British Virgin Islands Other Islands

The BVI Islands That Most People Fly Past on the Way to Tortola

The British Virgin Islands have around 60 islands, islets, and cays, but most visitors spend their entire trip cycling between Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke. This is understandable – those three have the infrastructure, the famous beaches, the popular bars – but it is also a bit like going to Italy and only seeing Rome. Anegada, Cooper Island, Norman Island, and a reopened Peter Island offer a version of the BVI that has not yet been organised for mass consumption, and for anyone on a charter yacht or willing to navigate the ferry network, they often turn out to be the best part of the trip.

Anegada

Anegada does not look like the rest of the BVI. Where every other island in the group is volcanic – steep, green, dramatic – Anegada is flat, low-lying coral and limestone, barely rising above sea level. Horseshoe Reef surrounds it: one of the largest coral reef systems in the Caribbean, responsible for sinking hundreds of ships over the centuries and now supporting exceptional snorkelling and wreck diving. The underwater visibility in the reef’s healthy sections is among the best in the Caribbean.

On land, the pace is genuinely unhurried. The Settlement – the main village – has a small supermarket, several guesthouses and hotels including Anegada Reef Hotel and Neptune’s Treasure, and restaurants built around one thing: local lobster. Anegada lobster is farmed and harvested locally, appears on every menu, and is good enough that you should order it grilled rather than sauced. Loblolly Bay on the north-east shore has calm shallow water and reasonable reef snorkelling directly off the beach.

Getting here: ferry from Tortola’s West End takes about an hour; Fly BVI runs light-aircraft connections from Tortola and Virgin Gorda for those who want to save time.

Norman Island

Norman Island is uninhabited – no permanent residents – and sits at the southern end of the Sir Francis Drake Channel. It is commonly cited as having inspired Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, a claim that requires generous interpretation of the evidence but gets repeated often enough to be part of the island’s identity.

The main draw is The Caves: three sea-level caverns cut into the cliff on the western shore, accessible by kayak or dinghy. Snorkelling at the cave entrances reveals dense marine life, and at night bioluminescent plankton makes the water flash with light. The Bight, the main bay, has The Pirates Bight beach bar and the legendary floating bar Willy T moored in the anchorage. The Willy T has been a fixture of BVI sailing culture for decades and has a reputation for the kind of informal, occasionally chaotic tropical atmosphere that you either find charming or actively avoid.

Cooper Island

Cooper Island is primarily a single eco-resort: Cooper Island Beach Club, with fourteen rooms, a serious rum bar, and snorkelling directly off the beach. The resort runs on solar power with a desalination plant and the sustainability credentials are genuine rather than decorative. The rum bar focuses on aged Caribbean rums from less-visited islands and is worth visiting even if you are not staying.

The south end of the island at Cistern Point has good reef structure for snorkelling. There are remains of an old sugar plantation accessible by a short walk from the beach. Access is by private launch from Road Town (about 30 minutes) or by charter yacht.

Peter Island

Peter Island reopened in 2025 after a lengthy post-hurricane transformation and is now among the most polished resort properties in the BVI. The refurbished resort offers 52 rooms and suites along Deadman’s Bay, two restaurants, a spa, and a new yacht club designed specifically for sailing arrivals. Deadman’s Bay – the main beach – has been considered one of the finest stretches of sand in the BVI for decades, and the reopened resort has made the island accessible to non-sailors for the first time in years. Room rates put it firmly in the luxury tier; it is not the place to trim the budget.

Practical Notes for Island-Hopping

The BVI inter-island ferry network runs scheduled routes between Road Town on Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada. Ferries to Norman Island and Cooper Island are charter or resort-specific rather than public scheduled service – you need either a yacht or a boat arrangement with the resort.

The US dollar is the official currency. US Virgin Islands and BVI are separate customs territories; have your passport for any crossing. Hurricane season runs June through November with October and November historically most active. The BVI took serious damage from Hurricane Irma in 2017 and the recovery took several years; infrastructure at any specific property is worth confirming before booking.

The charter yacht industry based at Road Town is one of the most active in the Caribbean. Bareboat or crewed charter gives access to anchorages and beaches that are simply impractical to reach from land-based accommodation, and it remains the best way to see multiple smaller islands without spending most of your time on ferries and launches.