 A
Secret Worth Keeping
"Nature's Little Secrets" is the name given to
the British Virgin Islands by the host of loyal visitors
who stake claim to these 50 or so islands, islets and cays.
But just how long this secret can be safeguarded against
mainstream tourism is uncertain. Singer/songwriter Jimmy
Buffett certainly has done his part to raise awareness of
these sleepy islands. His late-seventies tune "Manana"
is virtually an ode to one of the BVI's most popular anchorages.
At packed concert venues across the U.S., Buffett's "Parrothead"
fans have for years been belting out the words, "I
hear it gets better, that's what they say, as soon as we
sail on to Cane Garden Bay..."
Boaters have long been sailing the turquoise
waters surrounding the BVIs, drawn to the sheltered anchorages,
white-sand beaches and easygoing lifestyle of these islands.
(In fact, history's ultimate sailor gave this island group
its name-when Christopher Columbus landed on Tortola in
1493, he named the lush, mountainous islands surrounding
him after the legendary St. Ursula and her 11,000 virgins.)
Tourist development in the BVIs has been
limited by enlightened environmental policy, giving them
a totally different flavor than their American neighbors.
While the US Virgin Islands have pursued the tourist dollars,
the British Virgin Islands have been happy to stay barefoot
and limey (BVI-speak for chillin' out).
Once a hideaway for pirates and brigands,
the BVIs have only 17,000 residents-in contrast to the 100,000
people living on the American islands. You won't find high-rises
or fast-food on any of these islands, and you'll find only
a few posh resorts mingling with the more casual villas,
family-owned inns, and the funky beachfront bars and restaurants
that are sometimes little more than three-sided shacks housing
a cast of characters that seem pleasantly out of step with
the 21st century.
Most of the British Virgin islands line
up on either side of the 18-mile-long Sir Frances Drake
Channel, a watery thoroughfare named for the Caribbean's
most famous privateer. Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van
Dyke are the most developed and most visited islands. Cooper
Island, Peter Island, Norman Island, Marina Cay and Sandy
Cay are less developed but are popular with day-trippers.
Except for Anegada, which is 15 miles to the north, the
islands are all close to each other and close to the US
Virgin Islands, making island-hopping the mode for the BVIs.
(Anegada has a loyal following, but this flat island's hazardous
coral reefs and its remoteness from the other islands take
it out of the island-hopping loop.)
Tortola (Spanish for turtle dove) is
the capital of the BVIs. This 21-square-mile island is the
largest, most populated and liveliest of the islands. Road
Town, on the southern coast, is Tortola's capital. The entire
island centers around Road Town and its beautiful harbor-businesses,
restaurants, shops, pubs and hotels wrap around the harbor
and stretch up into the hills surrounding the town.
Visitors are drawn to the activities
near the ferry dock, where they can eat, drink and shop
among the historic red-tin-roof buildings of Main Street
and Waterfront Drive. Some fairly celebrated establishments
grace these streets-Pusser's Road Town Pub, a favorite watering
hole for thirsty boaters, pours English Ale on draft and
mixes up some tasty concoctions with its famous Pusser's
Rum. And the restaurant at nearby Village Cay Marina is
the undisputed home to Jimmy Buffett's "cheeseburger
in paradise." Mr. Buffett himself cleared up the long-running
dispute over claims to this honor when he wrote of "limping
up the Sir Frances Drake Channel into Road Town after some
serious boat trouble…and finding a brand-new marina
and bar that served American cheeseburgers…that tasted
like manna from heaven."
Just a few miles from Road Town on Tortola's
north shore is the busy but laid-back Cane Garden Bay. This
popular anchorage with its crescent-shaped beach has seen
increasing crowds but has managed to hold on to its tradition
of family-run inns, bars and restaurants. Music is an integral
part of Cane Garden Bay, and the friendly, open-air bars
that line the water's edge host local musicians whose island
tunes can be heard floating across the bay. The most well-known
of these musicians is Tortola native Quito Rymer, who plays
his mix of reggae and calypso at Quito's Gazebo, on the
east end of the beach across the road from his family's
inn.
On the opposite end of the bay is further
testiment to the rich tradition of Cane Garden Bay. At Calwood's
Rum Distillery, the Caldwood family has been producing rum
for nearly two centuries and they're still making it the
old-fashioned way-from sugar cane grown on the island (thus
the name Cane Garden). Today, visitors of both genders can
visit the distillery and watch the rum-making process. In
the old days, only men were allowed into the boiling room
because it was believed that women, fish and limes would
turn the rum sour.
