Caribbean Beat — January/February 2019 (#155)

History
First settled by indigenous Arawaks moving north up the Antillean chain, Tortola
was spotted by Columbus in 1493. Long a pirates’ stronghold, the island was formally
claimed by the British in 1672. The eighteenth century brought a small flood of
settlers, running sugar plantations on the labour of enslaved Africans. Later, after
the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Africans liberated by illegal slave ships were
settled in Tortola, establishing a free black community before Emancipation in 1834.
In 1853, rioters protesting a new tax set fire to Road Town, destroying almost all
its buildings. The collapse of the sugar industry led to an economic slump, till the rise
of tourism as the BVI’s main income-earner in the twentieth century — with a lucrative
side in offshore banking as well.
2017’s Hurricane Irma passed directly over Tortola and devastated the island,
wrecking homes, businesses, utilities, and much of the infrastructure of the tourism
sector. Recovery efforts were slow in the immediate aftermath but eventually picked
up pace, and by the 2018 tourist season the island was ready once more to receive
visitors and their much-needed dollars and pounds.
Eric Rubens / shutterstock.com
jason Patrick Ross / shutterstock.com
To the heights
Mount Sage, Tortola’s highest peak at 1,716 feet, rises just west of Road Town, and
its forested slopes (above) are protected by a 96-acre national park. Here you’ll find
what’s probably the only original forest on the island, largely untouched since pre-
Columbian times. There are trails for hikers, species like mountain doves and redtailed
hawks for birders, tiny hermit crabs underfoot, and amazing views across the
island for those who simply enjoy a spot of landscape. The North Coast Overlook
right beside the park entrance offers the most sweeping vista of all.
Poems for the island
With a population under 24,000, Tortola must be one of the
smallest island communities ever to have one of its writers in
the running for a major international award — which was the
case in 2017, when poet Richard Georges was shortlisted for the
Felix Dennis Forward Prize for his debut book — appropriately
titled Make Us All Islands. A follow-up, Giant, appeared not
long after. In both his books, Georges explores the history and
landscape of the BVI with quiet lyricism and a sharp eye.
tORTOLA
Head to sea
Tortola is arguably the Caribbean’s
sailing charter capital, with dozens of
companies and hundreds of boats of all
sizes and degrees of luxury available —
whether you’re looking for a fortnight at
sea exploring the turquoise waters and
sandy islets of the Virgin Islands, or just
a daylong excursion. “Bareboating” is
the term for crewing your own chartered
yacht, but if you’ve never unfurled a
sail or put hand to rudder, fully crewed
vessels are also in supply. With a boat at
your command, you can explore every
secluded bay and hidden cove, far from
the madding crowd.
Co-ordinates
18.4º N 64.6º W
Sea level
British virgin islands
Road Town
Anegada
Virgin Gorda
Caribbean Airlines operates daily flights to V.C. Bird International Airport
in Antigua, with connections on other airlines to Tortola
WWW.CARIBBEAN-AIRLINES.COM
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