Snorkeling, sailing and sandy beaches: The Virgin Islands are a sun-kissed paradise

The Virgin Islands are about the closest thing to paradise that you will ever experience

I hope you have a good pair of sunglasses, some sunscreen, and your favorite swimsuit handy, because today is the second in our occasional series on destinations in the English-speaking world. Last time we went cold; this time we’re going warm: the Virgin Islands. Here’s my tip for you: just continuously reapply that sunscreen and you’ll be fine.

Hey there, this is Jeff. Welcome back to Plain English. The producer is JR. And you are part of the best audience in the world. Can you believe this is already episode 138? I hear from people all the time that have listened to every episode. Nicolas from Chile, for example, connected with me on WhatsApp. He’s been listening since 2017. We only launched in December 2017, so he’s been with us from the beginning. Others of you have just found us recently, but you’ve gone back and listened to all the episodes; and all I can say to that is Wow, and good job, and congratulations, and thank you!

Check out the transcript of today’s episode at PlainEnglish.com/138 and remember about our translations into Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, French, Chinese, and Italian. Full transcript, plus translations, all free at PlainEnglish.com/138.

I got some sad news a little over a week ago. A very special person in my life passed away. When I was kid growing up in Connecticut, I was part of a youth group for many years. And one of the adult volunteers in this group was a very special person that we called “Mr. A.” He was dedicated to our group and was a mentor to so many of us. His own son was part of the group for a while. I learned a lot under his guidance. This is how I learned to start a campfire, to pitch a tent, to go skiing (both downhill and cross-country), how to canoe and kayak—and also how to sail and to SCUBA dive. That’s because every four years as part of this group, we would go together to the US Virgin Islands.

We would raise money years ahead of time. We would sell Christmas wreathes and other decorations every winter. And we’d use the money to go on a big trip, and every four years the trip was to the Virgin Islands. We’d go camping for one week, and then charter a boat and go sailing for the second week. “Mr. A” was the captain of the ship, along with some other adult volunteers in our town. I wound up going down with him and a group of friends from my home town three times. Three times to the Virgin Islands, always the same: camping for a week, sailing for a week. The Virgin Islands are a very special place for me, so in honor of “Mr. A,” let’s make this episode about the place he introduced us to: the Virgin Islands.

The Virgin Islands are heaven on earth—if you like the sun

First thing to know: The Virgin Islands are parts of two countries. The US Virgin Islands are the big ones, St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The US Virgin Islands are a territory of the United States. Then there are the British Virgin Islands—there are actually over 50 islands, 15 of which are inhabited. The big ones are called Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Jost Van Dyke. The British Virgin Islands are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

So let me tell you about the US Virgin Islands first and the British Virgin Islands, or BVI, second. St. Thomas is the most populous island; if you’ve only been to one place in the VI, it’s probably St. Thomas. That’s where most of the planes land and where the cruise ships stop. There’s a nice town called Charlotte Amalie, with the ports and some shopping. A lot of people like to buy jewelry there; they say (they say) that diamonds are a good deal there. There are some great hotels and resorts on St. Thomas, but I think the best part of the US Virgin Islands is St. John.

St. John is the smallest of the three US Virgin Islands and 60 percent of its land area is a National Park. Most people get there by taking a ferry from Charlotte Amalie into the main town in St. John, called Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay is a little town; right by the ferry there are some shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and tour operators.

But the best things to do on St. John are out of town. And to get out of town, most people either rent a motorcycle or they take a taxi. Now in St. John, they don’t have just ordinary taxis. They have pickup trucks with two inward-facing benches in the back, and a canopy over the top. The USVI might be part of the United States, but the seatbelt laws don’t apply! And that’s probably a good thing, since you get great views.

I told you that the Virgin Islands are volcanic: that means that they have beautiful beaches, but they have very steep mountainous hills that go up just beyond the shoreline. That makes for excellent views. In fact, my best memories of the USVI are riding on those pickup truck taxis, just admiring the views. North Shore Road climbs up steep hills, with hairpin turns, and off to your left (as you go away from town), you can see beautiful bay after bay. Honeymoon Beach, Hawksnest Bay, Trunk Bay (that one’s beautiful), and then my favorite, Cinnamon Bay. There are places to stay in many of these areas, but Cinnamon Bay is the only place you can camp. The campground is large and well-developed. You can camp in regular tents, or do like we did, and camp in these big platform tents with cots. They even have some cabins if sleeping outside in the Caribbean isn’t your thing.

