We’ve not long returned from a bit of a marathon holiday mainly on Virgin Gorda and Anegada but with an enforced “extra bit” on Antigua at the end. I have gleaned so much fantastic and useful information from this board; I want to give something back in the form of a trip report, Sorry it’s so long! I hope bits of it help others.

We arrived there July 7th with our kids, who are both boys, ages 7 and 13 and spent 12 nights at Flamboyant, Guavaberry’s new 3 bedroomed house and 8 nights at Lavenda Breeze on Anegada. This was to be followed by a single night in a hotel on Antigua prior to our flight home to the UK, but one son was violently ill literally as we boarded the plane and Virgin Atlantic decided they couldn’t risk him flying and off-loaded us. We therefore had another 4 nights in an awful mainly all-inclusive hotel in Antigua whilst waiting for another flight, a world away from Anegada. Thank God for hire cars to get us away from that hotel!

We used Virgin to fly to Antigua, Liat for our onward trip to Beef Island and Island Birds to fly us to Virgin Gorda, again to Anegada and again to take us back to Beef Island at the end. I would highly recommend them, and also that way of getting around with kids and luggage, rather than the ferry. It was so quick and easy. We were met at the airports with pre-arranged hire cars and for instance, it only took us just over an hour from leaving Flamboyant to arriving at Lavenda Breeze!

Virgin Gorda;
Flamboyant is a fantastic addition to Guavaberry’s homes. It is huge, 3 large bedrooms, with either twins or king sized beds, all with ensuite and air-conditioning. The living space is open plan and again huge. There is a large deck with loungers, a large table and numerous chairs at the front with views to the sea, plus a sun deck at the back and a further sun deck up some stairs to give incredible views. There was also a large gas Weber BBQ. Inside was very well equipped with a huge fridge, microwave, gas hob and oven, but no TV which I loved but the kids missed but did get used to.
A posse of cleaners arrived each day, leaving the place spotless and add all this to GSB’s commissary and amazing friendly management, we couldn’t see anywhere else on Virgin Gorda we would want to stay without spending a vast amount more. The commissary had most food we needed and we used it a lot but did do a couple of “big” shops at Buck’s. They gave us lots of advice in the office and were more than happy to book tables at restaurants and arranged a trip with Double D.There are also a couple of PCs in the office which can be used for a nominal charge.

We ate out every night but one when we had a BBQ. Our favourite was Giorgio’s, not too expensive thanks to our great exchange rate at the moment!!. We arrived first and were given the best table, we thought. We had also “dressed up” a little which helped I think as is it a smart place and others who arrived almost in beach clothes just after were seated at the back. The service and food were excellent, they were welcoming to the kids and we felt the sunset views were better than the Mineshaft. One small problem, although eldest son decided it was the best Italian he had been to, youngest struggled to find something he liked, and picked at his food. So from a food point of view only, some young kids may prefer elsewhere.

We also loved The Rock Café (twice), huge hit with both boys, Chez Bamboo (I note previous poor comments, but we had excellent service and food), Top of the Baths for second breakfast for eldest growing hollow legged boy whilst youngest swam in pool, Bath and Turtle for lunch and dinner, both nice and reasonable. Mineshaft for their ribs night was good until a vast party arrived and seemed to dominate the staff, but none of us felt we wanted to go back. We also went to Leverick Bay for their Friday night BBQ. This was ok and definitely worth going to, but only once, however, those of you with small children may need to go weekly, as young kids love it. Our youngest hooked up with others and we hardly saw him all evening.

Our main priority this trip was to snorkel and were worried as our youngest who can swim, had never snorkelled. I had taken him to a local dive shop at home for good equipment and he had a successful lesson with them. However on his first attempt in the sea, at the Crawl, which is as calm as a pool almost, he just wouldn’t do it, we thought we were in for a difficult 3 weeks. But next day at a windy, quite choppy Savannah Bay, on went the gear and off he went. He snorkelled like a pro from then on. We did feel however, that unlike a lot of advice we were given, he was happiest in deep water, with no chance of touching the coral, he had been warned against, and also when surrounded by lots of fish to entertain/distract him. Huge barracuda, tuna, tarpon, rays, grouper fascinated rather than frightened him and he coped with no problems at all with the Rhone, the Indians etc.

The best off beach snorkelling was without a doubt either side of the Crawl. We would enter at the Crawl and either go left round to Spring Bay or right to the beautiful and empty Trunk Bays. The variety of fish was incredible, we saw all those mentioned above plus turtles, an octopus (changing colour rapidly as it moved over different rocks) and some lovely coral.
Snorkelling from Spring Bay round to the Baths was ok, better was Savannah with some great coral and we found Mahoe to be just ok as well, perhaps compared to the splendour of our usual haunt beyond the Crawl.

We did a snorkel trip with Bitter End, very cheap and great value, the best stop was Oil Nut Bay, where we all lingered over a huge sleeping Nurse shark. We also went out with another small group of snorkellers with Dive BVI to the Dogs. This was again cheap but the snorkelling not so good even though one of the men comes in with you and tries to point things out, I would go with Bitter End again next time. Another day was spent with the wonderful Corrine and Double D. Snorkelled at Peter Island (ok), the caves at Norman Island (good), the Rhone (interesting but not for 30 mins, few fish) and the Indians (amazing, never to be missed, could have spent all day there!! A big kiss to the vast 6ft+ ray who swam up right through our group leaving us all speechless) Lunch was excellent at Willie T. I would highly recommend that trip even with youngsters as long as they can snorkel.

One last practical point for those with (or without) kids, Stevens’s laundry in the yacht harbour will do your laundry for you, with your own detergent if needed, drop off in the morning and pick up later.

