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British Virgin Islands map
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Emergencies
For Police, Fire and Ambulance : 999 or 911
For a marine emergency, you can contact VISAR (Virgin Islands Search and Rescue). For a radio call, use channel use Channel 16. On land call 767. |
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Ferries
Ferries criss-cross the waters of the Virgin Islands. They link many of the islands within the BVI, enabling you to visit an island for the day, briefly joining the islanders themselves as they make the trip for shopping and for general business or for pleasure. Schedules are published and although you will sometimes find that ferries from different companies will make the same run within a few minutes of one another (giving you another option if you miss yours), the schedules are generally adhered to.
Ferries also link a number of points in the BVI with the USVI, to St John and several points in the major island of St Thomas. You can make the transfer to St Thomas (it can be the best way to make air connections, but there’s also shopping, and golf, which the BVI don’t have) from Tortola (West End and Road Town), but you can also make the crossing direct from Virgin Gorda to St Thomas. Then the same boats are sometimes used for more ‘pleasure’ runs, for instance between Tortola and St John, and even Jost van Dyke and St John.
Remember that if you do travel to the USVI as a non-American citizen, then all US Immigration laws will apply, including visa requirements etc.
For the latest schedules, check the companies concerned. The schedule stays the same year round, but when things are slow (in the summer) then they may cut a sailing or two, so it is advisable to check the week before going.
If the ferries don’t work out then Dohm’s Water Taxi is based in the USVI, t 1340 775 6501, www.watertaxi-vi.com, vitaxi@viaccess.net.
Ferry Schedules within the BVI
Tortola – Virgin Gorda
Road Town – Spanish Town
Eight or nine daily sailings (up to 10pm in the week); Sundays, five or six sailings.
Speedy’s, t 495 5240, www.speedysbvi.com, speedysbvi@surfbvi.com.
Smith’s, t 495 4495, magicplace@hotmail.com.
Beef Island - North Sound
From the main BVI airport, via Spanish Town and Leverick Bay to the Bitter End on North Sound in the north of the island of Virgin Gorda. About six sailings a day, for Spanish Town and Leverick Bay, reservations required. Based at Bitter End.
North Sound Express, t 495 2138.
Tortola - Jost van Dyke
From the West End in Tortola to Great Harbour and Little Harbour. About five round daily trips.
New Horizon Ferry Service - M/V Paradise Express, t 495 9278, www.jostvandykeferry.com, pjrentals@surfbvi.com.
Beef Island – Marina Cay
If you would like to spend the day on Marina Cay, an islet with a beach bar and watersports off Beef Island at the east end of Tortola, then the ferry runs seven or eight times a day, including evening runs for restaurant guests. Marina Cay, t 494 2174.
Tortola – Peter Island
You can spend the day on Peter Island by taking their ferry from the Peter Island dock in Road Town, about 10 crossings a day mainly for the staff.
Peter Island, t 495 2000.
North Sound, Virgin Gorda
Several resorts on North Sound have their own ferries that run regular services around the North Sound. The Bitter End ferry takes staff and guests to and from Bitter End from Gun Creek. Biras Creek does the same and, Saba Rock has its own water taxi service to collect people and, take them to and from Saba Rock.
Ferry Schedules between the BVI and USVI
Tortola – St Thomas
From Road Town, touching the West End on Tortola and then direct to the waterfront in Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas. There are about six sailings each day except on Sundays when there are around four. A catamaran has recently started the route. Native Sun and Speedy’s sometimes share the schedule on some sailings.
Native Son, t 495-4617.
Smith’s Ferry Services, t 495 4495.
Caribbean Maritime Excursion, t 494 2323, roadtownfastferry@hotmail.com, www.tortolafastferry.com.
Tortola - St John - St Thomas
These companies sometimes also make a stop in Cruz Bay in St John and then continue on to Red Hook at the eastern end of St Thomas, about three or four daily sailings.
Nubian Princess, t 495 4999, nubianprincessm@aol.com.
Tortola – St John (Jost van Dyke – St John, Virgin Gorda – St John)
Three times each day Tortola – St John, three times a week to Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke
Inter-Island Boat Services, t 495 4166.
