My husband started it. That is, my obsession with tropical beaches with water so blue that you can’t take your eyes off of it. I had always dreamed about experiencing this amazing hue, but hadn’t gotten the chance to see it in person. Until our honeymoon in Hawaii….
Well, let’s just say I was hooked from that first Hawaiian beach we laid eyes on. The clear, azure water was absolutely mesmerizing and just as amazing as I had pictured in my mind. Since then, we have been lucky enough to enjoy many, many other beaches in Hawaii, Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico and the Bahamas. They’re all different and most are beautiful in their own way – but there’s still just something about that blue, blue water.
If you’re looking to find a tropical island to visit with incredibly blue water, here’s our list of 12 Tropical Islands with the Most Amazing Blue Water to start with. Are these the only ones? Heck no. As you can tell by the number of entries, it was very hard to narrow it down and there are so many more islands worthy of a mention. We could have actually named several entire island chains with incredibly blue water – such as the British Virgin Islands, Exuma Cays, Abacos, Turks & Caicos, US Virgin Islands, etc…, but space prohibited listing them all. These are some of our favorites to date for the amazing blue color of their water. Be sure to leave a comment with your favorites below!
The British Virgin Islands, a chain of islands well known as a premiere sailing destination, seem to have more than its fair share of stunning beaches as well. We’ve been asked by many to recommend our favorite BVI beach and well, it’s hard to even narrow it down to our favorite 5 – and I’m quite sure there are still more to discover. All of the beaches listed below are beautiful in their own way and we’ve enjoyed the time we’ve been able to spend on each one. Really though, if you’re on any beach in the BVI, you are one lucky beach bum.
Best Beaches of the British Virgin Islands
Deadman’s Beach/Little Deadman’s Beach, Peter Island
All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit. Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC
Wow – we were already 4 days in to our sailing vacation. How time flies when you’re having so much fun – well, and a little rum!
We woke this morning to this view of Great Harbour from our porthole…
Morning view of Great Harbour from our porthole
After a delicious breakfast of eggs, fresh pastries and fresh fruit prepared by our lovely cook, we dinghied to Great Harbour to explore just a little more. We then set sail for our next destination, Guana Island, and passed stunning Sandy Cay along the way.
Sandy Cay, British Virgin Islands
Sailing itinerary Day 4
After Sandy Cay, we enjoyed a very nice sail around Tortola, passing by some of the harder to reach beaches on Tortola’s North side such as Trunk Bay, Josiah’s Bay and Lambert Bay.
Passing beautiful White Bay on Guana Island, we pulled into Monkey Point, where we spent a few hours snorkeling at one of the best spots on the trip. Here we saw very large tarpon (at least 3 ft!) and schools and schools of small brightly colored minnows.
Next stop – North Sound, Virgin Gorda.
Leverick Bay, Resort & Marina
We docked that night at colorful Leverick Bay (see more about Leverick Bay here), which allowed us to easily get off the boat and explore the area.
We’d been to Leverick several times in the past, but were never there to enjoy the “singing pirate”, Michael Bean at Jumbies…that is until this time!
Michael Bean at Happy Arrr!
It was a fun show – lots of singing, pirate shenanigans and rum punch and we enjoyed Jumbies until the sun went down.
We were welcomed back on the boat with a delicious Happy Arrr of our own. Every evening our crew would prepare a delicious round of lite hors d’oeuvres and a “drink of the day”. Tonight’s drink? A strawberry daiquiri with fresh mint…yum…
Drink of the Day
Day 5 we awoke with anticipation of a sail to “the drowned island” – Anegada.
Day 5 itinerary
Lying approximately 15 miles north of Virgin Gorda, this island just doesn’t look like the others in the BVI chain. Only 28 ft at it’s highest point, it’s flat topography is far different from the other islands. Anegada is surrounded by coral reefs and hundreds of shipwrecks and it takes an experienced captain to safely navigate the sail in – and we were very happy to leave this task in our capable captains hands (another benefit of a crewed charter!)
At about 2 hours, the sail to Anegada was the longest of the trip. It was a gorgeous sunny day with enough wind for a decent sail, but smooth enough that we could do this….
Enjoying a relaxing sail to Anegada
And a little more of this…
Making sure the tan is even…
Until we started to get close to Anegada and the water looked like this.
The shallow, blue water around Anegada
Once safely anchored in Setting Point, we dinghied to shore, rented an open cab truck for the day and set off exploring.
If you’ve yet to visit Anegada, let me tell you, it should be called “Ahhh”negada! The beaches, although devoid of a lot of foliage or palm trees, are simply spectacular. It’s almost hard to describe the water color – electric maybe? First stop – the beach north of Pomato Point.
