Cooper

Curious on people's feelings towards cooper? I love it as a stop (especially because it on of the only stops on that southern side of circle of islands), but I can't really haven't been able to decide if I like the trendy-ness of the beach club in the past few years. Just saw Cooper come up on both of these lists on twitter yesterday and it surprised me, was trying to figure out if I'm just getting old or is others are a little confused by Cooper as a stop?

Coolest Caribbean hotels: https://t.co/CJX7Wnrvgi
BVI Beach bars: http://www.unofficialbvi.com/bvi-blog/5-underestimated-bvi-beach-bars

We like it as a stop. It's a pretty beach and setting. The food isn't anything spectacular tho. They do add a 10% service charge to your bill.
We sat in the comfy chairs for their happy hour one day and tried to order some food/snacks with our drinks but they didn't have anything to offer. Only meals in the restaurant. That was a bit of a bummer. Their rum bar, albeit tiny, is a pretty cool thing. Also, their restroom are only open the hours that the restaurant is open.

Not a fan of the food. The TGIFriday's of the BVI, IMO.

We love Cooper. Decent snorkeling on site, Dive operator is right there. I think the food is a cut above most boat-accessible venues, and the drinks are quality. Not always the calmest, but the shallow bay has nice sunsets and views of the lights of Tortola.

We also love Cooper. It is very pretty, has good snorkelling, it is a nice spot for enjoying sunset and later in the evening the lights of Road Town across the channel make an interesting background. We have always found the food to be very good and reasonably priced.

I kinda liked it better when Toby ran the place. A little to stiff for me now.

Here are some valuable lessons I learned as a first time captain last year on our way to Cooper. We spent the prior night in White Bay, Jost in front of Ivan's, and the primary reason we wanted to stay in Cooper the next night was to have a good launching point for the Baths the following morning. My wife and daughters wanted to eat lunch at Pirates Bight, so I thought it would be perfect to take the southern route around Tortola (by Sopers) and head for the Bight. The wind was out of the southeast at 15 knots. For the seasoned people on this board, you know what we hit as soon as we entered the narrows in our 38 power cat. I backed down to 5 or 6 knots and we still took a few over the nose. I ended up traversing over to St. John and weaving in and out of the bays for protection. We arrived at the Bight with little appetite and then got the last ball in Cooper after racing a sailboat for it. The lessons learned are that I had too much packed into that day and we should have taken the northern route around Tortola with a different launching point for the Baths (maybe Marina Cay or Scrub).

Regarding Cooper, our opinion may have been affected by my mistakes, but we felt it had been over hyped. I liked their beer, but we are not into the beach club scene and the beach is just okay compared to others in the BVI. The food was pretty good that night, but we paid for getting there late with an outer ball and we rolled all night. I thought the snorkeling was decent, but again over hyped. When we got home and discussed changes for this years trip, the first thing we all agreed on was to drop Cooper from the itinerary. If you like the beach club scene and being in a bay with a lot of other boats, then you will probably love it. This is just not our preference. I hope this helps!

Steve

IMHO..I have found the food at Cooper better than many other places..I'm not a fan of Pirates, Scrub or BEYC at all but others love those. I found lunch at Cooper to be tasty and reasonable and I liked the ambiance..I'm not sure I would overnight there with so many other options..

KARMA!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/hammer.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/impatient.gif" alt="" />

I loved the ribs at Pirates! Coopers has a nice little gift shop. Bought my wife a little something there. One of her favorite bracelets.

We love the concept of Cooper's coffee bar, but unfortunately they are not able to properly execute that so far. You can't make a decent latte with overheated shelf-stable milk.

Cooper's always my first stop. Short sail from Roadtown. Great happy hour with a spectacular view. Great snorkeling. Frequently see dolphins in the mooring field...

I am a little suspect of a place that sells rotis, but doesn't have kuchela on the premises, even from a bottle. Even worse, the waitress hadn't even heard of kuchela. The irony is that Miss Jean, the proprietress of Roti Palace, actually lives on Cooper. Roti Palace was a hole in the wall restaurant in Road Town that, in many people's opinion, made the best roti in the BVI.

Yeah. Think I liked it a bit better before it 'upgraded'. The last couple of times I've been the service was good but the food has been very average. Inedible conch fritters on our last lunch there and the one before the place was beset by a horrific infestation of flies.

The beach itself is very average and we haven't been able to sit on the chairs the last 2 trips as people seem to dump their belongings on every one of them and then leave.

Love the snorkelling there, but next time I'll stay on board and bring lunch, I think.

It's an idyllic setting but the food/service is inconsistent. Oh wait, it's the BVI and the food/service is inconsistent almost everywhere.

I thought you might like to know that Miss Jean's niece, the one that used to work at Roti Palace, will soon be making roti inside Bobby's cinema in Road Town. Her name is Dee Dee, you might remember her from Roti Palace with her long braid. She is very talented. As they say in Tortola, "She hand sweet!"

One of my favs spots in the BVIs... Next time ask for Jason (barman) at the Bar, he's amazing with kids!! My two boys had tons of fun with him at the Bar! Can't wait to go back!

what time do you advise we try to get there for a mooring? any days better than others?

rigirly

Check this web cam link. http://cooperisland-bvi.com/QAN_webcam.php

I usually try to get there by 1pm. After that, it could get dicey. If you are on a mono, check wind guru to see forecast swell conditions. Monos can be very uncomfortable for an overnight at cooper.