Road Town Snorkeling and Sailing: BVI Top Snorkel Sites, the Original Painkiller Cocktail Origin, Leverick Bay Marina, Spring Bay Alternative Baths, National Parks Trust Mooring System, and BVI as the Learning Sailor Ideal Ground
The Road Town snorkeling and sailing practical guide covers the Indians and Pirates Cave top snorkel sites, the trademarked Painkiller cocktail origin story at the Soggy Dollar, the Leverick Bay North Sound marina, the uncrowded Spring Bay granite boulder alternative, the no-anchor mooring ball system, and the BVI recommendation as the finest first-time bareboat sailing destination in the world.
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BVI Snorkeling: The Top Sites
The BVI snorkeling circuit covers the Indians, the four volcanic pinnacles off Norman Island where the snorkeling in the clear channel water provides access to the most fish-dense snorkeling site in the BVI, the Pirates Cave at Norman Island where the treasure-hiding caves of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island inspiration meet the bat population, the Rhone Reef adjacent to the RMS Rhone wreck, and the Alice in Wonderland dive site at Ginger Island where the domed coral formations create the most surreal underwater landscape in the BVI.
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The Painkiller: The Official BVI Cocktail
The Painkiller, the cocktail created at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke in the early 1970s by Daphne Henderson using the Pussers Rum, the pineapple juice, the orange juice, the cream of coconut, and the grated nutmeg, is the most regionally distinctive cocktail in the Caribbean and the one most associated with the BVI sailing experience. The formulation and the name were trademarked by the Pussers Rum Company, creating the most contentious intellectual property dispute in Caribbean cocktail history.
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Leverick Bay: The Virgin Gorda Marina
Leverick Bay at the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, the marina on the leeward side of the North Sound that serves as the departure point for the Bitter End and Saba Rock bar, is the most sheltered and most socially concentrated anchorage on Virgin Gorda. The Leverick Bay Resort and Marina provides the fuel, the provisions, and the restaurant for the sailing circuit with the North Sound providing the most protected sailing water in the BVI chain.
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Spring Bay: The Alternate Baths
Spring Bay on Virgin Gorda, immediately adjacent to the Baths but with the easier beach access and fewer visitors, provides the alternative approach to the granite boulder landscape of the south Virgin Gorda coast without the National Parks Trust admission queue that the Baths attract during the peak cruise ship season. The Spring Bay snorkeling is comparable in quality to the Baths approach without the swim-through cave element that makes the Baths unique.
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BVI Responsible Sailing: Leave No Trace Mooring
The BVI National Parks Trust mooring ball system, which provides designated mooring positions for charter boats at all major national park anchorages including the Baths, the Indians, and the Pirates Cave, is the most comprehensive no-anchor protected area system in the eastern Caribbean, preventing the coral damage from chain anchoring that has destroyed reef systems throughout the Caribbean. The mooring system is the primary practical environmental contribution of the BVI National Parks Trust to the Caribbean sailing ecosystem.
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The BVI for First-Time Sailors: The Ideal Learning Ground
The BVI is consistently recommended by sailing instructors and charter operators as the finest learning environment for the first-time bareboat sailor, with the protected Sir Francis Drake Channel providing sheltered sailing water, the short island distances of 5 to 15 nautical miles between anchorages, the clear navigation landmarks of the island chain, and the comprehensive marina and provisioning infrastructure that eliminates the offshore sailing anxiety of the beginner crew. The ASA sailing school at the Road Town marina provides the certification for the BVI bareboat charter requirement.