Best Beach in Tortola?

[harryw]

At Brewer Bay, can you rent snorkel equipment..I understand there aren't much facilities there?

 

Harry

[emcee207]

Could someone expound a little on the cab rides to these beaches? "Roller Coaster" and "up and down" don't work to well for my wife is is afraid of heights. We've had a couple of bad experiences in the Carribean with agressive cab drivers negotiating some steep hills and I don't want to get stuck in that situation again.

Are the roads very steep with sharp dropoffs, etc?

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, we dock at 7am and depart at 1pm, is that even worth heading to a beach? Don't know why we are departing so early??? We're on the Feb 1 sailing of the Celebrity Solstice.

[Pyrate13]

The roads over the mountains from Road Town to the beaches are fairly steep and winding with occasional drop-offs but you do get some beautiful photo op's and it is worth the ride. Explain your situation to the driver and ask them to take it a little slower, most folks want to see the sights anyway so it shouldn't matter to the fellow riders too much.

 

As for your time, it's certainly enough to visit the beach but some of the restaurants/bars/vendors may not be open real early.

 

There are some very nice views of the Drake Channel along the south shore road to West End then a bit of shopping and eating at Soper's Hole. No mountains along this route so it could be an alternative idea for you.

[emcee207]

Thank you Pyrate13!!

Anybody else?

[cruiseloverohio]

dr1ce........you said that there was a link to your photos of the beach, but I don't see a hyperlink or URL......am I missing something? I'd love to see the pics.....we'll be in Tortola in March and are looking for a good beach.

[cruisegal58]

thanks for the 411 on tortola. this will be our first visit to this port, looks like brewers 4 snorkeling..my dh has had both hips replaced, i dont want him to fall walking down the rocks at the baths. any other info on this port is appreciated!! thank-you,

cindy

[Pyrate13]

I have a lot of BVI photos here if you want to look.

http://community.webshots.com/user/pyrate13

[CaribbeanBound]

If you want the Cane Garden Bay experience, but with better snorkling and considerably less people, I recommend Brewer's Bay (but keep it a secret, okay?)

 

On our third trip to Tortola, we stayed on the island and set our sights on Brewer's Bay. Taxi service here is on a "per person" basis. Brewers Bay costs $6.00 per person each way for parties of 4 or more. (For the curious, it's also $6.00 per person to beautiful Cane Garden Bay, heavily populated with cruise passengers). What a way to end our cruise! There were less than a dozen folks at Brewers Bay when we arrived at 9am and about 50 when we left at 1pm. This is a spectacularly beautiful bay with awesome snorkeling to the left of the bay. We saw a number our variety of fish including Tarpon (about 4 feet in length), box fish, trigger fish, loads of colorful parrot fish, thousands of interesting little reef dwellers and various coral formations. It was impressive to see large schools of fish descend across the reef devouring whatever morsels they enjoy and moving on to the next like locusts in a field. If you aren't into snorkeling, lay back and watch the dozen or so pelicans plunge into the ocean for fish all day long. They would dive within a couple feet of a snorkeler --- neither bothering the other. Beach chairs can be rented for $5 (loungers) or $3 (chairs) but we didn't see any umbrellas. There is plenty of shade on the left side of the beach (snorkeling side) in front of Nicole's Bar. Nicole's Bar offers mixed drinks and a collection of $3 bottled beer as well as a grill ($6 for a cheeseburger or $8 for shrimp and fries).

 

Here are more of our Secrets of the Caribbean!

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

These are our very detailed personal reviews, hints, and tips for ports of call that you will be visiting.

Edited January 1, 2009 by CaribbeanBound

[angelafaye]

Hi,

I'm headed there in about 5 wks... I love the idea of less crowded beached and more fish... Yeah... and seeing a shark would scare me but wow what an experience... I'm going on this trip for my 40th B'day, so swimming with a shark, hey put that on my list to do before I die...

I'm also planning on diving at some point of the cruise...

Also a first...

Going crazy at 40. hehe

QUESTION....

Is there bathrooms, food & drinks available at Brewers Bay and also the taxi back was a great question.... Is there Taxi's there?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Sharks, here I come :)

Angela

[Pyrate13]

Normally you will not find taxis waiting at Brewer's Bay. You would typically pre arrange with your driver for a return pickup. Nichol's restaurant at the beach has good food and cold drinks as well as restrooms for patron's. There are/were public restrooms near the beach but they were filthy the last time I saw them. Hopefully, if they still exist, they are being better maintained.

[Seasickblues]

Hey, Pyrate, I was wondering if you know (or anyone for that matter) how long the taxi ride is from the pier to Brewer's Bay? We're trying to figure out what to do with our short time on Tortola and a snorkel trip to the Baths might take too long. We want to snorkel but don't want to be driving around the island and have only 1 hour to swim. We are in Tortola from 7-1pm. Thanks.

