Virgin Gorda: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
by Claudia Colli
Where do you go when you live on Tortola, and want to go somewhere special for your birthday? It didn’t take long to come up with the answer. “Virgin Gorda,” I thought. Beautiful and geographically unique, Virgin Gorda is a perfect getaway, and just an easy ferry ride away from Tortola.
So, on my birthday, my husband and I got on Speedy’s in Road Town. The sleek large power cat takes just 35 minute to get to Virgin Gorda, and the boat passes a parade of picture postcard scenery. We passed Peter Island, followed by Salt, Cooper and Ginger. (If you want to remember their order, think “Grand, Central, Station.” The beauty of the turquoise blue water and the emerald green islands with their gently mounding hills, never ceases to impress.
At the dock we were met by our rental car agent. It was a worst-for-wear Jimny, dented and rattly, but as the cheerful lady at the rental car agency had explained: “It will get you there.” And it did.
Our first stop was Little Dix for lunch. It was my birthday after all, so I had a glass of Prosecco and a salad, and capped it off with dessert. As we sat on the edge of the beach, the water just a stone’s throw away, I thought how fortunate we were to be in such a beautiful place.
We then checked into our guest house. Comprised of a series of cottages in the island’s famed Valley, it was surrounded by Virgin Gorda’s signature boulders. The tall and looming granite rocks towered over our heads, interspersed by vibrant orange and magenta bougainvillea. We walked to Spring Bay, with more towering boulders defining the path to the beach. Spring Bay, along with The Baths – Virgin Gorda’s most famous natural attraction – and Devel’s Bay form a single national park. The Baths, with its cathedral like boulders forming grottoes and sea pools, is where most of the BVI’s visitors go. But Spring Bay will always remain on the list of my favorite BVI beaches. There is powdery white sand, and sheltering sea grape and almond trees for shade. The calm clear ocean is sprinkled with even more boulders rounded by centuries of erosion.
A candlelit dinner at Cocomaya, a beachside restaurant rounded the day out. The next day I wanted to do something different, so we drove over to Gun Creek, to catch the ferry to Bitter End Yacht Club for lunch. The ride to Gun Creek alone is worth the trip. After driving through The Valley, we came to a narrow neck of land that links Virgin Gorda’s low bolder speckled Valley to the mountainous northern half.
On one side of the narrow neck is Savannah Bay, a spectacular strip of sand. Today it was quiet, just a few beachgoers were lounging in the sun. But in July, it is the location of the infamous Christmas in July, a gathering of hundreds of party-going boaters standing waist deep in the calm water drinking mojitos and painkillers. On the other side of the strip, the sea stretched out eastward towards St. Martin and all the way to Africa.
Here we had a choice of taking the shore road to the left, past Mango and Nail Bays, or continue straight up which is what we did. The sign to Gorda Peak soon came into view. Gorda Peak is a national park and a trail leads to the islands highest point, 1,370’. The Jimny protested as we continued the steep climb. Like the Little Engine that Could, I muttered “I think I can, I think I can,” and like the Little Engine, our Jimny did!
Eventually, we came to a sign that pointed one way to Leverick Bay and its small resort, vacation villas and marina, and to Gun Point and Virgin Gorda’s toney North Sound. Gun Point is where we would catch our ferry. The road to Gun Point is steep and narrow, with colorful West Indian houses scattered along the hillside. At the bottom there is a large car park that caters to the dozens of local workers that commute daily to the many resorts that dot the North Sound, a deep and sheltered expanse of water along Virgin Gorda’s northern and eastern point.
Richard Bransom’s Necker Island, known for catering to rockers and other celebrities was in the distance. Other high-end resorts like Oil Nut Bay, Biras Creek and Saba Island can also be found here. So is Bitter End Yacht Club which is where I was heading for lunch. As it name implies, the Bitter End Yacht Club caters to yachtsmen, and it was fun to walk along the marina and look at the large, high tech racing boats tied up to the docks and anchored out in the Sound. Some of which had just taken part in a Super Yacht Regatta.
Later that afternoon we took the ferry back to Gun Creek, coaxed our vehicle back up the hill and over to the ferry. It had been a lovely two days on Virgin Gorda. There is so much more to do on this lovely island of beaches and bolders and I look forward to coming back soon.
Additional information can be found at the BVI Tourist Boards’ website:
