Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/1543791
WHAT TO PACK ISL AN D - H O PPI N G -- aquamarine shallows facing Dead Chest Island. Legend says the pirate Blackbeard stranded 15 mutinous sailors there. They washed up on Deadman's Beach, where they remained marooned the rest of their days. Lucky guys. EVENING Have a surprise dinner Guests gather on rattan-framed sofas and by midcentury reading lamps in the lodge, the newly built great house that shelters reception and The Drake Steakhouse under open-beam ceilings. The Drake is the color of driftwood and oyster shells, with parquet on the floors and moody jungle landscapes on the walls, and while the menu makes some tropical nods (mango-accented foie gras, grilled kingfish with lemongrass and coconut), the money here is on the steaks. You probably didn't expect to be having a perfectly cooked ribeye, loaded baked potato, and luxurious creamed spinach on your Caribbean escape, but Peter Island prides itself on subverting expectations. Day 3 MORNING Sail away After breakfast at The Drake, catch a chartered sailboat from the Yacht Club for a day on the water. As the boat rides eastward, the color of the sea shifts like a mood ring between cerulean, turquoise, and cyan. Pause for a snorkel among the parrotfish and turtles at Cooper Island, where you can also tie up and grab a BVI-roasted cold brew from the Coffee Box at Cooper Island Beach Club. Back on board, continue to the southern tip of Virgin Gorda to visit the Baths, a maze of stunning boulders piled between two sandy beaches. It's a short swim to shore to access this national park, where you'll crawl, wade, and catwalk through the network of otherworldly, cavern-like formations and clear tidal grottos. AFTERNOON Play a Rockefeller Dock in Spanish Town, the main harbor for Virgin Gorda, and catch a five-minute taxi to Rosewood Little Dix Bay, a 500-acre former Rockefeller estate with a collar of lush, low-slung hills protecting a wide azure cove. Lunch at Sugar Mill for vivid grouper ceviche, whole-roasted fish, and the greatest sticky toffee pudding in all the Caribbean British territories. After, take a swim in the titular bay, then head back to the boat to continue to Saba Rock, where the BVI Rum Runner zips back and forth between the moored yachts and catamarans, delivering frozen drinks. Order a Bushwacker, a mudslide-esque frosty dusted with nutmeg, for the ride back to Peter Island. EVENING Come ashore You'll return by 5 p.m., just in time for a casual dinner at Peter Island's Drunken Pelican, adjacent to the Yacht Club. Resort guests and overnight boaters mingle in the open-air tavern, trading seafaring tales and chasing curried beef puffs and jerk chicken with Dark 'n Stormies. Do not miss the dark-chocolate Drunken Coconut: Inside the hollow shell hides coconut mousse, piña colada cream, and coconut cake. Channel your frustrations that tomorrow is already time to leave, and give it a good whack. C O U R T E S Y R O S E W O O D L I T T L E D I X B AY; T H E B R I T I S H V I R G I N I S L A N D S TO U R I S M B OA R D ; Z I M M E R M A N N , V E R O N I C A B E A R D , B OT T EG A V E N E TA , A L E X A N D R E B I R M A N The Baths, on the southern tip of Virgin Gorda ALEXANDRE BIRMAN Milla flats BOTTEGA VENETA clutch VERONICA BEARD Arpel swimsuit ZIMMERMANN Luna midi dress The Rum Room at Rosewood Little Dix Bay; lobster ceviche from the resort's Sugar Mill BALHAR B O U RSH O P S .CO M