Category: British Islands Top List UK
Source: https://top-list.co/top-most-beautiful-islands-in-british-virgin-islands-v11882.html
Tortola
Tortola ranks 1st on the list of the most beautiful islands in British Virgin Islands. Tortola is the largest island of the British Virgin Islands and is a part of the Lesser Antilles group, which connects the Atlantic and Caribbean oceans. It gets its name from the Spanish word tórtola, which means “turtle dove.” It is located approximately 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Puerto Rico. Tortola is made up of a lengthy chain of rugged hills that are not broken up by any transverse valleys. The island is about 3 miles (5 kilometers) broad, with Mount Sage reaching 1,781 feet at its highest point (543 meters). There is a remnant of a rare xerophytic (drought-tolerant) forest, with flora similar to that of the Greater Antilles and species not seen anywhere on Tortola.
Because of its temperature and topography, the island is ideally suited to livestock farming. Although tourism and financial services are the main economic sectors of the US Virgin Islands, cattle exports are significant. The government runs a stock-breeding farm that produces a hybrid that combines the heat resilience of tropical cattle with the higher productivity of temperate climate breeds. Tortola is home to almost four-fifths of the British Virgin Islands’ population, the majority of whom are of African descent. 21 square miles of land (54 square km). The population was 19,282 in 2000 and 23,419 in 2010.
Location: British Virgin Islands
britannica.com
Anegada
Anegada ranks 2nd on the list of the most beautiful islands in British Virgin Islands. Anegada is the northernmost of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), a collection of islands that comprise the Virgin Islands archipelago. It is located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Virgin Gorda. Anegada is the only inhabited British Virgin Island that was formed from coral and limestone rather than volcanic ash. Anegada is flat and low, unlike the neighboring islands, which are mountainous. Its highest point is just around 28 feet (8.5 m) above sea level, earning it the name “Tierra Anegada,” which is the Spanish term for flooded land.
Anegada is the second largest of the British Virgin Islands, at around 15 square miles (38 square kilometers), but it is also the most thinly populated, with a population of 285 according to the 2010 Census. The Settlement, Anegada’s single village, is home to the majority of the island’s population.
From 2008 until 2013, Anegada was home to one of the Caribbean’s tallest Christmas trees, with an annual tree lighting ceremony and celebration. Adrian Johnson’s donation of a tree was meant to assist draw visitors to the island and to serve as a flotilla destination for many sailors.
wikipedia.org
Virgin Gorda Island
Virgin Gorda Island is in 3rd place on the list of the most beautiful islands in British Virgin Islands. It has an area of approximately 8 square miles and is located at approximately 18 degrees, 48 minutes north and 64 degrees, 30 minutes west (21 km2). Spanish Town, located on the island’s southwestern tip, is the primary business and residential center.
The peculiar geologic phenomenon known as “the Baths,” located on the island’s southern end, has made Virgin Gorda one of the BVI’s most popular tourist sites. Despite evidence of the island’s predominantly volcanic origins, big granite boulders lie in piles on the beach, producing picturesque grottoes open to the sea near the Baths. Granite is an intrusive igneous rock, not a volcanic rock. It did, however, develop from magma at tremendous depth. Only after geologic periods of erosion have removed the overburden can granite become revealed at the Earth’s surface. Weathering has shattered the granite into big stones with rounded surfaces on the surface. The Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, north of the Baths, was once owned by Little Dix Bay. The ancient Copper Mine is the most noteworthy ruin on Virgin Gorda.
North Sound, and previously Gorda Sound, is one of the world’s finest harbors, located at the island’s northeastern tip. It is surrounded by four islands and linked reef systems that keep the seas quiet, resulting in one of the world’s great watersports meccas with approximately 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) of protected waters. The premier anchorage is located at the eastern end of the sound, in the lee of Biras Hill (height 435 ft (133 m). The Bitter End Yacht Club hamlet, resort, and marina at this location (Jon’O’Point) spans about a mile of shoreline.
Jost Van Dyke Island
Jost Van Dyke is the last island on the list of the most beautiful islands in British Virgin Islands. This is the smallest of the British Virgin Islands’ four main islands, measuring around 8 square kilometers (3 square miles). It is located in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, in the northern part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. Jost Van Dyke is located around 8 kilometers (5 miles) northwest of Tortola and 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of Saint John. Little Jost Van Dyke is located at its eastern end.
Jost Van Dyke has a large number of visitors. Private boats and ferry services from Tortola, Saint Thomas, and Saint John provide access to the island. Great Harbour is the most popular destination (or Belle Vue). Small bars and eateries line the beach strip around the harbor. Foxy’s Bar in Great Harbour has been a popular stop for Caribbean sailors since the late 1960s. Foxy’s and the other pubs in Great Harbour now attract a small crowd all year and thousands of revelers on New Year’s Eve (also known locally as “Old Year’s Night”). Great Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the BVI, with approximately 7,000 boats passing through in 2008. Tourist, particularly yachting tourism, is the mainstay of the economy today.
Another popular beach bar on the island is the Soggy Dollar Bar, which is located in nearby White Bay. It is said to be the birthplace of the popular Painkiller cocktail. The Soggy Dollar bar is properly called because there was no road or dock when it was built. (A road has been built from Belle Vue, but there is still no pier.) Boaters commonly anchor off the beach, swim to shore, and pay for their beverages with wet money to get to the beach where the bar is located. White Bay is now surrounded by beach bars and is a popular stop for yachts and boaters from Tortola, St. Thomas, and St. John. Visitors include group trips from the US Virgin Islands and even small cruise ships.