Virgin Gorda – St Thomas (via Road Town)
Five sailings a week, currently Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays
Speedy’s, t 495 5240, speedysbvi@surfbvi.com, www.speedysbvi.com. |
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Flights/Getting There
The BVI cannot take any planes larger than a 64 seater, so if you are flying from Europe or the States you will definitely have to make a connection within the Caribbean. For the onward leg into Beef Island (this is main airport for Tortola and it also serves boat connections to Virgin Gorda) you can choose a scheduled Caribbean airline, but there are also many charter airlines working out of the BVI. If you are travelling in a group it can be economic as well as being much more convenient. You can leave when your plane gets in rather than waiting for a connection that already has some scheduling elasticity built into it.
If there are no delays, it is almost always possible to make the whole trip within the single day from Europe and the States. Your luggage, however, is less likely to make it, so do definitely take a change of lightweight clothes and your swimming costume in your hand luggage. On the return journey it is a good idea to have some winter clothes with you in case you arrive back home in snow with nothing but a tropical shirt and shorts.
If you are travelling from the USVI, there are ferries that make the link from St Thomas, downtown Charlotte Amalie and Red Hook at the east end of the island to Road Town and West End on Tortola, even to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. See Ferries above.
From Britain
The most regular route is via Antigua, from where there are several flights connecting with the international services, enabling you to make the connection the same day. Services into Antigua from Britain include British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Caribbean Airlines (former BWIA).
Onward flights to the BVI are available through regional airline LIAT. You can also make the crossing through a private charter airline, for example Island Birds (see below).
From Europe
There are two convenient hubs for ongoing flights to the BVIs, first St Maarten, to which there are scheduled services from Paris on Air France, and Amsterdam on KLM, and second San Juan in Puerto Rico, to which there are scheduled flights from Madrid on Iberia.
From St Maarten you can make the short connection on LIAT, and Winair, or with the local charter airlines (see below). From Puerto Rico, you can also connect on Air Sunshine direct to Virgin Gorda airport.
From the States
There are several options for reaching the BVI from the States. The two best are to travel via St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands and San Juan in Puerto Rico.
St Thomas (STT) is served by American Airlines, Delta, United and US Air from many US cities. From here you can go across to the ferry point and make the crossing to Tortola. Or you can catch a scheduled regional airline and fly into Beef Island, or a charter plane, which becomes economic if several of you are travelling together. If you are going to Virgin Gorda or Anegada, a charter will be able to get you more directly to your destination.
Ferry schedules from St Thomas vary by day and season, but usually the last ferries leave the waterfront in Charlotte Amalie in St Thomas around 5pm, requiring a flight arrival time no later than 4pm. This ensures time for deboarding, luggage reclaim and the 15 minute taxi ride to the ferry terminal on the waterfront in Charlotte Amalie. Don’t be fooled by later ferry departure times from Red Hook, St Thomas. Red Hook is the easternmost point on St Thomas, and can take up to an hour to reach from the airport because of the traffic. If you were to make a run for Red Hook you may be catching a ferry that has previously left from downtown Charlotte Amalie anyway.
San Juan in Puerto Rico is a hub for American Airlines. There are regular flights to Beef Island on American Eagle and other local airlines such as LIAT.
From Canada
Air Canada fly into San Juan. Alternatively, you can fly to a hub in the States and connect to St Thomas, from where you can catch the ferry or a small local charter airline.
Local and regional airlines offering flights into the BVI include:
Air Sunshine, 495 8900, 800 327 8900 (US and Canada)
Regular scheduled flights from Puerto Rico, St Thomas, St Croix and Virgin Gorda, also charter service.
American Eagle/American Airlines, t 495 2559
Up to three daily scheduled flights from Puerto Rico, St Martin.
Cape Air, t 495 2100
Regular schedules from Puerto Rico.
LIAT, t 4951187
Regular scheduled through flights from St Maarten and Antigua.
Local charter airlines include:
Island Birds, t 495 2002
Charter company with planes holding either 5 or 7 passengers, flights all over the Eastern Caribbean.
Air Sunshine, t 495 8900, 1800 327 8900 (US and Canada)
Available for charter flights within the BVI and other Caribbean destinations.
Caribbean Wings, t 495 6000, 1800 234 2213
Charter available for flights to and from Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Tortola, Puerto Rico, St Maarten, Antigua & other Caribbean destinations.
