Great Anchorages and Fun Beach Bars:Top Places to Sail in The BVI in 7 Days
by Claudia Colli
Sailing BVI waters is one of my favorite things to do. And why not? The BVI is the top sailing spot in the world. I am a recreational sailor and the British Virgin Islands where I have lived for many years is perfect for me!
Here in the BVI, the waters are calm, and even on a blustery day, sailing remains safe and fun. I like the idea that there are so many destinations to sail to in just an hour or two away. If I leave from Road Harbour or Nanny Cay I can be at Norman Island or Cooper in a brisk sail that has me holding onto my hat and admiring the spectacular sight of islands that seem to be floating atop a turquoise sea.
Where to go when the choices seem infinite? Here are just a few of the BVI’s standout anchorages and bays: some quiet while others have lively beach bars. All are easy to sail to. This suggested itinerary makes sure that no sail is too arduous and that a cool tropical libation is within easy reach. Some further advice: Feel free to add to or shorten this itinerary. Spend more time in one place and less in another. After all, this is your vacation.
Day 1: Sailing for Treasure at Norman Island
If you are starting from one of the many charter boat companies based in Road Town, Nanny Cay, or West End, consider making your first port of call Norman Island. It’s just a short sail away, and exploring its intriguing Treasure Caves is a must. You can tie up to a National Parks Trust mooring, don snorkel gear and swim right into the caves. Norman Island is the reputed location for Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel of piratical skullduggery. From The Caves, anchor at the neighboring Bight, the location of two popular places to eat and drink. Pirates Bight has lounge chairs on the beach and a large dining patio. Turtles and rays can often be spotted in the calm water off Pirates, so bring snorkel gear. Just offshore is the converted boat, the Willy T. A pirate themed floating restaurant and bar it can get raucous on weekends when local boats tie up for an evening of fun.
Day 2 Salt Island and Cooper Island, a Scenic Sail
From Norman Island you will sail upwind to your next destination, Salt Island. If you want a taste of colorful BVI history this makes for an interesting morning stopover. The island has a large salt pond that in the 19th and early 20th centuries provided salt to passing ships. The salt pond is still there, but the residents are long gone, although their descendants honor their family history with an annual reunion on the island. Salt Island is where a number of the victims of the 1867 shipwreck the RMS Rhone are buried. It is the BVI’s premier dive site, so if you have snorkel or dive gear on board you can have a peek at the BVI’s most famous dive site. It was also used as a film backdrop for The Deep, the film based on the Peter Benchley novel.
It is then time for lunch at Cooper Island – a short upwind beat, along the scenic Sir Francis Drake Channel. At Cooper you will find a calm anchorage, a restaurant with a fun vibe and out of the ordinary amenities like a rum bar, ice cream parlor and a web cam at the bar that televises the bay’s marine life like a 24/7 nature program.
Day 3: The Baths and Trellis Bay
Next stop is The Baths in Virgin Gorda. Have lunch on board, or eat at the beach bar. There is also the option to walk up a picturesque trail at the back of the beach to the Top of the Baths, a small development with a restaurant, coffee shop and boutiques. Then walk back down to the beach and explore the BVI’s most famous natural wonder: the giant cathedral like boulder formation known as The Baths. Exploring this geological playground is fun for all ages. Follow the labyrinthine trail over the boulders and through sea pools (Ladders and ropes will help you scale the rocks). You will eventually come out at Devil’s Bay, a beautiful and quiet white sand beach.
Prone to north shore swells, especially in the winter months, The Baths is not the best anchorage, so after lunch, head for Trellis Bay on the northern shore of Beef Island (Beef Island is attached to Tortola by a short bridge). The sheltered bay is home to several restaurants and a grocery store if you need to restock.
Day 4: Marina Cay and Sailing to Cane Garden Bay
The next day, you can lunch at Marina Cay, a small island with a restaurant and boutique and an interesting back story. In the 1930s writer Rob White and his wife bought the deserted island from its local owner and built a home there at a time when few outsiders lived in these islands. The materials for the building were brought from Tortola by sloop and carried to the top of the hill by donkey where the concrete was hand poured. The 1950s movie Our Virgin Island, based on Rob White’s time on Marina Cay, starred John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. The island is now run by Scrub Island, a nearby resort.
Sail that afternoon to Cane Garden Bay, a beachside community on Tortola, and anchor for the night. There are many good locally owned restaurants and beach bars, several with live entertainment, as well as water sports outfits so you won’t lack for something to do, especially with kids. The swimming is good and if you like to snorkel, there is a shipwreck off the eastern most jetty.
Day 5 & 6: Sail to Jost Van Dyke
Jost Van Dyke is next on the itinerary. Drop anchor at Great Harbour. This conglomeration of a dozen or so colorful restaurants, a dive shop and a couple of boutiques line a sandy strip of sand that doubles as Great Harbour’s main street. At the eastern end is Foxy’s Tamarind Bar. Owned by Foxy Callwood, the mischievous calypsonian, and his wife Tessa, the bar is known for its famed yachting parties including Foxy’s Wooden Boat Regatta and their world famous New Year’s bash.
If you want to remain anchored in Great Harbour, the next day take a taxi to White Bay for lunch. Part of the lightly populated Jost Van Dyke’s charm is that it has only one road running west to east, and just a handful or so of vehicles, fortunately several of which are taxis. White Bay is a lovely stretch of white sand beach lined with numerous beach bars.
The two most well-known are the Soggy Dollar and Hendo’s Hideaway. Soggy Dollar is the reputed inventor of the Painkiller, the BVI’s atply named rum drink). Just a bit further down the beach is Hendo’s Hideaway, another popular eatery. White Bay, which is a favorite of BVI charter boaters, as well as day trippers from the neighboring US Virgin Islands, is quite the party scene in season. While at the beach sun, swim, snorkel and explore the dozen or so other beach bars on White Bay, a great way to meet the locals, both owners and staff. If you want to get away from the fray, walk east on the beach and follow the path over a rocky outcrop where you will run across Ivan’s campground and beach bar.
If you prefer a quiet morning of sunning and beaching instead, I suggest sailing to nearby Sandy Cay. Just off Jost Van Dyke’s north shore, Sandy Cay is the BVI’s own version of a deserted island. This patch of sand and indigenous foliage is a national park, and is surrounded by turquoise water (but where in the BVI isn’t?). I find the island one of the BVI’s most charming. It is perfect for swimming and sunning –and if you walk the nature trail to the other side of the island you will discover indigenous flora, lizards and butterflies and great views of Tortola and Guano Island to the east.
After Sandy Cay, you can find a calm evening anchorage in Jost’s Little Harbour where there are several popular locally owned restaurants specializing in lobster and other seafood.
Day 7, Sailing Back
Relax on board in the morning. If you have time dinghy to the dock at Foxy’s Taboo at Diamond Cay on Jost Van Dyke’s eastern tip for a trip to the Bubbly Pool. From Taboo walk to this sea pool where the waves crash over the rocks (when the winter swells are up) and the seapool froths up like a giant bubble bath. Have lunch at Foxy’s Taboo or the B-line across the way on Little Jost Van Dyke. It is then time to take a leisurely sail back to your point of origin; the end of a great week of sailing in the British Virgin Islands.
This is just one of many possible itineraries. Feel free to pick and choose, but it allows you to circumnavigate Tortola and hit many of the BVI’s highlights. Happy sailing!
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