The sand is soft, the water is warm, the sun is hot, and the marine life is vivid. Snorkeling is great; you can see all kinds of fish, turtles, crabs, and coral. There’s an underwater trail you can follow at Coral Reef, which tells you about all the marine life you’re likely to see. And here’s one of my favorite parts. If you go at night, when it’s really dark, preferably with no moon, go in the water and swish your hands around. Just move your hands around in the water. You’ll see little sea creatures light up, kind of like fireflies in the ocean. Bioluminescence, it’s called. If you want to do some activities on land, you can go for a hike in the blazing sun and see the Annaberg Sugar Plantation, which is where they used to make sugar, rum, and molasses in the 17th Century.

St. Croix is the other island in the USVI, and has many of the same beautiful beaches—but with some more hotels in case camping isn’t your thing.

Now the British Virgin Islands. These are a lot smaller. I mentioned there are 50 of them, and only fifteen are inhabited. Only fifteen have people living on them. It’s common in the BVI to sail from island to island. They’re small and relatively close together, so you can usually sail just by sight if you know your way around, like our captain did. What a lot of people do is sail in the morning for a few hours, get to a new island, and tie up the boat at a buoy. Those are the floating balls in a harbor that you can connect your boat to instead of dropping an anchor. Once you get there, you can enjoy the island.

At Virgin Gorda, there’s an area called The Baths. What it is, is huge boulders, enormous rocks, some of them the size of a five story building, just scattered around. You can actually climb around them, under them, whatever, and underneath is a tidal pool. That means the ocean water flows in and out of the area, and it’s sandy on the bottom. So it’s kind of like being in a cave, with ocean water on the bottom. It’s one of the big tourist attractions in the BVI.

Another big island is called Jost Van Dyke. There are some bars and restaurants on the beach here, including one called the Soggy Dollar. It opened back before there were any roads or docks, so sailors would anchor their boats in the bay and swim to shore, paying for their food and drinks with—you guessed it—soggy dollars. Soggy is like soaking wet. Jost Van Dyke is also famous for having a New Year’s party.

Speaking of parties, there was a famous bar called the Willy-T. It was on a retrofitted sailboat anchored off a place called Norman Island. They built it up with two levels and it was common to jump off the top level into the ocean, and then climb back up on board. The Willy-T was wiped out in a hurricane, and it was forced to relocate, so it’s going to be anchored off Peter Island in the future.

There are lots of other quiet little islands to visit. One beautiful one is called Sandy Cay. I remember thinking that was the most beautiful island of them all—this tiny little one. You could walk around the whole thing in about 15 minutes. It’s common to drop anchor just a bit off shore and swim into the beaches. Sandy Cay.

Great memories. I’ll tell you, I love the sun, but my favorite time down there is the sunset. The sunsets are just beautiful, especially when you’re anchored in a bay—you see these huge, mountainous, green islands all around, the blue water, orange and purple sky, and a nice cool breeze sets in to take the edge off the hot weather. Oh, and here’s the other thing I loved. The pelicans. I could watch those all day. These big birds just circle around and around high up above the water. Not really flapping their wings; I’m not sure how they stay up. And then they see a fish and they dive into the water with a huge splash—they just fall out of the air and splash into the water, grab their fish, and fly back up again. I haven’t thought about that in a long time, but that’s one of my favorite parts of sunsets at the islands: watching the pelicans hunt for their dinner.

Now it’s time to say hi to a few listeners. Angela from Brazil has some good advice. She says you should practice English by doing whatever you like doing in your normal life—but try to do it in English. For her, it’s following the news. That’s why she likes listening to us. Great advice, Angela.

Another listener connected with me on WhatsApp. Now, I’m too much of a gentleman to say her age. But Margarita from Peru is one of our more seasoned listeners. One of our more experienced listeners, shall we say. And I just love that we have people from across the age spectrum listening. And it just goes to show you that learning never has to stop. Thanks Margarita for your note and for being with us. You are an inspiration! If you’d like to connect with me on WhatsApp, just send a message to +1 312 967 8757 and I will add you to the list. It’s not a WhatsApp group exactly, but I do send out messages to my contacts on there occasionally. The number once more is +1 312 967 8757 .