Smuggler’s Cove, Tortola

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Smuggler’s Cove is a gorgeous, tranquil, soft sand beach fringed with palms on Tortola’s northwest side.The road to Smuggler’s Cove is bumpy and slow going, but you can also access the beach by taking a 20 minute hike from Long Bay Beach. Smuggler’s is usually quiet in the mornings, but can get busy on weekends and afternoons.

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Most of the time the water is great for swimming and there are some areas of good snorkeling, but be careful of rough surf when there is a north swell. Be sure to stop by Nigel’s Boom Boom Beach Bar & Grill for a cold one and a light meal!

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The palms lining the shore are tropically gorgeous and offer a lot of great shade when needed.
(Update: the hurricanes of 2017 destroyed many of the palms in the area so currently there is not as much shade as there once was.) 

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View of Jost Van Dyke from the beach

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Go for: swimming, snorkeling and water sports (on calm days), sunbathing, picnics and scenery…

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

The Limin’ House, Tortola

Update from our original post

Several years ago we had the opportunity to stay at a beautiful villa named the Limin’ House on a hill overlooking Soper’s Hole in Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Unfortunately Tortola was hit hard by the hurricanes of 2017 and the Limin’ House was not spared. During our recent visit to Tortola, we had the chance to stop by the Limin’ House to get a tour of the remodeled villa and talk to owner Susan McDavit. The Limin’ House is looking great again and ready for your next stay on Tortola!

Here’s how it looks now. Who’s ready to go?

The view from the entryway
The living room
The balcony off of the living room
One of the bedrooms
A reminder of Irma. After the storm, they found this card had blown into one of the bathrooms and was adhered to the wall. Instead of removing it, they put a frame around it and left it where they found it!
A beautiful new kitchen
Covered outdoor living area
The Limin’ Bar at the Limin’ House
The Master Bedroom
The pool and view of Soper’s Hole from the Limin’ House

If you’d like to find out more about booking a stay at the Limin’ House,
contact Susan at (941)-735-6220 or email her at [email protected]
Website: http://www.liminhouse.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiminHouse

Original post from April 2013
Located high on a hill overlooking Soper’s Hole in West End Tortola, this beautiful Villa is aptly named. We enjoyed a short stay at the Limin’ House during our visit to Tortola last fall and enjoyed every limin’ minute of it.

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According to a definition given on The Limin’ House website, the word limin’, when used as a Caribbean verb means “To relieve from attention or effort; relax”.

From the moment you arrive, you know this place will be something special.

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With grand wooden entrance doors and lush tropical landscaping, you feel like you’re entering your own tropical hideaway.

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The Limin’ House has 4 very private bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and sleeps 10, making it an ideal getaway for families as well as up to 4 couples. All bedrooms are air conditioned and have their own private balcony or patio.

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Master Bedroom

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Private Balcony in Master Bedroom

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Bedroom #2

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Bedroom #3

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Bedroom #4 also has its own kitchenette

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One of two very private outdoor stone showers

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Well appointed kitchen…

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….and barbeque grill, but if you don’t feel like cooking in, The Limin’ House is just minutes away from good restaurants, bars and shopping.

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There’s a wonderful pool

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And pool bar

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There’s lots of comfortable open air living area with plenty of space to spread out and relax.

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And when the sun starts to set, grab a seat a get treated to a spectacular sunset view…

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The Limin’ House Villa is available as a vacation rental while on Tortola. If you are interested in finding out more about this spectacular accommodation, contact Susan at (941)-735-6220 or Email her at limin[email protected]
Website: http://www.liminhouse.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiminHouse

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

Rum Therapy On Tortola

 Ahhh…Tortola. We’ve have the pleasure of visiting this, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, several times – yet the more we visit, the more we realize we need to come back and spend more time. During our recent visit to the VI, we planned for another visit to Tortola, and once again ran out of time to see all that we wanted to see.

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Regardless, we’ve seen and done quite a bit in our 3 visits (so far) to Tortola and here’s just a few of the highlights to date….

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Tortola is a large and mountainous island, so it’s advisable to rent a car if you’d like to spend some time exploring. There are no car rental companies at the Road Town Ferry Terminal, so reserve one ahead ahead of time, (we didn’t and it took some time to find a car) and plan to take a taxi to the car rental office or check to see if the rental agency provides a shuttle. Remember to drive on the left and be prepared to tackle some pretty steep hills on the north and west ends of the island.

Our luxurious accommodations while on Tortola were graciously provided by Susan at the spectacular Limin’ House (more on this later), which is in the West End above Soper’s Hole, so we started exploring the east side of the island, hoping to scratch a few things to see off  “the list” before checking in to the Limin’ House.

Road Town is a bustling town with a lot of bars, restaurants, shopping and attractions such as a botanical garden, and we could have easily spent some time exploring (preferably by foot), but there were cruise ships in town and it was super busy, so we quickly headed out of town to find some beaches.

On the east side of town we crossed the Queen Elizabeth Bridge and actually left the island for a while to explore neighboring Beef Island, a small island close to Tortola which houses the Beef Island Airport, several pretty beaches and some interesting shops in Trellis Bay.

The first beach we stopped at was the lovely Long Bay on Beef  Island – not to be confused with the Long Bay on the west end of Tortola.

