I'm going to BVI for the first time next year. One of the dreams would be to find one of those stereotypical islands that has just a few palm trees. Does anyone know where there might be some?

Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit come immediately to mind.

sfmartinw....Google either of those and a bunch of pictures pop-up and I think you'll be happy with those suggestions. But, honestly....the pics do not do them justice....seeing them in person...being there is incredible...I NEVER get tired of it!

Something like this....? Just got to get there early for the uninhabited part!

Green Cay and Sandy Spit should do it.

As one of my sailing guests asked me once " If no one lives there why did they put a beach there?"

Sandy Spit is the arch typical "desert island". Any time you see a TV commercial with a small island with palm trees there's a 90% chance it is Sandy Spit. It has been used in Bayer asprin adds, a cigarette commercial, at least 2 cosmetic ads and a rum commercial.

If you want to have a choice of many such islands where you might be the only boat there you need to go a "few miles" west - to Belize <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

Best one I have found is a little more south...Mopian Island
http://espanol.wunderground.com/wximage/contessa/89?gallery=

Mopian doesn't have any palm trees though, just a single palm umbrella. Cool place though, and awesome snorkeling around it!

I believe Corona beer shot there too..

A good blow...wouldn't it go?

There's a small island at the far southern end of the reef surrounding the ESE part of Necker Island. It's really just a sand spit collected on the reef. Inexplicably, Sir Richard has erected three FAKE coconut palm trees on the island. (I think it's a metaphor!) One can see this 'island' in some Virgin adverts.

You cannot approach it from the south, due to the reef, only from inside the reef, close to Necker.

Just one of 'Nature's (Dirty) Little Secrets'!

I had heard that the fake trees are intended as navigational aids to make the spit more visible, since boats used to run aground on the island/reef.

Would this be the island? [img][image]http://i1328.photobucket.com/albums/w529/Rick_merrill/Mobile%20Uploads/SAM_1831_zpsxduxkfra.jpg[/img][/image]

That is indeed the island. And CMI, I'm not sure I can wrap my head around that logic, since the sand spit is a LOT more visible than the adjacent (hundreds of yards of) reef. But then, my logic and the prevailing logic often don't agree!

I think Sr. Richard installed the fake palms to dress up the sandbar for a gigantic wedding at Necker for Larry Page back in '07.

And I was gullible enough to think those palms were real! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />

You could only think that they were real if you already had too much fluids, or your eyes are really bad.