Anegada by Yacht Charter, and Why Bareboats Often Skip It
Anegada is the only coral island in the BVI's volcanic chain. It's flat, about 15 miles north of Virgin Gorda, and wrapped in Horseshoe Reef, which is why many bareboat companies restrict or discourage trips there. On a crewed charter the crew handles the crossing, and you get a day on the north-shore beaches with grilled lobster at the end of it, weather permitting.
Why Anegada is different
The other big BVI islands are volcanic and hilly. Anegada is coral and limestone, and its highest point is about 28 feet above sea level. From the water it stays low and hard to make out until you're fairly close, which is part of the problem.
The name comes from the Spanish for "flooded land." The island covers about 15 square miles, and most of the few hundred people who live there are in its one village, The Settlement.
Then there's the reef. Horseshoe Reef runs about 18 miles and is one of the largest barrier reefs in the Caribbean. Hundreds of ships have been wrecked on it, HMS Astraea among them in 1808. Anchoring on the reef is now illegal.
Why many bareboat companies restrict Anegada
Charter companies have long kept bareboats away from Anegada to avoid groundings on the reef. Some forbid the trip outright. Others let experienced charterers go, sometimes only after they've sent in a sailing résumé.
Where it's allowed, conditions can come attached. One Virgin Islands bareboat operator has required its boats to be anchored at Anegada an hour before sunset and to stay in the harbor at Setting Point. Horseshoe Reef itself was off limits. Charterers also had to talk the dock manager through their navigation plan at checkout before the leg was approved.
Getting in is easier than it once was. A buoyed channel now runs through a narrow cut in the reef to the harbor between Pomato Point and Setting Point. The buoys can still be hard to pick out in rough water, and current and leeway tend to set boats west of their course on the way in.
On a crewed charter, none of this is your job. Whether today's the day to go is the crew's call as well.
Getting there
The crossing from North Sound, on Virgin Gorda, is about 12 nautical miles. Under sail in a decent breeze it takes roughly two to two and a half hours.
In our sample week, Anegada follows an early morning at The Baths and lunch on Virgin Gorda, so the crossing happens in the afternoon. There's a mooring field in the harbor, and Setting Point is where you go ashore.
A day ashore
Taxis and rental jeeps wait at Setting Point. The north shore is 15 to 20 minutes away across the middle of the island.
Loblolly Bay is a long curve of sand behind the offshore reef. The coral starts close enough to the beach that beginners can snorkel it without a boat.
Cow Wreck Beach is wide and quiet, with shallow turquoise water that feels more like a lagoon than open sea. In our sample week it's where the Anegada day ends, at sunset.
The flamingos come with a good story. Thousands once lived in the salt ponds, and by the middle of the last century they were gone. The National Parks Trust brought 18 back in 1992, and a count in January 2022 found 433. The western salt ponds are now a Ramsar wetland of international importance.
Watch from the lookout platform south of Flamingo Pond and stay out of the water. Visitors wading in for photos used to trample the nesting mounds, which is a good way to lose the flock twice.
Anegada is also one of only two places the critically endangered Anegada rock iguana lives; the other is Guana Island. The National Parks Trust and its partners raise young iguanas at a head-start facility in The Settlement until they're big enough to survive feral cats, then release them. If anyone aboard fishes, the shallows around the island are known for bonefish.
Back on board, the eFoil comes out on the Anegada day in our sample week.
Anegada lobster
It's Caribbean spiny lobster, which has no claws, so all the effort goes into the tail. It's split and grilled over an open fire, then eaten with your feet in the sand. Our sample week has a lobster lunch on the beach.
Kitchens on the island like to know ahead of time how many tails to put on the grill. Book lobster dinners early.
If your dates are flexible, the Anegada Lobster Festival runs every year in late November, with restaurants across the island each doing their own version.
Weather caveats
Anegada is at the mercy of the weather in a way the inside anchorages aren't. The crossing is open water. Once the trade winds are blowing 20 knots or more it gets rough, and waiting a day is usually the right call. Rough water is also when the channel buoys are hardest to see.
Winter adds northerly swells from storms far out in the North Atlantic, which can make north-facing anchorages across the BVI rolly or untenable. Hurricane season officially runs June 1 to November 30, with most activity from mid-August to mid-October. The best time to charter a yacht in the BVI has more on choosing dates.
Plan on Anegada, but don't promise it to anyone. If the day's wrong it moves, or drops off the plan, and the rest of the BVI isn't a bad consolation prize.
Fitting Anegada into your week
Our sample week gives Anegada two nights, after The Baths and before the sail back toward Jost Van Dyke. You can see the whole loop in A 7-night BVI yacht charter itinerary.
If Anegada is the point of the trip for you, say so early. Custom itineraries can be built around it, and pickup at different islands can be coordinated.
The sample week itself is on our luxury catamaran charter page. MAVERICK is a Sunreef 70 sailing catamaran with a crew of three and four ensuite cabins for up to nine guests. Meals, the open bar, fuel and the water toys are included. Packing is covered in What's included on a crewed charter, and what to pack.
Plan your week
If Anegada is on your list, mention it alongside your dates and group size.
To check MAVERICK's availability, ask your yacht charter broker. New to chartering? Any charter broker can walk you through how it works.