Caribbean. After snorkeling on a large reef at the entrance to the harbour, we sailed west along the coast of Tortola to Soper’s Hole, a large and busy anchorage at the end of the island where we were about to meet a surprise guest.

My wife Gail is not a keen sailor, so she had declined to be part of our crew. However, at the last minute she had agreed to join us for the last few days of our trip– something I had kept from everyone except Sam.  So when we moored our boat in Soper’s Hole and went ashore to have a late lunch at Pussers Landing, the crew were surprised but delighted to see another potential galley wench sipping cocktails at the bar.

That night, we had a great dinner of Chicken Roti, fresh fish, ribs and lots of wine at the Jolly Roger Inn, which sits right on the water’s edge across from beautiful Frenchman’s Cay. Then we dinghied back to our boat where we sat in the cockpit for hours admiring the bright stars, gentle breeze, and swaying masts in the harbour.

While we still had another two days of sailing ahead of us on our way back to Norman Island and eventually on to Road Town to return the boat, we knew Gail had already seen enough to share our view that the British Virgin Islands are a very special place. And hopefully, a place we would all get to enjoy again in the not-too-distant future.

After arriving on the Caribbean island of Tortola, our group of five intrepid sailors made their way to the Fort Burt Hotel on the edge of picturesque Road Town Harbour.

The capital of this tiny chain of islands some 90 miles east of Puerto Rico, Road Town is the main port of entry to the British Virgin Islands. It’s also the largest city on Tortola, an island filled with beautiful bays, palm-fringed beaches and a lush mountain range that reaches its zenith some 1,700 feet above sea level at Mt. Sage.

Luckily, we could see the mountains, the city and the harbour from the dining room of our hotel, which is built atop a hill on the ruins of a 17^th-century Dutch Fort.  It’s also conveniently located near a number of charter boat companies on Tortola, including Caribbean Sailing BVI where we picked up a 43-ft sail boat called Away (which we nicknamed Hooligan’s Island) the next day.

It had rained most of the morning, but as we boarded our boat and headed south towards Norman Island some 11 km across Sir Francis Drake Channel, the bright Caribbean sun began to break through a retreating canopy of cloud in time for our arrival.

Known locally as “Treasure Island” after the booty pirates supposedly buried ashore and the Robert Louis Stevenson novel it inspired, Norman Island sits at the southern end of an archipelago which many believe is one of the most beautiful regions in the world. With gentle trade winds, an abundance of good anchorages, short distances between lush islands, and pristine waters, it’s also a sailor’s paradise.

Once at Norman Island, we moored in a pretty bay called The Bight, and put on our pirate crew shirts which bore the slogan “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” We then motored ashore in our dinghy where we discovered a beautiful sandy beach and a wonderful open-air bar known as Pirates’ Bight. After consuming copious amount of painkillers (dark rum, coconut cream, pineapple and orange juice) at the bar, walking on the beach, and playing Frisbee in the water, we returned to our boat for a delicious home-cooked supper of Spaghetti Bolognese.

By now it was 10:00 pm, so we decided to top off the evening with drinks and dancing aboard the William Thornton (aka Willie T’s), a floating bar that is permanently moored in the harbour.  The bar is notorious for wild behavior, which includes dirty dancing, jumping naked off the side of the ship, and being drunk enough to abscond with someone else’s dinghy – as we discovered when ours went missing at midnight. Fortunately, the guilty party returned it the next morning.

The Bight is also next door to a pair of great snorkeling spots – The Caves and The Indians – where there’s plenty of brightly coloured fish, coral reefs and occasionally sea turtles.

After visiting The Caves, we sailed over to nearby Peter Island where we dropped our hook in Great Harbour for a lunch stop, and then sailed up Sir Francis Drake Channel to Machioneel Bay on Cooper Island.  With winds running out of the northeast at between 15 to 20 knots, it was great sailing with our lee rail in the water and sea spray splashing up on the foredeck.

It rained most of the night, and by the next morning the winds were gusting up to 25 knots. So we put a double reef in our sail and laid in a northeasterly course for North Sound at the top of Virgin Gorda some 20 km away.

The second largest of the territory’s four main islands (the others being Tortola, Jost Van Dyke and Anegada), Virgin Gorda got its name from Columbus who thought the long island with a mountainous middle looked like a “fat virgin.” Today, the island is famous for its turquoise-hued bays, high-end resorts and sheltered waters which attract boaters from around the world.

Once in the tranquil waters of North Sound, we tied up to a mooring buoy and made our way ashore for a barbecue dinner under the stars at the Bitter End Yacht Club. After feasting on grilled fish, steak, chicken and ribs with friends from a catamaran called Annie’s Toy that we had met back on Norman Island, we made our way to the Bitter End Pub for cigars, rum, and some pool and darts with the locals.

