British Virgin Islands "Other Islands"

Beyond Tortola: The BVI Islands Worth the Extra Sail

The Painkiller cocktail – rum, cream of coconut, orange juice, pineapple juice, grated nutmeg on top – was invented at Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke in the 1970s. The bar is named for the soggy dollar bills you peel from your swimsuit after swimming ashore from your moored boat, because there’s no dock. This tells you something about how Jost Van Dyke works: casually, on its own schedule, and with very little infrastructure on purpose.

The British Virgin Islands is the most popular bareboat charter destination in the world. The four main islands (Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, Anegada) plus dozens of smaller islets give a week-long itinerary that covers genuinely different terrain without ever requiring difficult navigation. Steady trade winds from the northeast, calm inland waters between islands, and distances short enough for half-day sails make it genuinely approachable for first-time charter sailors.

Jost Van Dyke

About 300 people live on Jost Van Dyke permanently. The island’s main attraction is the collection of beach bars along Great Harbour and White Bay, of which Soggy Dollar and Foxy’s at Great Harbour are the most famous. This is not faint praise – both are genuinely good examples of their type, the kind of places where sailors who have been coming for twenty years recognise the staff and vice versa. White Bay is the prettier mooring; Great Harbour is the busier one. Overnighting at Little Harbour gives you the calmer anchorage.

Anegada

Anegada is anomalous: the only coral island in an archipelago of volcanic rock, and the flattest place in the BVI (it barely reaches nine metres above sea level). Horseshoe Reef surrounding it has sunk over 300 shipwrecks since the 17th century. The reef is also the best snorkelling and diving in the islands, and the flamingo colony in the island’s interior – a reintroduced population that now numbers in the hundreds – is visible from the road when walking to Loblolly Bay.

The local lobster is justly famous. Restaurants at Neptune’s Treasure and the Anegada Beach Club cook it simply, and the population is sustainably managed. Order it grilled rather than the sauced preparations.

Virgin Gorda: The Baths

The Baths are a series of sea pools and grottos created by enormous volcanic boulders at Virgin Gorda’s southern tip. The geology dates to the same event that formed the island, roughly 70 million years ago; the specific boulders are softer granite that eroded more slowly than the surrounding rock. Swimming through the passages between boulders at low tide is more physically involved than most people expect. The NPS mooring field fills by 09:00 in season; sail south in the afternoon rather than the morning.

Getting to the BVI

The main charter base is Road Town, Tortola, accessible by ferry from St Thomas (US Virgin Islands) or by air to EIS airport (also on Tortola). Week-long bareboat charters for 4-6 people start around USD 3,500-6,000 depending on vessel and season. Several companies (Moorings, Sunsail, BVI Chillout Charters) operate from the Wickhams Cay marina. Peak season is December through April; summer is cheaper and the trade winds are less consistent.