Power & Motoryacht – September 2019

on a charter boat and visit as many beach bars as time would permit.

We already knew that the charter industry had bounced back; the

numbers showed it. A seven-day pub crawl would tell the rest of the

story.

Starting at the Moorings/Sunsail base on Tortola, Nielsen and I

visited Leverick Bay, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, Marina Cay, Trellis

Bay and Norman Island. Most of the pubs were back in business,

but something had changed. Irma had caused what you might call

an “infrastructure cleansing.” Docks were new: It would be years

before the unweathered deck planks would cup and menace us

with splinters. New palm trees had been planted to replace those

ripped up by Category 5 winds. The canvas for the beach chairs and

umbrellas looked like it was fresh off the shelf.

Many, if not most of the beach bars were brand new—none

showed that patina of age, no signs of tropical decay. Moreover,

the construction was to a high standard thanks to a more stringent

building code post-Irma. Not shacks—these were buildings you

would find in Miami. Some places—for example, the legendary

Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke—sought to camouflage the newness with

funky bric-a-brac. Likewise other pub owners had hung pennants,

foreign license plates and driftwood scrawled with the names of

visiting boats and their happy, drunken crews.

Pirates Bight on Norman Island was a bright, shining exception,

especially the mirror-finish bar, which reflected the robust roof con-

struction overhead. This place was new and proud of it.

The quick recovery has underscored the symbiotic relationship be-

tween the down-island charter and restaurant industries. The fact that

the pubs and restaurants are built to a higher standard now should not

be a deterrent. Don’t worry: Time will weather them, and peel their

paint. But there will be a greater chance that the next time a hurricane

rolls through, some of these places will still be standing afterward.

—Peter Swanson

WATERFRONT

New signs and fresh paint punctuate the

BVI. The spirit of the people who make

this place special never changes.

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