The dozens of Virgin Islands comprise part of the Leeward Islands, and are scattered across an arc of the Caribbean east of Puerto Rico and north-west of Antigua. To the north, they face out to the Atlantic; to the south, the warmer waters of the Caribbean. They offer the purest essence of yo-ho-ho Treasure Island Caribbean: in just half a day's sailing you can drop anchor and swim to white-sand beaches free from sunloungers and "cocktail time!" service flags. No resorts can claim ownership of their beaches, so even the inhabited ones are yours for the taking.
Apart from the large business hubs of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) and St Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands (USVIs), most of the isles are little more than small sandy specks within an unexploited and undeveloped archipelago, cooled by the trade winds. Most are too small for anything other than a small dock or at best a tiny airstrip or helipad, and there's little industry apart from top-end tourism. Even this business is fairly restricted, given the limited access and, more latterly, caution about the effects of tourism on the environment.
Over half of St John, one of the biggest islands in the USVIs, is under the protection of the National Park Service, and there are 17 national parks in the BVIs.
USVIs? BVIs? why the different parentage?
Columbus discovered the islands and named them after St Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. This name was soon shortened. The Danes fought the English for control and in 1672 they split the territory. St Thomas, St John and St Croix became the Danish West Indies and the rest stayed under the control of London. The US bought the Danish West Indies in 1917 with a view to military strategy. Today the USVIs are US territory and the 60 BVIs make up a British protectorate, but are effectively independent, setting their own laws. They're quite progressive too: anti-smoking laws forbid smoking within 50 feet of any public space or individual, effectively outlawing the practice in public. The USVIs have yet to catch up.