[Seasickblues]

Sorry Pyrate, I just read another post about beaches and I saw your response about taxi time to Brewers. 20-25 min should be good. Now, I just need to find out when Nicole's opens for the day.........

[MEcruzr]

I want to go to Brewers Bay in March so I'm looking for the same info... found this:

 

"Nicole's Beach Bar (lunch only) has palm and almond trees growing right up through its deck that overlooks the surf. Nicole's offers sodas, beer, mixed drinks, beef, cheese and fish burgers, fries, hot dogs and ice cream. An unbeatable combination is a cheeseburger accompanied by one of the great Pina Coladas."

 

http://www.bestofbvi.com/info/tortola_beaches/brewers_bay.htm

 

Does anyone know if they take "plastic" at Nicole's? How about cab fare... what currency/currencies do they take?

Edited January 27, 2009 by MEcruzr

[Beachbum1944]

Check out our pictures of Brewer's Bay in my Tortola link below in my signature.

[fourships]

Does Cane Garden Bay and Brewer's bay charge to get into the beach? We have 9 of us so want to know in advance. Is it possible to bring a few drinks in a cooler? :):)

[bola]

Our group plans on taking a taxi to CBG for the day.

Reading the posts it sounds like we won't be disappointed.

Doe anyone know if there is parasailing available here. If

so where?

We are sailing on NCL Jewel 4/3/09

[Pyrate13]

Not that I'm aware of. The BVI is not like many of the other "touristy" islands with all the jet skis, banana boats, party barges, etc, and thankfully so. When that happens, they've lost their main appeal and will lose their other visitors (charter yacht sailors and land based villa renters) which supply a much larger chunk of their tourism income. The BVI is know as "Natures Little Secrets". That's their appeal and they should remain as natural as possible. If you want the regular cruise port entertainment that's fine but this is not the place for it. There are plenty of other places for that.

 

The complaints against too many cruise ships here are already growing daily. There are days now when the cruise ship capacity is higher than 50% of the island population. To be honest, this should not be a major cruise port. The island infrastructure is just not set up for it and is slowly becoming over loaded and the island government has started to take notice.

[Heirloom]

Wife is somewhat terrified of heights, especially when driving......have several stories to tell about her horrors, but won't bore you.

 

The simple taxi drive from dock to Cane's Bay beaches and back.......can anyone try to be much more specific as to HOW BAD it is looking down ?

 

I mean is death likely if the cab goes over ? Are their guard rails , etc ?

Thanks in advance for your honesty ......I don't want a divorce based on vacation excursions !

[Pyrate13]

There are places where you can see down, but nothing that looks like you're on the edge of a cliff. There are guard rails in some spots but not in others and there are places that if you went over I wouldn't expect a good outcome. That being said, I've never heard of anyone dying going over the mountain, but I have on the flat Blackburn Highway that goes to West End.

 

You can expect views like these...

 

Cane Garden Bay

 

 

Road Town

 

[Heirloom]

There are places where you can see down, but nothing that looks like you're on the edge of a cliff. There are guard rails in some spots but not in others and there are places that if you went over I wouldn't expect a good outcome. That being said, I've never heard of anyone dying going over the mountain, but I have on the flat Blackburn Highway that goes to West End.

 

You can expect views like these...

 

Cane Garden Bay

 

 

Road Town

 

 

Well thanks, Pyrate.........Uh, it doesn't look good for us......she'd literally look like we're in an airplane getting ready to crash, head down.....and yelling at me........SCREW THE BEACHES.....we'll just walk off the ship, buy a t-shirt, then go back and pick up sun around the pool ! YIKES !

[Pyrate13]

Sorry man, I guess it's better to see what you're looking at rather then getting here and having her mad at you.

 

But, don't give up yet. You can take the Blackburn Highway west out of Road Town to near West End, then go over Zion Hill which, although a bit steep and has a couple of sharp curves, is much shorter to go over. When you reach Cappoons/Apple Bay you head back east along the north shore road. The worst part of that is Windy Hill which consists of severl sharp switchbacks. Once you reach the top you head down into Cane Garden Bay but you don't see the drop offs so much.

 

When you're heading back to the ship Windy Hill would be the toughest part for her.

 

Sorry, I don't have any photos of Windy Hill.

[BBfan316]

I was with CaribbeanBound at the end of his cruise. Breweres bay was the best. Here is a pic of Brewers Bay.

[NewfieCruisers]

Can anyone tell me if there are public washrooms at Brewer's Bay?

[Pyrate13]

Nichol's has restrooms but they are meant for patrons so buy a couple of beers or some food and you will be fine.

 

There used to be a couple of public restroom across from the beach but they were always very nasty, I'm not sure if they are still there or if they have been cleaned up.

[MrsBlair]

Okay, now that we've established the roads are scary (I'm like that guy's wife - can't do it) are there any beaches near port that don't require an over mountain taxi ride?