We reluctantly left North Sound the next morning for an 18 km-sail in light winds along the stunning coast of Virgin Gorda and across Drake’s channel to popular Trellis Bay at Beef Island. Once moored, some of our crew (my daughter Samantha, her boyfriend John and my nephew Adam) took the ferry over to Marina Cay to catch the singing pirate show, while good friend Brian and I dinghied over to De Loose Mongoose for sunset cocktails on the pretty beach that surrounds most of Trellis Bay.

After cocktails, we picked up our crew at the ferry dock and dinghied over to The Last Resort Restaurant on nearby Bellamy Cay for dinner and entertainment. Founded by English entrepreneur and entertainer Tony Snell in 1972, The Last Resort has taken on legendary status over the decades as the place for good food and fun. And over the years that fun has included singing dogs, a braying donkey, and Tony performing a variety of his own hilarious songs about sailors.  

When Tony retired, he gave the place to his daughter Jessica and her husband Ben Branford to run. However, when in town Tony still makes the occasional appearance on stage before the zany Al Broderick takes over with his interactive show and tequila shooters. We were lucky enough to see both, and to get two of our crew on stage to share shooters with Al!

(This report on my sailing trip through the British Virgin Islands will continue in my next post.)

Located some 90 miles east of Puerto Rico, the 50 or so Caribbean islands, islets and cays that make up the British Virgin Islands (BVI) are so pristine and unspoiled that they are often referred to as “Nature’s Little Secrets.” In fact, the region is blessed with so many green hills, turquoise-hued bays and palm-fringed beaches that it’s rated one of the most beautiful and relaxing destinations in the world.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover this idyllic archipelago during his second voyage of discovery in 1493. The intrepid explorer was so impressed by the dozens of lush islands he saw on the horizon of the Caribbean that he named them “Las Once Mil Las Virgines” after the legendary St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins.

Despite their appeal, Europeans didn’t settle the Virgin Islands until the Dutch arrived on Tortola in the mid -17^th century and built a stone fort on the shores of Road Town Harbour. The British annexed the archipelago in 1672 and eventually made it a protected territory, which it remains to this day.

Over the centuries, the sheltered bays, gentle trade winds and strategic location next to the Spanish trade routes made the Virgin Islands an ideal base for pirates and privateers. In fact, the islands’ main channel is named for English privateer Sir Francis Drake who sailed through the area in 1595 and mustered a fleet there to attack the Spanish. And the infamous pirate Blackbeard is believed to have buried his treasure in the caves of Norman Island – a legend that may have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write “Treasure Island.”

Today, there are several ways to explore the Virgin Islands including by cruise ship. However, while many ships call at the neighbouring island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, only a handful stop in the BVI – usually at Tortola’s Road Town Harbour.

It’s a shame because while St. Thomas has great American-style shopping in the bustling duty-free port of Charlotte Amalie, the BVI offers a more relaxed and natural environment with a twist of British influence. The British islands also have some of the best beaches, diving, and open-air bars and restaurants in the Caribbean, including the legendary Foxy’s in Great Harbour on Jost Van Dyke, and The Last Resort in Trellis Bay on Beef Island.

If you’re lucky enough to be on a ship that calls in the BVI, your choices for shore excursions will likely revolve around beaches, snorkeling, diving and sailing. Cane Garden Bay on the north shore of Tortola is the top choice for a day at the beach, while the Wreck of the Rhone off the coast of Salt Island is the best bet for diving. There are also some good snorkeling locations including the Indians near Pelican Island, the Caves at Norman Island, the Baths on Virgin Gorda, and Green Cay near Little Jost Van Dyke.

Since a single day in Tortola usually isn’t enough to fully appreciate the beauty of these magical islands, it’s worth considering a pre- or post-cruise land stay, especially if you’re sailing out of nearby St. Thomas or San Juan. There are a variety of charming hotels in the BVI to choose from, including the Sugar Mill on Tortola’s Apple Bay (rated one of the top 5 hotels in the Caribbean by Conde Nast Traveler magazine), the Fort Burt Hotel in Road Town (incorporating ruins from the original Dutch fortress), and the Bitter End Yacht Club in North Sound, Virgin Gorda (which offers a great sailing and diving program).

Of course, the best way to explore the BVI is by water, and there are a number of small ships that offer inter-island cruises of the region including some from Seabourn, Star Clipper and Windstar. These ships are small enough to anchor in some of the small but beautiful bays along the coasts of Jost Van Dyke, Norman Island, and Virgin Gorda that large ships never get to visit.

If you have some boating experience or are prepared to hire a local skipper, there’s also the option of chartering your own sail or power boat from one of the many charter companies in Tortola. That’s how I recently explored the BVI with friends and family, and I’ll be reporting on our adventures aboard the good ship “Hooligan’s Island” in my next post.

However, no matter how you get there or how or how long you stay, the British Virgin Islands are bound to make a lasting impression. After all, what else would you expect from a group of Caribbean islands beautiful enough to be called “Nature’s Little Secrets?”