Overall we absolutely loved Virgin Gorda, it is the right size, has the right amount of development (no more please), amazing beaches, scenery, restaurants, snorkelling and not least people and we will be back!


Anegada;
We arrived in rain and initially it was a shock after VG. It seemed desolate, full of bugs and the sea was quite rough. But next day, the sun shone and Lavenda Breeze and Anegada started to flirt with us, until we started to love both.

Lavenda Breeze is lovely, all on it’s own, very well designed to capture the ever present breezes and although we had no AC, and the day time temps were up to late 90’s and we are cold creatures from the UK, we were never too hot, in fact if anything I preferred the more constant temperature there to the AC and huge changes in temperature at Flamboyant. George, the owner has furnished and equipped it very well and I would say, is the perfect host. He emails many times before your trip with questions and advice and even rings when you are there to check if you are ok, this is despite having an excellent representative ( Laura) on island who meets you and helps you out. He recommended having some food delivered via the ferry, as food supplies are in short supply on Anegada. We did an “internet shop” with Riteway on Tortola in GSB’s office and it was fascinating to meet the ferry along with most of the island it seemed, to see that this is their lifeline to the outside world. Our order was accurately sent and lasted us the next week. We had also brought some food over from VG, again the rapid plane helped with fridge stuff, and GSB had ordered us lots of bread and rolls to be picked up on the way to the airport, conveniently packaged in a box.

We ate out most nights, booking before 4pm and requesting our main courses, as you need to. This was done via the VHF radio in the villa, which entertained the youngest who is still copying me! Variety was limited and at one point no one seemed to have chicken. Desserts were in short supply and ice-cream non existent (but there is an ice-cream maker in the villa, bring vanilla pods or essence). You were also told when to arrive; ok for us but with younger kids who are less flexible it might be difficult, as would the lack of choice. Overall I don’t thing Anegada would be the best holiday choice for very young families.

We ate at Anegada reef hotel twice, excellent, especially the lobster, which was the best I’ve ever had, Potters (very friendly, great ribs), Lobster Trap (excellent seafood platter), Cow Wreck for lunch and dinner both excellent and beautiful setting, Flash of Beauty for a great lunch and amusing friendly lady who served us, Big Bamboo did us a “take out” for dinner on our first rainy night as they weren’t opening, which was just ok. My biggest disappointment was Neptune’s, the food was nice, but there was no dessert, service was hurried (over and done in less than 30 mins) and not too friendly, but we all have bad days!

The are some gorgeous beaches on Anegada, soft white sand, turquoise calm sea and no other people, Cow wreck, West end and Pomato Point all stand out (but we were told at Cow wreck to be careful swimming there because of big sharks –bull/tiger- who get through the gap in the reef, I think this is mainly at night, but they said no locals swim there, I wish I’d known before my kids spent a couple of hours in the water there!!). Windlass Bight is worth several stops, first time was at the end of a day spent at Cow Wreck so we had had enough sun, but stood on the beach and watched as, in the shallows dozens of turtles feed on sea grass, they were very timid though and may not have stuck around if we had tried to snorkel, but next day we thought we would try. Before we could get in though, I saw several shark-like fins just offshore, and found 5 or 6 large nurse sharks a few feet from the shore in very shallow water. Two were mating we think. An amazing experience.
Snorkelling was disappointing, I had expected more. However it was windy most of our stay and there seemed to be a lot of current. Twice we snorkelled as a family from Lavenda Breeze to Big Bamboo, but there was little (compared with VG) to see and it was tiring for youngest who struggled with the current at times. I explored off Big Bamboo and found it to be very disappointing. My husband and I twice went in towards Flash of Beauty and swam back to Lavenda Breeze, this was good, (saw a reef shark under us one day) but again the current made it not a relaxing swim, in fact my swimming costume was almost pulled off me at one point! Not a pretty thought!!! On our last day the wind and current improved and we spent the day at Flash of Beauty, which we had to ourselves apart from a brief stay from a couple. We went straight out and wow! The coral there is incredible, there are caves, canyons, and left us speechless again. I think it would still have been too much for youngest who didn’t go out but enjoyed the beach anyway. But 13 year old managed it with no problems and was amazed. Why, oh why do the hoards go down to Big Bamboo when Flash of Beauty lives up to its name so well? The lady at the bar said she didn’t mind as it stopped the masses damaging her incredible reef.

We also loved all the cows (do they outnumber cars 12:1?), goats, donkeys, birds, (saw the flamingos in the distance a couple of times and Lavenda Breeze’s beautiful tropical garden attracts allsorts), Dean’s rental car (very nice, if anything better than the one we had at VG), the roads (great fun), the people, the “international airport” (our pilot told us “they” are trying to strip it of it’s international status, why can’t they stop meddling, it’s fine for it’s purpose and I’m a nervous flyer), the peace , quiet, space, and the kids loved the TV. Having been deprived on VG they had large fixes there, which suited us as we could enjoy chilling on the villa’s amazing decking, with those incredible views. I would love to be there now!
I didn’t like the bugs, we don’t do too many bugs in England, but most seem to disappear after our first day and the rest I stopped noticing and never bothered me, except for a scorpion I found in our bedroom. That freaked me out, but looking back I’m sure it was more afraid of me. We were never bitten on Anegada unlike both Antigua and VG where they seem to like bug spray!

Again overall we loved both the villa and Anegada, and think too much more development would ruin the place and spoil the charm of the place, the very reason why so many love it now. We will have to go back before that happens and would have to stay at Lavenda Breeze.

Antigua

Outside the remit of this board, so I would just say to those of you who love the BVI and have never been- don’t bother!!!

Sorry it’s so long, I guess I had a lot to say. When we can I’ll try to post some photos, my husband loves his camera, but with the chaos we’ve arrived back to, that may take some time.


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