Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

We had always heard wonderful things about Virgin Gorda, so the island had been on the top of our list of places to go for a very long time. We finally made it there in October '08 to celebrate my birthday. We had a wonderful time.

GETTING THERE: We flew Continental from Newark to San Juan, then caught Air Sunshine to Virgin Gorda. Air Sunshine ended up leaving 30 minutes early since all the passengers were there. Yeah for us since our layover in San Juan was 3 1/2 hours. We had no issues with the airlines or the airports.

LANDING IN VIRGIN GORDA: Some might find it scary. I was sitting next to the pilot, my son was behind him, and my husband was behind me. As we approached the island, we couldn't see the runway. Then the pilot made a left, clearing a mountain and there it was. Short. Very Short. And we were high. Very high. OH MY. Our son screamed "DON'T CRASH!". LOL! It was a very cool landing. I'm still mad at myself for leaving my camera in my backpack which was in the back of the plane. :-(

WHERE WE STAYED: We rented the Sugar Mill Villa at Nail Bay Resort. The villa is not on the beach, but it is beautiful, modern, unique, and offers great views of the sea. We LOVED it. The villa can be rented as 2 separate units. We rented the One Bedroom Pool Side Garden Suite which has a first floor and a ground floor.

There were a couple of issues with the villa. When we arrived, we were told the water pressure was very low and workers were trying to fix the problem. In the meantime, we were offered another villa. We chose to stay at the Sugar Mill since the problem was expected to be resolved in a few hours. Sure enough, when we returned from dinner, the water pressure was back to normal.

The other issue was the smell in the ground floor of the villa. The ground floor is really a basement, so there are no windows. I'm not sure how to explain the smell. It was definitely not an "ewww" odor. Maybe a combination of lack of fresh air and something else?? Even with the fans or the AC on, it didn't help. I was the only one bothered by it though. My husband and son had no problems spending time downstairs.

We originally wanted to rent the One Bedroom Roof Top Suite but it's for 2 people only. At the end, we were glad we couldn't stay there as it was much smaller than our space, especially the pool.

BEACHES: We checked out Mountain Trunk Beach (a short walk from our villa), Spring Bay, The Baths, Savannah Bay, and Mahoe Bay. We found the best snorkeling at Mountain Trunk Beach (it wasn't great though) and we much preferred Spring Bay over The Baths. 

Mountain Trunk Beach

Snorkeling at Mountain Trunk Beach

Snorkeling at Mountain Trunk Beach

Snorkeling at Mountain Trunk Beach

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

Spring Bay

The Baths

The Baths

Savannah Bay

Savannah Bay

Mahoe Bay

Mahoe Bay

RESTAURANTS: We knew it was low season but we were still surprised by the number of closed restaurants. All the restaurants we ate at had a 15% service charge included in the final bill, except for the Little Dix Bay restaurant whose service charge was 18%.

~ SUGARCANE BAR & GRILL: This is the restaurant at the Nail Bay Resort. It only offers lunch and dinner. It is a short walk from our villa. We tried the Caribbean chicken with rice and beans, the jerk chicken sandwich, and the cheeseburger with fries. The food was good.

~ THE ROCK CAFE: We had dinner there. The food was good, not great.

Lasagna

Yellow Fin Tuna Carpaccio

~ THE PAVILION: Located at the Little Dix Bay Resort, we had breakfast and dinner there. The food was very good although a bit pricey. My husband and son did the breakfast buffet and I had the pancakes. Breakfast came to $75. We had my birthday dinner there as well. The food was delicious. I had the 8 oz beef tenderloin with 2 sides. My husband had the surf and turf 5 oz beef tenderloin and jumbo shrimp with 2 sides. Our son had the pasta with marinara sauce and fries. For dessert, I had the chocolate molten cake with vanilla ice cream and my husband had the chocolate ice cream. With our drinks, dinner came to $210.

Beef Tenderloin

Beef Tenderloin and Jumbo Shrimp

Chocolate Molten Cake

Chocolate Ice Cream

 

GROCERY SHOPPING: We ended up getting a few things when we realized not a lot of places were open. We shopped at Rosie's supermarket and a store at the Leverick Bay Resort. We easily found eggs, bread, etc... to make our own breakfast and lunches.

WEATHER: It was not great. We had some overcast days. It rained every day but never for long so we were still able to have some beach time. Snorkeling visibility was so-so due to the weather. Our return flight was on the day Hurricane Omar was expected to hit. We were lucky to be booked on the first flight out that morning so we made it out.

MOSQUITOES: Both my son and I got bitten as usual. I got over a dozen bites and he got about 3. I must have done a better job applying the mosquito repellant on him.

RENTAL CAR/DRIVING: We rented a Suzuki Jimmy soft top with Mahagony Rentals. We were met at the airport, signed the paperwork, given a map, and explained how to get to Nail Bay Resort. The day we left, we just left the car at the airport with the key in the glove box. Gas was $4.85/gallon for regular. Driving is on the left side and there lots of hills. The road to the Nail Bay Resort is unpaved at certain points which made for some interesting driving. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: We loved our time on Virgin Gorda. It was very quiet and peaceful which is the way we like it. The people were really nice. We would definitely go back.