Lapping surf was the only sound I could pick out — no seagulls, distant beach bars or human voices. If it were possible to hear grains of sand being pulled back to sea with every wave that came ashore, or beams of sunshine turning the salt water’s surface into flickering diamonds, then this is the place I would have heard them. Right after I let out a full-chested, fully relaxed sigh.
As hard as it is to believe, the blissfully empty beaches of Anegada are just 15 miles north of Virgin Gorda, one of its sister waypoints in the British Virgin Islands. While many of us have enjoyed lots of fun at the Bitter End Yacht Club there, or at Foxy’s Tamarind Bar on Jost Van Dyke, or at Pusser’s Landing on Tortola, far fewer charter guests have bought a T-shirt at the Big Bamboo on Loblolly Bay in Anegada. The island’s Horseshoe Reef, the largest barrier coral reef in the Caribbean, has wrecked hundreds of ships and left many bareboaters wary.
But on a crewed yacht charter? No worries at all. My yacht’s crew had threaded the reef by tender to a dock, then arranged for a car to zip me across the island (I saw maybe six of the island’s less than 300 residents during the ride). I was far from the Big Bamboo and its standard fare of juicy local lobster and Jimmy Buffett cover songs, sinking my toes into the warm sand of a secret spot in total silence. I had a comfy folding chair, a cold drink, sunglasses and a book. And I was pretty sure, after about 10 minutes, that I would never need anything else ever again.
This part of Anegada is how nowhere is supposed to feel.
I had sought it out as many boaters do, requesting it on my BVI charter itinerary as a kind of tonic or balm, a spot on the planet that nature seemed to build as a way to heal the parts of the soul that civilization grates to their raw edges. To look left and see nothing, right and see nothing, back and see nothing, and ahead into endless ocean. To sit. To read. To bring my heartbeat back into rhythm with the pulse of that lapping surf.
Yes, the beach bar was there if I wanted it, but on this day, I didn’t need it. I’d found a whole other level of paradise.
GETTING THERE
Italian Style
Alandrea is a Ferretti Custom Line 108, a model that made her debut from the Italian builder just last year. One of her design features is a superyacht-style beach club aft. She also has a salon balcony and an out-door cinema.
Ready to Play
Fun toys can take a charter to the next level, and the 142-foot Trinity Bacchus has them: a 32-foot Davis tender rigged for fishing, an 18-foot Nautica tender for shorter gunkholing trips and water skiing with the kids, a pair of three-person Yamaha WaveRunners, kayaks, paddleboards, Seabobs and a waterslide.
The Grand Dame
While lots of great Westport 130s can be found in charter worldwide, the builder’s flagship 164 model is a rarer gem. Only a couple of 164s, including Aquavita, charter at all.
Major Music
The 140-foot King Baby, delivered last year, is the largest fiberglass build from IAG Yachts in China. An American owner commissioned her with a rock ‘n’ roll interior that uses guitars as artwork and features iconic photographs.
