Beef Island Archives | Rum Therapy

April 12, 2015June 6, 2019

Sunday Serenity: Hammock in Trellis Bay

Trellis Bay is a interesting little community on the beach on Beef Island, Tortola, close to the Beef Island Airport.

In addition to some unique shops and eateries (such as The Last Resort), Trellis Bay is the location of fun monthly Full Moon Parties featuring Fire Balls and Fire Sculptures designed by local resident Aragorn (be sure to visit his studio while in Trellis Bay). These sculptures are set ablaze in the bay waters during the Full Moon Parties and are spectacular to see as the image of the flames dance across the still water of the bay.

It’s also easy to take a day trip to Beef Island while staying on Tortola as Beef Island is connected to Tortola by the Queen Elizabeth Bridge. After leisurely shopping and perhaps enjoying some delicious conch fritters at De Loose Mongoose, you might want to spend some time in the largest hammock we’ve ever had the pleasure of relaxing in.

Find it close to Aragorn’s. With plenty of room, a sea breeze and some nice shade, you’re guaranteed to find yourself doing some true island limin’.

Read more about one of of our visits to Tortola here.

Find Beef Island on our Tortola Map

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

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Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

February 11, 2014January 15, 2020

The Last Resort, Bellamy Cay, BVI

The Last Resort, a great little restaurant and bar on Bellamy Cay, a small island in Trellis Bay, Beef Island, has been serving up great entertainment along with tasty drinks and food since the ’70’s.

(Update: The Last Resort was destroyed by the hurricanes of 2017 and as of the date of this update, has not been re-built. We haven’t heard if the owner’s plan to re-build or not, but will be sure to update this post with any current information as we receive it.)

The Last Resort has quite an interesting past. Tony Snell was a British Flight Lieutenant who, in 1943 was shot down in his Spitfire and escaped a German firing squad. After the war, he worked as an actor, songwriter and musician. In 1969, Tony and his wife Jackie moved to the British Virgin Islands where they eventually opened the original “Last Resort” on Little Jost. After just one year, The Last Resort on Little Jost burned to the ground. Tony and Jackie decided to move The Last Resort to Bellamy Cay, which, in itself, had quite a history – of pirates! While living in a houseboat in Trellis Bay, they constructed a new restaurant on Bellamy Cay.

When The Last Resort opened, Tony was in his element providing all of the entertainment with piano, guitar, harmonica and original songs. Jackie, took the roll of main cook. There are stories – some of which are a bit unbelievable, but good stories nonetheless, of the many animals the Snell family kept on the little island, including parrots, a singing dog and wine and rum drinking donkeys! After a number of years, Tony and Jackie passed the reins to their children, Jessica and Jeremy.

The Last Resort in 2006 with a donkey named Chocolate

In past visits to The Last Resort we’ve had a blast.

Recently we enjoyed a great dinner with friends on the deck and then partook in some raucous entertainment with Al Broderick, aka, the Singing Chef, who successfully plied the audience with free shots to encourage participation. It worked.

Customers singing for shots at The Last Resort

We finished off the evening with a pretty intense Foosball competition.

Thankful we once again had a designated dinghy driver, we made our way back to our boat moored in Trellis Bay still singing and laughing after a great night of fun.

Apparently, The Last Resort has recently changed hands to a young couple by the name of Emily & Dylan Burill. They are hoping to make the resort a bit more family friendly and have changed the menu and decor a bit. We’ve not been there under the new ownership yet, but the recent Last Resort reviews seem to be positive! Have you been to the Last Resort and met Emily and Dylan?

Get to The Last Resort by dinghy if staying on a boat in Trellis Bay, or call for the ferry from Trellis Bay Dock opposite D’ Best Cup Cafe.

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory.

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

December 17, 2013January 15, 2020

Long Bay, Tortola

Have you had a chance to explore the mile long stretch of picturesque beach called Long Bay on Tortola’s west end?

Of all of the beaches we’ve visited on Tortola, we’d have to say that the west end Long Bay is one of the most scenic – and Tortola has it’s share of scenic beaches! The soft, white sand combined with the vibrant blue water and views of Jost Van Dyke make Long Bay one of the prettiest around.