Fly BVI, t 495 1747
Available for flights within the BVI and other Caribbean destinations.
BY FERRY
For ideas of getting to the BVI by ferry, see Ferries, above. |
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Flora & Gardens
The natural flora of the British Virgin Islands is mainly dry tropical forest, though there are of course areas of mangroves around the shoreline and at the very highest point on Tortola, Mt Sage, there is a cooler, wetter climate, an example of ‘moist forest’. It is a precursor of rainforest, with larger trees and some orchids and bromeliads in the branches. Only a few areas of completely natural vegetation remain because the original forest was cut soon after humans began to inhabit the islands. That said, there are some pretty gardens, both private and around hotels and the public botanical gardens in Road Town.
JR O'Neal Botanic Gardens, Road Town, Tortola
Situated within a wall in the centre of Road Town, the gardens are devoted to indigenous BVI and Caribbean wide flora and are divided into sections either side of a central alley of royal palms. Areas are devoted to orchids, cacti and local herbs, and there are collections of heliconia and anthuriums and 62 species of palms. Among them are lawns and benches where you can take some time out in a calm retreat from the (relative) bustle of Road Town.
Sage Mountain National Park, Ridge Road, Tortola
Tortola and the Virgin Islands’ highest point at 1716 feet, with 92 acres of dry and moist Caribbean forest (it is not quite rainforest, but there is more rain and cloud at this elevation and gives it some greener and lusher growth). Trails run through the park, past mahoganies, white cedars, kapok trees, enormous elephant ears and ferns on the ground, and hanging vines and philodendrons that quiver on the breeze. Many of the plants are labeled.
Gorda Peak National Park, Virgin Gorda
265 acres of forest around the highest point in Virgin Gorda that was donated to the islands as a National Park in 1974. It is a very good example of Caribbean dry forest and has some trees and plants that have adapted to dry conditions by developing small waxy leaves. A couple of trails lead through the park and you can expect to see six orchids including the Christmas orchid, a small colony of the severely endangered maytenue tree and a wild pineapple which is called pinguin and which is often used as a ‘living fence’. The paths lead to the summit at 1370ft and from here you have a fine view of Anegada, the most northerly of the Virgin Islands, which is so low in the water that it is usually invisible from the main islands.
Anegada, seemingly mainly base-rock and bush, is an extremely harsh landscape, but so natural and undeveloped that it has recently been the subject of an environmental study by the Darwin Initiative. There is a tiny botanical garden in Anegada, more of an enclosure behind a white picket fence that stops the plants being eaten by the feral animals. Their best known and most delightfully named plant, which is endemic to the island, is an acacia called Poke-me-boy because of its small prickly leaves.
A Hibiscus Festival is held each year at the end of March. |
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Food & Cooking
You can generally eat well on the BVI. What with the connections to the USVI next door, which most ‘Belongers’ know and visit regularly, and of course with the huge number of American visitors, the food is American in style in quite a few places – there is a never-ending supply of burgers and ribs. And with quite a few British visitors there are even a few English dishes on the menu, for instance fish and chips, even occasional roasts. However, there is a strong enough expatriate community to have encouraged some other metropolitan restaurants too, including French and Italian. There are a number of more sophisticated restaurants and dining rooms.
Although there have long been cooks on board the yachts in the BVI, there has never been a lot of chefs attached to villas. Now though, it is possible to order in catered meals in advance.
Di-Namic Catering, t/f 495 4348, mail@di-namiccatering.com
They offer a private chef to come and cook for you or a drop off service with ready prepared meals
Local food also has its own strong tradition, and although it might not be what you would like to eat for a whole week, it can be interesting to experience and there is a handful of good local restaurants where you can sample it in congenial surroundings. Also, most hotels have a weekly buffet of local food, which will give you a taster.
Like many West Indian islands, the traditional food in the BVI is based in dense and starchy staple ingredients, often accompanied by a stew. Take a walk around the grocery shops and you’ll see root vegetables with wonderful names on display – plantain, cassava and tannia. Breadfruit is an acquired taste but excellent as soup and fried in chips. Many small local restaurants offer a side dish called fungi. Similar to polenta, it is made from cornmeal. Another integral element of local food is the generous amount of seasoning, which creates pungent and aromatic flavours. Local dishes that you will encounter in local restaurants are pig-tail, souse (pig’s trotters), oxtail and ‘stew mutton’ or ‘stew fish’ (there are a lot of fish dishes). Salt fish is also a favourite breakfast ingredient, particularly when accompanied by a ‘Jonny cake’, a slightly sweet deep fried bread dough. At lunch you will find people eating freshly fried ‘patties’ of fish, chicken or beef. The roti, an envelope of dough containing a spicy sauce and chunks of meat, originated in Trinidad and has steadily been making its way north through the islands, reaching the BVI about 20 years ago. Local fare is most often found at street festivals, rum shops, and on occasions even at fresh food counters at supermarkets, but a few restaurants that are worth trying specifically for local food are:
C & F Restaurant, Purcell Estate, t 494 4941, moderate-expensive
A fun place in the back streets of Road Town that has built a reputation for its West Indian fare and BBQ food. Dark, cramped and not well lit, and with a telly blaring in the background, it’s not the most inviting of places but it is an institution. Huge racks of baby back ribs or half chicken, generously covered with a tasty, but not overpowering sauce served with bowls of potato salad and coleslaw. Their conch in butter sauce is excellent, as is the traditionally prepared steamed fish with mayonnaise sauce (though this may not sound that appetising, it is really very good).
Clem’s by the Sea, Carrot Bay, moderate
Excellent local fare in a sleepy and unassuming bar, set back from the main road in Carrot Bay, local fish and seafood as well as stewed and curry goat with rice and peas or a tonnage of ground provisions. Clem’s is also home to the steel band Clem and the Starlights. You can occasionally catch them playing there when they’re not booked by another bar or restaurant.
Palm’s Delight, Carrot Bay, t 495 4863, moderate
West Indian food family style on the waterfront in Carrot Bay near the west of the north shore, rotis, curry goat and fish with rice ‘n’ peas.
In VIRGIN GORDA
The Island Pot, opposite Road Town Wholesale, t 495 6554
Excellent local fare by Ziska Stevens on Wed, Fri & Sat, the best bbq ribs and Johnny Cakes ever – eat in or take away. |
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Golf
With its lack of space and incredibly steep land, there aren’t any golf courses in the British Virgin Islands and so for a proper round you will need to go across to St Thomas, at Mahogany Run, t 1340 777 6006.
In the absence of anything right at hand, there are a couple of simple options on Tortola which are a fun replacement. There is a very coarse pitch & putt course at Prospect Reef Resort (home of the BVI Golf Association) and a slightly better one at Long Bay Beach Resort. There is a course at the Treasure Isle Hotel, where you play with balls that do not travel as far as normal. |
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Health & Fitness
TORTOLA
Cutting Edge Fitness Centre, Road Town (opposite Prospect Reef Hotel), t 495 5040, islands@surfbvi.com
Air-conditioned gym with Nautilus equipment and free weights, some aerobics classes and health products.
Long Bay Resort also has a gym that you can use although you are not staying in the hotel.
VIRGIN GORDA
A gym is being built at the Olde Yard Village and should be completed in late 2005. |
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Hiking
Hiking is not really a regular activity in the BVI, but despite the level of development on the island, there are still large areas of undeveloped land, particularly in the heights. And like every West Indian island there are paths all over the place, in Virgin Gorda as well as Tortola, which originally gave access to the ‘provision grounds’, where the islanders would grow their own food. There are just a few places with marked paths, in the two National Parks, Sage Mountain in Tortola and Gorda Peak on Virgin Gorda. To go farther afield you would have to get a map and follow the trails and ghauts.
Virgin Gorda
Victoria Wheatley does a tour of Gorda Peak in which she explains the history and medicinal properties of the plants and trees. This is not hard hiking, but it is fascinating because of its botanical interest and well worth it. See Flora and Gardens. |
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History/Population/Politics
The history of the BVI is obscure but romantic. Although people have passed through and lived here for thousands of years, it has always been a hard existence and cultivation was never a great success. In fact nowadays the islands are more successful and more populous than they have ever been.
The Amerindians (from American Indians) left just a few traces in their decorated pottery and carved ceremonial stones, examples of which are in the BVI Folk Museum in Road Town. Columbus probably met them as he passed through the islands on his second voyage to the New World, but gradually the Amerindians left the islands, heading for the larger islands where they would be left undisturbed.
Other visitors started to creep in, particularly pirates, and the history of the BVI became actively shrouded in mystery. The pirates were happy not to leave any record. Famous names that were seen in the area though, including Blackbeard, Bluebeard and Kidd. They would use the remote bays to ‘careen’ their ships. It was important to keep their hulls clean, so that they would be able to sail fast in order to catch their prey. They weighted the end of the mast, pulling it down to expose the hull on the other side, which they would then scrub of barnacles and clinging weeds. And of course they would carouse there. The small island of Dead Chest, off Peter Island, is remembered in the sea shanty:
‘Fifteen Men on a Dead Man’s Chest, ‘Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.’
Supposedly the fifteen were left there by Blackbeard, a pirate who used the nearby port of St Thomas in the USVI (the Danish Virgin Islands in his day) as his base. St Thomas has been a successful trading port since the 1600s and for most of its history life in the BVI was defined by its relationship to this larger island.
By the mid 1600s the islands of the BVI gradually became settled. Attempts were made to cultivate them, to grow crops sugar and cotton for export and food for the larger island. Slaves were brought as labour. It was always a precarious existence because of the lack of rainfall, and so the plantations were never very successful. Eventually, by the 1800s the islands were left with subsistence farmers, mostly the descendant so of abandoned slaves. Those who could tended to leave. Even into the 1900s, many BV Islanders emigrated to look for work in the larger islands and even farther afield. This still holds true to some extent, as the youth likes to travel to the States and Canada, but nowadays migration is also beginning to work the other way round and the BV Islanders are beginning to come back. Most Belongers have relatives and have worked in the USVI. Many have dual citizenship or residency with the USVI anyway.
Out of a poor existence, with islanders scratching a living from a smallholding, the British Virgin Islands have become relatively extremely rich (they are currently among the wealthiest islands in the Caribbean) in recent years. With the success of the sailing industry and latterly offshore banking, they have managed to create their own considerable internal economy.
Population
The population of the BVI is 21,700, which is made up of a considerable population of outsiders as well as native islanders. You will hear the word Belonger quite a lot. It means a person who ‘belongs’ to the island and has citizenship, either by birth, or by having lived there for a long time and becoming naturalized.
In recent years, with so much going on on the islands, and yet so few people (in 1980 the population was only about 11,000), there have been large influxes of population. There is a shortage of general workers and so ‘down-islanders’ from the Eastern Caribbean have come in to work in the hotels and in local businesses. The other industries have brought in specialists. The BVI offshore financial industry has brought its own influx of bankers and lawyers from around the world. The yachting industry also has seen a large number of expatriates, British and Americans mainly, who come to pursue their business in a better climate.
Politics
As their name implies, the British Virgin Islands retain a connection with Great Britain. They are one of five British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean and they are governed by a twelve member Legislative Council of Ministers while foreign policy and defence are overseen by the British.
The current Government is led by Dr Orlando Smith of the National Democratic Party. |
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Horse Riding
The BVI doesn’t offer the best in horse riding opportunities, but on Tortola try Shadow’s Stables, t 494 2262. Based on the Ridge, it offers walks through the woods and paths of Sage Mountain, giving fantastic views at every corner. |
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Island Hopping
The Virgin Islands are ready made for island hopping, particularly by sailboat. The islands are a short distance from one another, the winds reliable and the anchorages good. And there is a beach bar in just about every cove. See Sailing. It you are not sailing is also possible to island hop by ferry. There is really good variety in the Virgin Islands, with lively beaches lined with bars on the one hand, and on the other tiny deserted strips of sand, desert island perfection.
But the term island hopping generally implies visiting islands with different character and culture, and this is possible too from the BVI. The United States Virgin Islands can be reached by ferry. St John is delightfully quiet (relatively it is more similar to the BVI). Much of it has been reserved as a National Park and so there is very little development. St Thomas is completely the opposite. It is highly developed, lively and has extremely good facilities, from busy beaches to restaurants and of course shopping (it is this that makes it a very popular stop with the cruise ships). The third and most different of the three US Virgin Islands is really St Croix and this takes a little more effort to reach, via St Thomas. It is the most reminiscent of the Danish days (the USVI were the Danish Virgin Islands until 1917) and there are some visibly different buildings, even a few faces with Scandinavian looks.
You have to make a connection anyway to get to the BVI, and so the opportunity is right there to build in a bit of island hopping.
Not much farther afield is Puerto Rico, which has a captivating combination of the Latin world and the USA. It has all the beauty of the larger Caribbean islands, but then also an American and Latin duality, of salsa and rock music, of Spanish and English, an overlay of American infrastructure on wonderful Latin exuberance. It also has one of the gems of the Caribbean in Old San Juan, its fortified town. Puerto Rico makes an excellent foil to the BVI. Flying time from San Juan to Tortola is around one hour.
As it is from St Maarten, so you can think of building in a stop from Europe. There are no direct European flights into Puerto Rico at the moment, unfortunately. There are many smaller islands around St Maarten, including Anguilla, a scrub-covered outcrop with superb beaches and excellent restaurants, St Barths, a sort of tropical St Tropez, with inimitable style and fashion to go with excellent beaches and restaurants, and even Saba, a huge volcanic protrusion just a couple of miles across which harks back to old Caribbean life. It has excellent scuba diving.
British travellers are much more likely to fly into Antigua, but there are other islands en route between there and the BVI, including Nevis and St Kitts, where there are some classic plantation houses and classic Caribbean life. A 3-night stop over in Antigua on the way back home from the BVI is popular to avoid the tedious period of time between flights, which can be at least 4 or 5 hours. Consider staying at Blue Waters Hotel, which is only a short drive to the airport.
Airlines
Inter-island airlines can get you anywhere within a day, but there are often quite a few stops along the way. Another alternative, particularly if there is a group of you (because it becomes more economic), is to charter a plane.
Regional Scheduled Airlines serving the BVI include:
Air Sunshine, t 495 8900
Services from Puerto Rico to Beef Island or Virgin Gorda.
American Eagle, t 495 2559
Services from Puerto Rico many times a day, also to St Maarten.
Cape Air, t 495 2100
Services from Puerto Rico to Beef Island.
LIAT, t 495 1187
Services to St Maarten and Antigua and on to Barbados.
Local scheduled and charter airlines that are based in the BVI or fly there regularly are:
| | Island BirdsIsland Birds is a small and reliable charter airline that is based in the BVI. It has a small fleet of 5 and 7 seater Piper aircraft that are used for transfers, island hopping, day trips and sightseeing from the air. They make regular passenger and sometimes cargo transfers to the BVI, but they are licensed for almost every airstrip between San Juan and Grenada, including St Barths. | | St Barth CommuterA local airline based in St Barths, which offers scheduled flights from there to St Martin/St Maarten and private aircraft charters to islands all over the Eastern Caribbean. They have a fleet of six twin-engine planes and five specially trained (STOL) pilots with permission to land in St Barths. |
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Local Organisers
If you have booked through a tour operator or travel organiser, then the company will usually have its own local representative on the ground who will meet you on arrival and take you to your accommodation or your yacht. They can help with orientation and they will also take care of any requests or emergencies during your stay.
If you have made the booking yourself and are travelling independently, you should check the meet and greet arrangements at the time of booking (see our individual property reviews). In most cases hotels, yacht charter companies and villa owners in the BVI will arrange everything for you on request, including someone to meet you on arrival. When it comes to excursions and activities the hotels and villa resorts generally have good reception and concierge services, so they can arrange a sailing trip for you, a sports outing or a restaurant reservation. Villa managers and owners will also help with advice and arrangements for booking tours.
If you are looking for a travel agent, the best agents are in Road Town. Try Travel Consultants, Road Town, t 494 2777, travelco@surfbvi.com in Tortola and in Virgin Gorda Travel Plan, t 495 5586.
| | BVI Wedding Planners & ConsultantsBVI Wedding Planners and Consultants, run by Heather Anderson, are a very friendly and well connected wedding organiser based in the British Virgin Islands. Heather lives in Tortola, but of course she is very happy to arrange a ceremony in any of the BVI, using the islands’ spectacular settings and seascapes as a backdrop. She will help you plan your ceremony and celebrations at a villa, more traditionally in a church or even on a yacht. |
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Local Transport
Basically there is no local transport in the BVI, but there are a couple of options if you do not want to hire a car. Taxis can be chartered (you pay for the whole vehicle) or you can hop on a ‘safari bus’ or ‘jitney’ and just pay the fare for your transport between points A and B. This is fine if you don’t need to be somewhere in a hurry as you will frequently be taken via areas off the main road en route, while the taxi driver drops another passenger home or at work. Just stand by the side of the road looking expectant and point in the direction that you want to travel. The most regular routes are from the airport and the West End ferry dock to Road Town and Cane Garden Bay.
Hitching in the BVI is safe, even for single women in the evening (always use your discretion), but it is quite a wearying procedure as so many cars go by without stopping. The signal is not to stick your thumb out, but to use your index finger to point in the direction you wish to travel. As a final note, a single woman will always be offered a ride far faster than a man or a couple, so you might want to keep the man out of sight until a ride has been offered. |
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Medical
The British Virgin Islands is generally a benign place, and you will experience little that you wouldn’t expect to suffer in Europe. There is no malaria, but there are very occasional outbreaks of dengue fever, another mosquito-borne disease. Make sure not to get bitten if it is around.
In the case of a basic emergency the BVI government facilities are adequate, the Peebles Hospital, Road Town (Main Street, t 494 3497) and the Virgin Gorda Clinic, Spanish Town (not 24 hours). However, queues in the waiting room at the hospital can be long and it can be hot, so in the case of non-emergency treatment you may choose to go to one of the many private clinics. Prices are reasonable – the average cost of a consultation is in the region of US$40–60. Prescription medicines are significantly less expensive in the BVI than you will find in the US. For major medical issues and treatment by specialists, many people go to Puerto Rico.
Anyone needing to be Med-evaced out of the BVI will have to be seen by the BVI Medical Authorities who will arrange medevac should they deem it necessary. Make sure that your insurance is up to date.
The Eureka Medical Complex, Road Town, t 494 2346
offers a comprehensive range of services, including an in-house lab facility. They are open Mon - Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 8.30am–1pm. They are closed on Sundays and public holidays. They also have a branch in Virgin Gorda.
The Bougainvillea Clinic, Road Town, t 494 2181
This clinic is not for regular ailments. They specialise in aesthetic and reconstructive surgery and offer a limited range of scheduled surgical procedures. |
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Music
With its thoroughly international view on life, the BVI offers something in pretty much every musical field. You can expect to hear Latin music (from nearby Puerto Rico and beyond), international jazz, rock and roll bands brought in from ‘the mainland’ and steel bands (the instrument originates in Trinidad but the players are local). There are even classical artists at the local community college. Then there are all the home grown acts, including Foxy from Jost van Dyke and Quito (based in Cane Garden Bay) who play guitar and sing. Finally there are the traditional musicians of the BVI, who play in ‘strings bands’. You can even find stand up comedy in the BVI.
The Cane Garden Bay Music Festival features renowned international musicians and attracts thousands during the 3 days of US Memorial Day weekend.
Bars that are worth seeking out for their good music include (clockwise from the West End):
The Jolly Roger, West End, next to the ferry terminal
Regular guest bands in season
Clem’s by the Sea, Carrot Bay
Home to the steel band Clem and the Starlights, which sometimes plays on its home patch when not booked by another bar or restaurant.
Myetts, Cane Garden Bay
Live music frequently on weekend evenings, often the heart of the action in Cane Garden Bay.
Quito’s, Cane Garden Bay
Home of ‘Quito and the Edge’. There is live several times a week, sometimes Quito doing his one-man show, otherwise the full band and occasionally just the Edge on their own.
Cyber Cafe, Trellis Bay
Full Moon parties.
Virgin Queen
A discotheque on Saturdays.
VIRGIN GORDA
Bath and Turtle
There is a live band on Wednesday nights.
Chez Bamboo
Phase Two, a band, plays on Friday nights.
Leverick Bay
The band Latitude Stars plays on Friday nights and there are Jumby stilt dancers as entertainment.
The Rock Café
Piano bar liveliest on weekend evenings.
JOST VAN DYKE
Foxy’s
Foxy himself plays the guitar, singing songs made up on the spot about the patrons in the bar. There are also bands on big weekends. |
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