Some of the must-do stuff in the British Virgin Islands.
By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
CJ Travel Editor
A stay in the British Virgin Islands is all about being on the water, hopping from one of the sun-drenched archipelago’s 60-something idyllic islands to another. To spend all your time holed up in your hotel room or even basking on the beach is missing the point, because this Caribbean region is ripe for relaxed exploration. Need suggestions? Here are seven fun things to do in the BVI.
See The Baths If you only see one thing while you’re here, make sure it’s this unique and spectacular rock formation on Virgin Gorda’s northwest shore, where huge granite boulders form a fascinating beachfront labyrinth of pools, caverns and grottos.
Taste Anegada Lobster Famously flat Anegada is separated from her siblings by 15 miles, so if you make it all the way here make your visit count by heading to Loblolly Bay, an idyllic 17-mile strip of sand. Here you’ll find Big Bamboo, a beachfront bar and restaurant that serves the island’s famous lobster (and potent rum punch) that alone make the trip worthwhile.
Visit Bomba Shack No visit to Tortola is complete without a stop at this beachfront bar, largely constructed of beach detritus, wood scraps and women’s underwear strung from the rafters. Bomba’s full moon parties are legendary but the nutmeg-laced rum punch packs a wallop any day of the month.
Shop at Aragorn’s For a handcrafted souvenir of your BVI adventure swing by artist Dick Aragorn-Read’s Trellis Bay, Tortola store and gallery where you can pick up silk-screened T-shirts, ceramics, and Dick’s own copper sculptures and signature fire balls. Best of all, it’s just a five-minute walk from the airport on Beef Island, you can buy just before you fly.
Sip a Painkiller at Soggy Dollar It’d be downright rude to leave the BVI without sampling its signature cocktail, The Painkiller, at the bar where it was born. So sail over to Jost Van Dyke’s Soggy Dollar Bar for the famous libation, made with rum, coconut cream, pineapple juice and orange juice, and then topped with a generous dusting of nutmeg.
Board the Willy T Anchored at the Bight, near Norman Island, the legendary Willie-T is a floating bar and restaurant fashioned from a 100-foot steel schooner. Named after William Thornton (who was born in the BVI and designed the capitol building in Washington D.C.,) the Willie T has been the site of many a rollicking island celebration, fueled by shot skis and culminating with plunges from the stern into the sea.
Sage Mountain National Park Take a break from the beach to hike through this national park on Tortola, where a dozen trails range from easy to “wheezy,” and you can scale the Virgin Islands’ highest point, 1,716-foot-tall Sage Mountain.
