The Complete Guide To THE VIRGIN ISLANDS;
When Columbus discovered this Caribbean archipelago, he named it after St Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. Now Virgin mogul Richard Branson calls it home (at least some of the time). Mark C O'Flaherty searches out leisure, luxury and some seriously good beaches
By Mark C O'Flaherty
WHY SO CHASTE?
The dozens of Virgin Islands comprise part of the Leeward Islands, and are scattered across an arc of the Caribbean east of Puerto Rico and north-west of Antigua. To the north, they face out to the Atlantic; to the south, the warmer waters of the Caribbean. They offer the purest essence of yo-ho-ho Treasure Island Caribbean: in just half a day's sailing you can drop anchor and swim to white-sand beaches free from sunloungers and "cocktail time!" service flags. No resorts can claim ownership of their beaches, so even the inhabited ones are yours for the taking.
Apart from the large business hubs of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) and St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands (USVIs), most of the isles are little more than small sandy specks within an unexploited and undeveloped archipelago, cooled by the trade winds. Most are too small for anything other than a small dock or at best a tiny airstrip or helipad, and there's little industry apart from top-end tourism. Even this business is fairly restricted, given the limited access and, more latterly, caution about the effects of tourism on the environment. Over half of St John, one of the biggest islands in the USVIs, is under the protection of the National Park Service, and there are 17 national parks in the BVIs.
USVIS? BVIS? WHY THE DIFFERENT PARENTAGE?
Columbus discovered the islands and named them after St Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. This name was soon shortened. The Danes fought the English for control and in 1672 they split the territory. St Thomas, St John and St Croix became the Danish West Indies and the rest stayed under the control of London. The US bought the Danish West Indies in 1917 with a view to military strategy. Today the USVIs are US territory and the 60 BVIs make up a British protectorate, but are effectively independent, setting their own laws. They're quite progressive too: anti-smoking laws forbid smoking within 50 feet of any public space or individual, effectively outlawing the practice in public. The USVIs have yet to catch up.
WHAT ARE THE BEST DESTINATIONS FOR 'FLY AND FLOP'?
Even though you'll be alighting in Tortola or St Thomas, get off those islands immediately or you'll spend your time dodging rotund, gaudily patterned cruise-ship day-trippers. This isn't a place for budget travel: all the key resorts pick up their passengers by private yacht and whisk them away to one of their groomed, palm-tree fringed, secluded worlds of Full American Plans (full board, sans booze).
An alternative is on Virgin Gorda and is Biras Creek. It is sophisticated, free of the under-eights, and a member of the Relais & Chateaux family. You can't drive here from the south of the island, so you'll have to take a boat.
Once they get you there, they'll give you your own motorised Boston Whaler to explore the bay, the reef and the nearby deserted beaches. In the afternoon you can play giant chess beside the Caribbean and then go back to your suite with an infinity pool overlooking the Atlantic.
Little Dix, also on Virgin Gorda, had a $30m (£21m) brush and polish recently, making it one of the most contemporary-looking resorts in the area. This is middle-class family territory, with lots of them taking advantage of one of the most beautiful crescent beaches (and serenely landscaped cliffside spa developments) in the Caribbean.
Finally, the Peter Island resort works as it sounds - it's on its own island. With so much space to sprawl, the resort never feels full. The huge and always sparsely populated beach on Deadman's bay has an instant wow factor, as do the vast luxury villas that lurk in the hills; some of these enjoy Flintstones-style landscaping by Disney SFX experts. Most of the accommodation, though, is in suites yards from the water, with their own hammocks.
I WANT TO GET ACTIVE
Head to the water - or, indeed, under the water. Every decent resort will have a watersport concession, offering Hobie Cats (small, easily manoeuvred catamarans), canoes or motorboats. But the most popular pursuit by far is snorkelling. Coral reefs abound, and just by walking from your sunlounger into the shallows you're likely to encounter vibrant leopard-patterned rays and the odd (harmless) nursing shark. Take a free snorkel-and-flippers set from your hotel and hop over to Loblolly Bay on Anegada to play with the stingrays, barracuda and turtles.