Looking for a lot of amenities? Not here. Although the recently renovated Long Bay Beach Club sits close to one end of the beach, you’ll likely enjoy the beach with only a few other lucky folks.

Need a cold beer or a rum punch? Walk down to Nature Boy Beach Bar at the far end of Long Bay and talk to Winston. He’ll serve you a great drink and tell you about how he built his bar and the history of the area.

Nature Boy Beach Bar

The best swimming on the each is on the far end of the beach – away from the resort because it is less rocky. Be careful entering the water anywhere on the beach though as the current can be very strong depending on the weather.

We love Long Bay for the solitude and love to walk it and take in the a gorgeous scenery and beautiful soft sand.

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory.

May 11, 2013June 6, 2019

Rum Therapy Sailing in the British Virgin Islands (Part 4)

It was hard to sail on from Anegada. Such a laid back beautiful island. Think I could stay there for weeks, wandering the amazing deserted beaches….perhaps another trip will be in order.

We moved on with a nice sail back to Great Camanoe where we stopped to snorkel in a beautiful cove. The pelicans were going crazy dive bombing for minnows and we jumped in the gorgeous calm blue water to see what we could see.

It was a virtual minnow smorgasbord; easy to see what the pelicans were after. We also saw a fairly large school of squid in ultra clear water.

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the water and the scenery before moving on to our anchorage for the night – Trellis Bay.

Trellis Bay is a popular anchorage on Beef Island, and although crowded that evening, it gave us a chance to go ashore and experience Aragorn’s Studio and the other shops and sights in the area.

We spent a little time just hanging in the awesome hammock outside of Aragorn’s.

And checked out the fireballs and burning man used for the Trellis Bay Full Moon Parties.

We topped our stay in Trellis Bay off with a hilariously fun evening at The Last Resort on Bellamy Cay in Trellis Bay where we enjoyed a great dinner, played some foosball, sang at the top of our lungs and probably enjoyed just a little too much rum…

Although the party continued early into the morning hours, we dinghied back to our boat around midnight to rest up for a sail the next day to Jost Van Dyke.

Part 1 of this series: Rum Therapy Sailing in the British Virgin Islands (Part 1) – Norman Island and Peter Island.

Part 2 of this series: Rum Therapy Sailing in the British Virgin Islands (Part 2) – Virgin Gorda.

Part 3 of this series: Rum Therapy Sailing in the British Virgin Islands (Part 3) – Saba Rock and Anegada

Part 5 of this series: Rum Therapy Sailing in the British Virgin Islands (The Wrap Up) – Jost Van Dyke, The Willie T – Norman Island

To see more posts on the BVI and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

copyright©Rum Therapy Beaches, Bars & More, Tropical Travel Guide, 2013
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

December 26, 2012January 15, 2020

Rum Therapy On Tortola

Ahhh…Tortola. We’ve have the pleasure of visiting this, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, several times – yet the more we visit, the more we realize we need to come back and spend more time. During our recent visit to the VI, we planned for another visit to Tortola, and once again ran out of time to see all that we wanted to see.

Regardless, we’ve seen and done quite a bit in our 3 visits (so far) to Tortola and here’s just a few of the highlights to date….

Tortola is a large and mountainous island, so it’s advisable to rent a car if you’d like to spend some time exploring. There are no car rental companies at the Road Town Ferry Terminal, so reserve one ahead ahead of time, (we didn’t and it took some time to find a car) and plan to take a taxi to the car rental office or check to see if the rental agency provides a shuttle. Remember to drive on the left and be prepared to tackle some pretty steep hills on the north and west ends of the island.

Our luxurious accommodations while on Tortola were graciously provided by Susan at the spectacular Limin’ House (more on this later), which is in the West End above Soper’s Hole, so we started exploring the east side of the island, hoping to scratch a few things to see off “the list” before checking in to the Limin’ House.

Road Town is a bustling town with a lot of bars, restaurants, shopping and attractions such as a botanical garden, and we could have easily spent some time exploring (preferably by foot), but there were cruise ships in town and it was super busy, so we quickly headed out of town to find some beaches.

On the east side of town we crossed the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and actually left the island for a while to explore neighboring Beef Island, a small island close to Tortola which houses the Beef Island Airport, several pretty beaches and some interesting shops in Trellis Bay.

