Where the Caribbean meets the Atlantic, there’s a chain of 60 islands called the British Virgin Islands. With hundreds of secret bays and hidden coves, they’ve been a haven for seafarers for centuries. Columbus visited and named the islands. After Columbus came the adventurers, the pirates and the buccaneers who preyed on the Spanish galleons bound for Europe with Incan gold.
Today, the British Virgin Islands attract a more sophisticated type of seafarer. They pull their boats into one of the marinas to eat lobster at the beachside restaurants. Or they sail through the islands to spend days as castaways on forgotten cays. The British Virgin Islands’ reputation as the watersports capital of the Caribbean is not at all surprising.
Grouped around the Sir Francis Drake Channel, the BVI are less developed than their U.S. counterparts. They are all of volcanic origin except one, Anegada, which is of coral and limestone. The two major islands, Tortola and Virgin Gorda, along with the groups of Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, are home to most of the total population of about 20,000.
