Guana Island 2014

Last week we went to Guana Island, a private island resort in the British Virgin Islands. It is an 850 acre island with at most 30 guests. It has a bunch of beaches, White Beach is the main one for swimming and snorkeling. There is an 800+ ft hill and a smaller peak and a bunch of hiking rails. The guest cottages and dining area are partly up the hill. They run vehicles up and down to carry guests but we always walk - considering the food, it is necessary. Meals are family style so there is lots of mixing of people. The food is good and just about all the other guests are nice. When we arrived it was pretty full because the owner had an entourage there. Later in the week it was a smaller group and we ate all meals together. It is very expensive and absolutely delightful. This was our 20th visit to this place over 33 years (and not the last). There are many repeat guests.

It is called Guana Island because there is this rock structure that you can see as you approach the island that looks like an Iguana Head. The owner is into conservation. There are a large number of almost extinct rock iguanas roaming around the island. This time we only saw one of them. There is a salt pond with a small flock of flamingos. In October they have scientists' month; among other things they have been experimenting with planting new coral on the reefs.

Click here for pictures

Guana Island 2014 - activities

What we do: every day is about the same. We get up and go to the dining room for breakfast, joining other people and chatting for a long while. We always get the special of the day (it was eggs benedict twice). Then we return to the room to brush teeth and change to bathing suits. We walk down the hill and grab a couple of lounge chairs and sit on the beach staring at the view or reading. Then a swim or snorkel. Before you know it is time to walk back up the hill, change out of bathing suits and go to lunch having a beer. The bar is do-it-yourself and write-in-the-book. Then lunch with a bunch of people. Back to the room for a short nap.

Bathing suits and back to the beach for staring, swimming, and reading. Sometimes we play croquet. The field (rough) was setup for 6-wicket croquet which I'd never played. At some point we converted it back to 9-wicket croquet. (When I was a kid we had croquet set up in our side yard and I played a lot.). Back up the hill for showers and sitting on our porch to watch the sunset. Then down to the main house for a cocktail and chatting with people. At some point someone comes in and says: "dinner is ready to be served". For dinner there are two choices which you select at lunch. Wine is at the table. Lunch is a buffet. The food has always been very good here. They do seating assignments for dinner to help mix up the guests (you can elect to eat privately). This time there were not many people so we ate at one table (8-12 people) but mixed up the seating each time. After dinner it is back to the room to read and then sleep.

It's nice that basically you have almost no decisions to make all day. The only decisions you have to make are what kind of beer, what cocktail (always a rum drink the first and last night) and the dinner choice, and whether to swim or snorkel or both, and which path to take to go to and from the beach

One of the things I like to do at the beach is watch the pelicans fly, nest, and dive. This time I didn't get any good pictures or videos of pelicans diving. An interesting thing about the pelican dive is that they usually turn around just as they hit the water and pop up facing the other way. It is hard to discern exactly hood they do it.

Click here for a few pelicans


I describe this place as "there's nothing to do and not enough time to do it". We didn't do any hiking - other walking to the beach for which there are several trails and routes in addition to the road. We didn't even have time to go to the museum (a little shack with various artifacts). On other trips there have been boat trips to other reefs, sunset cruises around the island.

This time we stayed only five nights but arrived at ~9 am and on departure day we left at 3:30 pm. So we really had 5 1/2 days there. Our habit is to fly to San Juan the night before, stay in the airport hotel, and fly on the first plane to Tortola - a short boat ride gets us to the island in time for breakfast.

We had a sunset to watch every night - our porch faced west and you can see Jost Van Dyke as well as other parts of the island.
Click here for some views from our porch:

Guana Island 2014 Wildlife

There are a bunch of feral sheep wandering around the island. We saw several instances of them - although as I attempted to get near they ran away. The prior owners were trying to be self sufficient so they imported some sheep but many of them escaped.

And there are the iguanas and the flamingos. Every time we passed the pond we'd count to make sure all the flamingos were there - this year there were 8, I think then last time there were 7. The pond is too small for them to breed but they breed on Anagada, a nearby island.

Also there is a donkey - his mate died recently - there are usually two. When you get near their field they come over to the fence and request snacks. They are now fenced in but used to wander around and among other things eat people's books that they left out in the open. Years ago - before the current ownership - some people used to round donkeys up the hill.

Click here for some of the wildlife:


They had a huge orchard down on the flats. Each time we go it seems to be larger. Papayas, mangos, bananas, limes and other fruit that they serve how there. A sign said there are 5 varieties of bananas. They are also cultivating lots of flowering plants that they have sprinkled around the orchard. Years ago the owner found chinese gardener (Dr. Liao) to handle the orchard and plantings around the site. He has since retired but several disciples are there and apparently take direction from him. If you want they give you a guided tour - we didn't this time but have done so before. And then there is the guard dog...

Click here for the orchard:

Guana Island 2014 - departure

When you leave Guana Island they take a photo to put in the guest book and hand you a hibiscus flower. You throw it in the water after the boat leaves and it floats back to shore to signify that you will return - which of course we will (even if the flowers don't make it).