If you want to stay on land, trek from the headland down to the Baths at Virgin Gorda - vast volcanic boulders that have formed caves and rock pools along the beach. This is a great place to swim away from any hotel activity, but check if there's a cruise ship drop-off planned, and reschedule your trip if there is - the area can get very crowded, very quickly.
THE BEST SCUBA VIEWS?
Look for the shipwrecks - that's where the beneath the waves action is. The stand-out plunge in the Virgin Islands is down to the wreck of the HMS Rhone, off Salt Island. The vessel was a Royal Mail steamer which sunk in 1867 and is now home to legions of brightly coloured sea inhabitants.
The hull of the Chikuzen, beneath the waters by Tortola, is still mostly intact and a great place to find barracuda and octopus. Elsewhere, the so-called Alice in Wonderland dive at Ginger Island features a Fantasia-style coral wall, complete with shoals of butterfly fish.
DO I NEED MY OWN YACHT?
No, but it would be nice. You'll see some grand gin palaces in dock across the region. Plenty of recreational sailors seem more accustomed to cocktail parties on deck than facing perfect storms. They like to cruise the Virgin Islands during the winter months - and use many of the resorts just for their restaurants and spa facilities.
Some resorts, such as Peter Island, can arrange part-stay/part-cruise itineraries with their own yachts.
WHAT WILL I EAT...AND DRINK?
The Virgin Islands are not, it has to be said, a top destination for gourmets. American-style casual dining abounds. Although you'd expect an abundance of lush fruits de mer around here, ciguatera disease in fish, caused by proximity to the reef, means that the tuna steak or mahi-mahi on your plate is probably an import. Expect a few creole slants on menus - blackened fish can be very spicy.
The Equator, in an old sugar mill at Caneel Bay (001 340 776 6111; caneelbay.com), serves excellent glossed-up Caribbean fare, while the resort's Turtle Bay Estate House is as fine a high-end steak restaurant experience as you'll find anywhere in the Americas.
The best Virgin Island restaurants are much lower key in design than their Bajan counterparts. The view from the terrace at Asolare on St John (which does quite lovely things with tuna steak and sesame crusts) features twinkling harbour lights and a cosmos of wonder above, but the restaurant itself is smaller than anything on the west coast of Barbados. Pick from green curry or sushi with lashings of champagne at the Dove at 67 Main Street in Road Town on Tortola.
Piña colada and rum punch dominate every cocktail list. Order a sharper version of a classic colada by asking for a "lime and coconut" at the Beach Bar on St John where floral print-clad cruise ship flotsam mixes with kooky local jetsam. Expect to pay around £7 for a burger or grilled sandwich and upwards of £14 for restaurant mains; cocktails clock in around the £8 mark.
Necker - a very private island
Necker Island has transcended the label "exclusive resort", to become a byword for a certain style. "Necker" is for the rock star on retreat, or Sir Richard Branson and his family looking for a week's peace and quiet in what is effectively their Caribbean bolt hole.
Branson bought the island in 1982. As with his airline and many of his other endeavours, he invested a fortune on it make it the best and most contemporary of its kind. He commissioned a Balinese fantasy, and that's exactly what he's got.
There are just 14 bedrooms - nine in the Great House and the rest in the Balinese-style houses. Usually the island is taken over for a block booking, but during Celebration Weeks, individual rooms are available for couples for a week. Otherwise you'll need all the numbers and the bonus ball to come up in the Lottery to afford the whole island. But it is all-inclusive, right down (or indeed up) to the champagne.
The three gong strikes announcing lunch or dinner time mark the highlight of a stay, whether it's dining off the floating sushi bar in the beach pool or a Moroccan-themed dinner inspired by another Branson property - Kasbah Tamadot, near Morocco.
A stay at Necker is very much playtime for grown ups: you're invited to plunder Branson's dressing-up box for Long John Silver costumes for the regular Pirates of the Caribbean parties. Sir Richard knows more than anyone about injecting high-end travel with a well designed shot of pure fun.