The first beach we stopped at was the lovely Long Bay on Beef Island – not to be confused with the Long Bay on the west end of Tortola.

Long Bay – Beef Island

We continued on to Trellis Bay, home of Aragorn’s Studio and the location of one of the two Full Moon Parties in the area.

The Trellis Bay Full Moon Parties feature the Burning Man, Fireballs and Mocko Jumbies and are a bit…well, should we say, more family appropriate than the other one we will mention later in the article.

The Burning Man and Fireballs, created by Aragorn, that are spectacularly set on fire during the Full Moon Parties.

Aragorn’s Studio – great place to shop or just check out the local art.

Hammock in Trellis Bay

Trellis Bay is the place to catch a free ferry to The Last Resort – a bar and restaurant on neighboring Bellamy Cay that serves good food and drink and can feature some really boisterous entertainment in the evenings. We enjoyed a night there while sailing a few years ago and after returning to our boat, could hear the laughter and merriment continue until the wee hours of the morning!

The Last Resort On Bellamy Cay

The band loves to get the audience involved by offering free shots if you can name the song they are playing and are willing to come up and sing along.

From Beef Island we headed back to Tortola stopping by Captain Mulligan’s for a quick drink and a bit of lunch.

We’ve stopped by Captain Mulligan’s a couple of times now, but would love to be there to watch a football game on the huge screen out back. You can also hit golf balls (buoyant ones that are retrieved) into the ocean behind the bar!

Making our way west, we passed West End and Soper’s Hole and continued on to Smuggler’s Cove. This was our first visit to Smuggler’s Cove, despite the fact that we’d been told by several people that it was their favorite beach on the island.

Smuggler’s Cove – every bit as beautiful as we’d heard…

After spending a bit of time walking the beautiful soft and sandy beach, we headed to Long Bay, Tortola.

Long Bay is a mile long stretch of gorgeous sand and turquoise blue water.

We walked down the beach to see if Winston Nature Boy, the owner of Nature Boy Beach Bar, was around and to get a rum punch.

As luck would have it, Winston was in and we sat and chatted with him over a quick beverage. He’d made some changes to the bar since our last visit, and although still pretty rough, the location is great – it’s tucked away at the far end of Long Bay with a few beach chairs and not a lot of people.

Nature Boy’s Bar on Long Bay Beach

After relaxing for a while in the sun and the solitude, we made our way to Sebastian’s.

We snapped a few pictures, fully intending to come back, relax and enjoy some of Sebastian’s own rum ….but, alas, we ran out of time. This will be first on our “to do” list when we return to Tortola!

Onward up the road to the infamous Bomba Shack.

This is the location of the second and definitely wildest of the two Full Moon Parties in the area. We attended a Bomba Full Moon Party in 2010 while sailing and you can read more about the adventure here: Full Moon Party at the Bomba Shack.

Definitely worth a stop to try some of Bomba’s Rum Punch, even if you’re not here for the Full Moon Party. The Bomba Shack’s got a beautiful view of Jost Van Dyke and it’s fun to sit and sip some rum punch while watching the surfers out back.

A few other things that you shouldn’t miss while on island:

The Callwood Rum Distillery in Cane Garden Bay

Cane Garden Bay – great nightlife and entertainment

Shopping, people watching and enjoying a Pusser’s Painkiller at Soper’s Hole

And just in case you need more to do during your visit to Tortola, you can also take a ferry to Jost Van Dyke, or Virgin Gorda, or book an excursion to Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit.

After exploring and spending time on some beautiful beaches, it was a treat to head up the mountain to our luxurious Tortola accommodations at the Limin’ House. Located on the hill above Soper’s, we enjoyed fantastic views of not only Soper’s Hole and the boats in the harbour, but many of the surrounding islands and absolutely stunning sunsets!

The Limin’ House Villa is available as a vacation rental while on Tortola. If you are interested in finding out more about this spectacular accommodation, contact Susan at (941)-358-8907 or (941)-735-6220, Eastern Standard Time or Email at limin [email protected]
Website: http://www.liminhouse.com/
Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/LiminHouse

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory