You’ve meticulously planned your travel arrangements: flying in from either San Juan or St. Thomas. You know to take a ferry or island hopper as the last leg of your long journey to get to the island. You’ve even heard that you have to rent a taxi to get to your hotel or rented house (walking these island roads is out of the question to even the most athletic in your crew.) But once you get to your destination, then what?
Amongst the topical palm trees and mossy mountainsides, you will find that life simply slows down – and no one, not even New Yorkers, seem to mind much. After all, chances are that you’ve chosen to vacation in Tortola for its reputable lazy days. You will be asked to do nothing here and you will find, that sometimes, that’s all there is to do. Ah – your well-deserved paradise.
A brief overview of some of the waters you will find yourself relaxing by during your stay:
Long Bay: Long Bay is Tortola’s most famous beach. It’s a one-mile-long stretch of sand set off from the ocean by a coral reef – swarming with schools of clown fish and other colorful delights. Be sure to take your snorkel and surf board, as the surf tends to lend itself to waves sometimes three feet high. Likewise, be sure to get up once or twice to stretch those tanning legs by walking to the far end of the beach, where you will come right up to the base of a large hill protruding from the water, as if it were an upside-down icecream cone.
Just inland from Long Beach, you will find a freshwater lake – the only of its kind of the whole island. To gain access to the lake, you can choose to either walk over the thick brush or dare the bumpy dirt road just off of the main drag. This hidden lake has a trail that wraps around the entire circumference, but it rarely used – most visitors find it too much of a challenge to bother hiking while on the island – even those visitors who, in their real lives, were avid mountaineers. Tortola has an oddly calming way of making you feel happily paralyzed by leisure.
Head out the same dirt road just off the main road (road don’t seem to have names in Tortola – usually, descriptions suffice). About 2 miles into your bumpy journey, you will come upon a parking lot. Here, Smuggler’s Cove, is the private Mecca of serious beach goers. At one time, visiting this treasure spot could have promised anonymity and privacy from the rest of the more populated beaches found across the island. These days, however, it is home to two bars and a borage of like-minded tourists out for a little get-away.
The waters of Smuggler’s Cove are deeper, calmer and have a less rocky bottom than other spots on the island. With very little shade from the harsh British Virgin Islands sun, it is important to remember sunscreen (even a beach umbrella) when venturing out to this most isolated spot on the island.
Whether you’ve traveled to Tortola to relax on the beaches or play in the water, your new island home won’t disappoint. From fresh-water, to ocean, calm-water to surfing environments, Tortola provides a pleasant mixture of fun and enjoyment that will delight visitors of all preferences.
