Anegada
The one coral island of the Virgin Islands, flat as the sea around it, with flamingos in the salt ponds, lobster on every table and a reef that has claimed hundreds of ships.
- Arrival
- Beef Island, Terrance B. Lettsome · EIS
- To the island
- About 39 km north-east, by small plane or boat
- Private jets
- Jet into EIS, then a 2,500 ft island strip
- Best time
- January to April
The city
Coral, salt ponds and open horizon.
Every other island in the British Virgin Islands is volcanic; Anegada is coral and limestone, nowhere higher than thirty feet. About 250 people live here, and The Settlement is the main township. White beaches run along the northern and western shores, Cow Wreck, Flash of Beauty, Bones Bight, and inland lie the salt ponds, with rock iguanas, herons, ospreys and terns.
More than five hundred ships lie wrecked off Horseshoe Reef, which is why divers come. Everyone else comes for lobster: the island calls itself the lobster capital of the BVI and holds a festival in its honour every November. January to April are the driest months; by late summer the rain is heavier and the storm season is at its peak.
- Flamingo Pond Lookout A free platform with a telescope over the salt ponds, where a reintroduced flock of flamingos has grown back.
- Horseshoe Reef More than five hundred wrecks lie along the reef; the tourist board counts Spanish and British galleons and American privateers among them.
- Bones Bight One of the white beaches named by the tourist board, with a nature trail of its own.
Arriving
Jet to Beef Island, then a short hop north.
Anegada’s own airstrip, Auguste George, is 2,500 feet long and is not a port of entry. Jets land at Terrance B. Lettsome International on Beef Island, off Tortola, some 39 kilometres to the south-west; from there a light aircraft or a boat finishes the journey.
- Punta Cana 55 min
- Barbados 1 h 25
- Chicago 4 h 45
- Lima 5 h 05
- Athens 11 h 25 long-range jet
When to go
January to April.
Highs stay between 28 and 31 °C all year and the water never cools below 26 °C. January to April are the dry months, each under 90 mm; May is wet, June and July calmer, and from August the rain passes 120 mm a month until the year ends.
- 28° J 68 26°
- 28° F 54 26°
- 28° M 57 26°
- 29° A 88 26°
- 29° M 129 27°
- 30° J 73 28°
- 30° J 85 28°
- 31° A 124 28°
- 31° S 143 29°
- 30° O 161 29°
- 29° N 161 28°
- 28° D 119 27°
Where to stay
A boat or plane ride south.
Shown for information. We have no arrangement with any of these hotels.
- Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina An island to itself off Tortola’s east end, close to the Beef Island runway, with a yacht marina and a spa.
-
Rosewood Little Dix Bay Laurance Rockefeller’s resort of 1964 on half a mile of beach, holder of a MICHELIN Key and a Forbes Four-Star rating.
Where to dine
The nearest fine table.
No MICHELIN Guide covers the British Virgin Islands, and Anegada’s own tables are beach restaurants. The nearest high-end dining room is on Virgin Gorda, a Fodor’s Choice.
- The Pavilion Fodor’s Choice Contemporary Caribbean $$$$ Rosewood Little Dix Bay, Virgin Gorda, about 33 km
Elsewhere in British Virgin Islands
More reasons to come.
Flying to Anegada?
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A Business or First Class seat on a scheduled airline, or an aircraft of your own. Tell us the date and how many are travelling, and we reply with one final price, our margin included.