Near Tortola's West End is Soper's Hole,
a colorful marina that serves as a port of entry for ferries
and private boats from the U.S. Virgin Islands. The wharf
at Soper's Hole is lined with pink and green shops and restaurants
designed to look like a traditional West Indian village.
Pusser's Landing is the centerpiece of this pastel community,
with its two-story restaurant and pub, and a company store
that sells its rum (same folks as Pusser's Road Town Pub).
Across the water near the West End ferry dock is the Jolly
Roger Inn with its outdoor restaurant and pavilion. A popular
sailor hangout, this rowdy establishment hosts weekend barbecues
and live music and dancing.
Five miles off the northwest tip of Tortola
is an island named after a Dutch pirate, Jost Van Dyke.
Known as the "party island" of the BVIs, Jost,
as the locals call it, has only 150 residents, but it has
six bars (you do the math!). Life on Jost Van Dyke has been
described as "one long island-style happy hour,"
with pig roasts, beach bars and dancing in the sand. Jost
native and local celebrity Foxy Caldwood can take much of
the credit for the island's reputation. Foxy's Tamarind
Bar, an open-air ramshackle restaurant and bar on the shores
of Great Harbor, has become a landmark and is undisputedly
the most happenin' gathering spot for boaters in the BVIs.
Foxy plays guitar and sings calypso ballads that are sometimes
made-up-on-the-spot melodies about his guests. Foxy is famous
for his parties, none more so than his annual New Year's
Eve party, which made Time magazine's list of "Top
5 Places to Spend New Year's."
In nearby White Bay, the Soggy Dollar
Bar has its own claim to fame as the birthplace of the Painkiller.
Pusser's eventually licensed the name of this notorious
BVI cocktail from Soggy Dollar, but Soggy's original recipe
is still served at this rusty beach bar. There's no dock
out front, so the usual way in is to swim-hence the "soggy
dollars."
Norman Island is the largest uninhabited
island in the British Virgin Islands and is steeped in pirate
legend. Locals call it Treasure Island because of age-old
stories of buried pirates' loot. Blackbeard, one of the
most famous and feared pirates of all time supposedly hung
out here between raids.
A large sheltered harbor at Norman has
been called The Bight since pirate days. At the western
tip of the harbor is The Caves, a popular spot with snorkelers
and swimmers. The far northern cave is the most incredible,
extending 70 feet into the mountainside. A pirate ship replica,
the Willy T, is anchored in The Bight. This floating restaurant
and pub is known for its late-night activities.
Virgin Gorda (Spanish for fat virgin)
is home to one of the Caribbean's most amazing sights-exotic
pools and grottos formed by gigantic granite boulders strewn
across white-sand beaches. Known as The Baths, this surreal
natural wonder (and snorkeler's dream) is one of the most
visited spots in the BVIs.
Also on Virgin Gorda's western coast
is one of the island's best known man-made attractions.
In the sixties, wealthy American Laurance Rockefeller built
the first luxury resort in the BVIs. Today, the charming
resort at Little Dix Bay does a good job of balancing luxury
with the easygoing personality of the BVIs.
The island's other resort is located
at the "bitter end" of the BVIs on the North Sound,
and can be reached only by boat. The Bitter End Yacht Club
began in the seventies as a small marina for sailboats and
has slowly grown to a huge, self-contained complex that
holds the largest fleet of recreational boats in the Caribbean.
Visiting boaters can dock or pick up a mooring, go ashore
and shop till you drop, or join in the festivities at the
resort's bars and restaurants.
Jimmy Buffett isn't the only artist who
sings the praises of these beautiful islands. The BVI "secrets"
have been celebrated in song as far back as the Blackbeard
days. Legend has it that the old mariner's tune, "Fifteen
men on a deadman's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,"
was inspired by Blackbeard's marooning of 15 pirates with
a bottle of rum on Dead Chest Island.
And in more recent history, native son
Quito Rymer's ballads about his homeland are becoming increasing
popular outside of the islands. You no longer have to visit
Cane Garden Bay to hear Quito sing about his precious Tortola.
Mainlanders around the world are hearing more and more from
these beautiful, laid-back islands, and it looks like just
maybe the secret is out!
back to top | Select
another destination |
Book a charter
|
