Next stop, British Virgin Islands/BVI and its the first time in seven months on the road that we have had consecutive days of rain, and not just the standard afternoon tropical downpour, we are talking hours of torrential rain. Arriving on the main island of Tortola we booked accommodation in the capital of Road Town and close to the ferry terminal that would allow us to access some of the other islands: there are four major islands and over 50 islands and cays in total that make up BVI, only 15 of them populated.
Road Town is a typical Caribbean port city, well geared up for accepting the thousands of cruise ship passengers that visit every week during the season. We generally try and avoid the destinations of the cruisers once they are on land as their numbers can often mean big crowds, manufactured experiences and inflated prices, but in the case of Tortola the dominant draw-cards are the three other major islands, two of which were on our hitlist.
Although the weather was not in our favour we made our first day trip to Anegada – its the second largest island after Tortola and home to the fourth largest barrier reef on earth. Unfortunately torrential rain and grey skies made it a little tricky to appreciate the reef fully, so after a short lived attempt at snorkelling (which was ok, nothing spectacular) we set up camp in a beach side restaurant and ate lobster as the rain pummeled the tin roof. Today was a very expensive excursion given our limited opportunity to actually enjoy any of the beaches, but the locals did well out of us as we ate and drank our way through the day to escape the rain!
BVI’s third largest island and arguably its prettiest is Virgin Gorda, and despite the predictions the weather gods gave us the sun to enjoy it. Everyone flocks to The Baths after getting off the ferry; it’s a collection of small bays on the southern end of the island with huge boulders scattered everywhere. It’s like an adventure park as you climb around, over and swim between the boulders to get from beach to beach.
The ‘normal’ beaches are also pretty spectacular and having a jeep for the day allowed us to go exploring the coastline away from the cruiser crowds. There is no doubt Virgin Gorda is the jewel in the BVI crown; every cove and stretch of beach was pristine and there was hardly anyone on most of them.
Close by is Necker Island, the island owned by Sir Richard Branson and a regular celebrity haven. With quoted prices ranging from AU $20-50,000 for the week we gave it a miss this time, maybe in another life….
Despite the weather we enjoyed our few days in BVI – the food was good quality and marginally better value for money than some of the other islands, and unlike some of the other towns we have stayed in the night time vibe in Road Town was a great mix of locals, expat workers (British and US) and tourists. It’s a lovely stop on the Carib trail and would be an ideal destination for a sailing holiday given the number of islands there are to explore.
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