Hanging Out with Richard Branson on the British Virgin Islands

No we didn’t. He owns one of the islands, but we weren’t invited.

We weren’t even supposed to be in BVI. We’d booked tickets to Curaçao. However, Curaçao’s only 60 kms off the Venezuelan coast. We decided it would be a good area to avoid for a while. Instead, we opted to visit the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles, starting with BVI.

Tortola

Our flight arrived in Tortola, the main island, an hour late. Then we stood in line for 1-1/2 hours for the one immigration agent to process the 75 passengers from an American Airlines flight that landed two minutes head of us. After some serious attitude from the Hertz agent for arriving two hours late, we got on the road, in the dark, to our AirBnB.

Our AirBnB was at the top of a mountain. Navigating winding, narrow, steep mountain roads in the dark was a rude introduction to BVI. It didn’t help that the pickup ahead of us had a still-burning steel drum BBQ on the back spewing glowing embers and the succulent aroma of grilled pork. The next morning we were rewarded for the drive with amazing views. We looked down on the Caribbean from our front deck, and the Atlantic Ocean from our back deck.

Take cash, lots of cash

BVI tourism is centered around the many yachts and sailboats that anchor in its bays, and the massive cruiseships that dock every morning. The islands have limited resources. As a result, everything is hyper-expensive. Our first morning in the capital of Road Town, we stopped for coffee to get our bearings. Two black coffees cost $15 USD. We thought the guy had ripped us off but, no, that’s the norm. From then on we had our morning coffees at home, and did most of our own cooking.

Driving is not for the faint of heart

We explored Tortola from end-to-end. We visited every one of its beaches and hiked its few hiking trails. Driving was insane. We drove every marked road on the island. We’d read tourist blogs suggesting visitors venture onto the North Coast Road to experience a thrill. Admittedly, it was steep, winding, narrow and pot-holed. But it was a super-highway compared to most of the roads we drove.

Proposing on Virgin Gorda

The BVI archipelago has over 60 islands and islets, only 19 of which are inhabited. Most of those 19 can only be reached by private boat, including Necker Island, Richard Branson’s private island. We didn’t visit Necker Island, but we did visit Virgin Gorda.

Virgin Gorda is about 40 minutes by ferry from Tortola. We took the earliest ferry to avoid the cruise ship groups. The island is best known for The Baths, a volcanic rock formation along the shoreline. Ten-metre high boulders litter the beach, creating caverns, tunnels and wave pools. We practically had the National Park to ourselves for the first hour.

The route through the boulders ends at Spring Bay Beach. There were only a handful of people on the beach. Having nothing better to do, we got two cold drinks and settled at a picnic table. A couple, Kelly and Mark as we soon learned, strolled by us down the beach. Another woman, Andrea, joined us at our table. She explained that Mark is her brother; Kelly is her best friend. Mark was about to propose, if he could get up the nerve. Andrea was hoping to take pictures with her phone, but Kelly and Mark went too far down the beach.

George grabbed his telephoto lens and “sniped” pictures as Mark dropped to his knee and proposed. Happily, Kelly accepted, and they have some pictures to remember the moment. Congratulations to Kelly and Mark.

Party Island – Jost Van Dyke

Jost Van Dyke Island is known for its party scene. BVI’s famous Painkiller rum cocktail reputedly originated at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke. Foxy’s Bar is known for its full-moon parties and live music. Boats anchor in the bay and mariners swim or motor to shore to party.

We thought by going early in the day we’d miss the party crowd. Even though we took the 10:00 a.m. ferry, there were passengers who’d gotten an early start on the rum, and were ready to party. Half the people from the ferry headed straight for Foxy’s. We loaded into the back of a jitney and headed to White Bay, the island’s best beach, and home of the Soggy Dollar Bar. Thanks to social media, it was full at 11:00 a.m. Not a seat to be had. Neighbouring restaurants were empty. We strolled ten minutes down the beach and settled into beachfront lounge chairs at a quiet restaurant. The rum punch was just as good, and we had the beach to ourselves.

Before leaving, we did squeeze into a table at the Soggy Dollar to sample its Painkillers. Our rum punches down the beach had more kick.