And not another soul around….
Cow Wreck Beach and Beach Bar
We drove on a short way to Cow Wreck Beach and Beach Bar. We could have easily spent a few days here. Great beach – fun beach bar! Find out more about our visit to Cow Wreck here. After an hour or two we pressed on – intent on seeing as much as possible and landed on Loblolly Bay.
Loblolly Bay
Here we enjoyed some good snorkeling and a beverage at the Big Bamboo Beach Bar.
Read more about our visit to Loblolly here.
Totally sun and salt water drenched, we made our way back to Setting Point and then our boat to enjoy our “drink of the day”, while watching yet another amazing sunset.
Sunset from our boat in Setting Point
And to top this excellent day off, we cleaned up and went ashore for a Lobster dinner at Potter’s by the Sea. Man, I could get really used to this!
On the west end of the beautiful island of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands lies a stunning expanse of brilliant white sand beach and a bar, both with the unusual name of Cow Wreck.
According to the Cow Wreck Beach Resort website, this stunning white sand beach was named Cow Wreck after a ship filled with cow bones (used to make buttons and other things in the 19th century) wrecked off of the northwest coast of Anegada. Cow bones drifted ashore for many years afterwards, thus the name Cow Wreck Beach.
There’s plenty of room to relax with one of their signature drinks, Cow Killer or Wreck Punch at the bar and the word is they have excellent conch fritters. As fresh as you can get them, no doubt, given the number of conch shells used in the surrounding landscaping.
Once you have your fill of food and drink, be sure to take plenty of time to enjoy walking the miles of stunning and deserted white beach, and play in the clear turquoise water.
And if one day at Cow Wreck is just not enough, you might consider renting one of their cozy rooms or villas right on the beach…
Cow Wreck Beach Resort Villa
We rented a car in Setting Point to drive to Cow Wreck so that we could explore along the way, but there are also taxis available in Setting Point.
To find out more about Cow Wreck Beach Bar or Cow Wreck Beach Resort,
It’s really not that easy to get to Anegada in the British Virgin Islands, which is good because if it were, everyone would go. And part of Anegada’s charm is the fact that many times you can walk for miles along one of it’s gorgeous beaches and not see a single soul. That’s our kind of beach!
Loblolly Bay is located on the north side of Anegada. You can easily get a taxi to Loblolly from Setting Point or The Settlement. See the map below for more information on the location of Loblolly Bay.
Loblolly has some really good snorkeling in areas, but our favorite thing to do on Loblolly is to walk the seemingly unending white sand beach and play in the powder blue water.
Big Bamboo Beach Bar & Restaurant is located at the entrance to Loblolly. We didn’t have a chance to sample the food, but hear it’s very good and we certainly enjoyed a few cold rum beverages.
Big Bamboo Beach Bar
Another restaurant/bar called Flash of Beauty (love that name) is located close by.
There are palapas for shade, and also a dive and gift shop, restrooms and showers available at Big Bamboo.
Take a day trip from Tortola or Virgin Gorda, or plan to stay longer in the Loblolly Beach Cottages or one of the other small inns found on the island.
A little peace and quiet mixed with some spectacular beach scenery. We’re ready to go back – how about you?
To see more posts on the British Virgin Islands and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory
Saba Rock
We pulled up anchor the next morning and made a quick stop at Saba Rock Resort for some ice before our sail to Anegada. We only had a few minutes, so we quickly explored the Gift Shop, Restaurant/Bar and hammocks out back. We were too early to enjoy a Painkiller or Rum Punch at the bar which has a great view of North Sound, so we’ll have to return again to fully experience the “Rock”.
Saba Rock
From Saba we set sail for Anegada, about 15 miles north of North Sound.
Rush Hour in the BVI…
On our way we spotted a whale breaching – three times – as if he were putting on a show for us!
Thanks to our boatmate Jimmy for capturing images of the whale. We somehow managed to only get sky and water…
Shortly after the excitement of watching the whale, we could see Anegada in the distance. Only 28 feet in elevation at its highest point, the first thing you spot is a few trees and a white strip of sand.
The shallow reef around Anegada is tricky to navigate and has claimed hundreds of vessels (we read around 500 shipwrecks) over the years, so we were more than happy to have an experienced Captain at the helm.
Once ashore, we spent the day exploring the incredible beaches of Anegada,
Loblolly Beach
Pomato Point
Then spent the evening dining on Caribbean Lobster that had just been pulled from the ocean that day,
while sipping Pinot Grigio with our toes in the sand just feet from the waters edge…
And if that weren’t perfect enough, when we got back to the boat for the evening, we were treated to an absolutely stunning Anegada sunset. A day we’ll never forget.