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Long Bay – Beef Island

We continued on to Trellis Bay, home of Aragorn’s Studio and the location of one of the two Full Moon Parties in the area.

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The Trellis Bay Full Moon Parties feature the Burning Man, Fireballs and Mocko Jumbies and are a bit…well, should we say, more family appropriate than the other one we will mention later in the article.

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The Burning Man and Fireballs, created by Aragorn, that are spectacularly set on fire during the Full Moon Parties.

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Aragorn’s Studio – great place to shop or just check out the local art.

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Trellis Bay is the place to catch a free ferry to The Last Resort – a bar and restaurant on neighboring Bellamy Cay that serves good food and drink and can feature some really boisterous entertainment in the evenings. We enjoyed a night there while sailing a few years ago and after returning to our boat, could hear the laughter and merriment continue until the wee hours of the morning!

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The Last Resort On Bellamy Cay

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The band loves to get the audience involved by offering free shots if you can name the song they are playing and are willing to come up and sing along.

From Beef Island we headed back to Tortola stopping by Captain Mulligan’s for a quick drink and a bit of lunch.

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We’ve stopped by Captain Mulligan’s a couple of times now, but would love to be there to watch a football game on the huge screen out back. You can also hit golf balls (buoyant ones that are retrieved) into the ocean behind the bar!

Making our way west, we passed West End and Soper’s Hole and continued on to Smuggler’s Cove. This was our first visit to Smuggler’s Cove, despite the fact that we’d been told by several people that it was their favorite beach on the island.

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Smuggler’s Cove – every bit as beautiful as we’d heard…

After spending a bit of time walking the beautiful soft and sandy beach, we headed to Long Bay, Tortola.

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Long Bay is a mile long stretch of gorgeous sand and turquoise blue water.

We walked down the beach to see if Winston Nature Boy, the owner of Nature Boy Beach Bar, was around and to get a rum punch.

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As luck would have it, Winston was in and we sat and chatted with him over a quick beverage. He’d made some changes to the bar since our last visit, and although still pretty rough, the location is great – it’s tucked away at the far end of Long Bay with a few beach chairs and not a lot of people.

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Nature Boy’s Bar on Long Bay Beach

After relaxing for a while in the sun and the solitude, we made our way to Sebastian’s.

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We snapped a few pictures, fully intending to come back, relax and enjoy some of Sebastian’s own rum ….but, alas, we ran out of time. This will be first on our “to do” list when we return to Tortola!

Onward up the road to the infamous Bomba Shack.

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This is the location of the second and definitely wildest of the two Full Moon Parties in the area. We attended a Bomba Full Moon Party in 2010 while sailing and you can read more about the adventure here: Full Moon Party at the Bomba Shack.

Definitely worth a stop to try some of Bomba’s Rum Punch, even if you’re not here for the Full Moon Party. The Bomba Shack’s got a beautiful view of Jost Van Dyke and it’s fun to sit and sip some rum punch while watching the surfers out back.

A few other things that you shouldn’t miss while on island:

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The Callwood Rum Distillery in Cane Garden Bay

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Cane Garden Bay – great nightlife and entertainment

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Shopping, people watching and enjoying a Pusser’s Painkiller at Soper’s Hole

And just in case you need more to do during your visit to Tortola, you can also take a ferry to Jost Van Dyke, or Virgin Gorda, or book an excursion to Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit.

After exploring and spending time on some beautiful beaches, it was a treat to head up the mountain to our luxurious Tortola accommodations at the Limin’ House. Located on the hill above Soper’s, we enjoyed fantastic views of not only Soper’s Hole and the boats in the harbour, but many of the surrounding islands and absolutely stunning sunsets!

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The Limin’ House Villa is available as a vacation rental while on Tortola. If you are interested in finding out more about this spectacular accommodation, contact Susan at (941)-358-8907 or (941)-735-6220, Eastern Standard Time or Email at limin[email protected]
Website: http://www.liminhouse.com/
Facbook: https://www.facebook.com/LiminHouse

To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC

Bomba Surfside Shack

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Have you heard of the “Full Moon Parties” on Tortola? Then you’ve probably heard of The Bomba Shack.

The Bomba Shack is quite the sight. Erected of materials dropped off by friends, the building looks as if it shouldn’t stay upright in a heavy wind. (It actually made it through a pretty fierce hit from Hurricane Earl in 2010 with minimal damage!)

Update: unfortunately the Bomba Shack was destroyed in the hurricanes of 2017. We are not sure if there will be any attempt to re-build, but we will update this post with any additional information as we receive it.

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The walls and ceiling are adorned with graffiti, tons of pictures and clothing (namely undergarments). The architectural style is to say the least ….interesting. During the day, it’s a quiet place with a nice view of Jost Van Dyke.

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Bomba’s Rum Punch with Jost Van Dyke in the distance

Bomba opened his bar in 1976 on Cappoons Bay – between Long Bay and Cane Garden Bay. He began the infamous Full Moon Parties in 1989 and due to the popularity of these get-togethers (there have been 800-1,000 people in attendance), Bomba opened up “The Back Yard” across the street in the same architectural style. It includes a bandstand for the live music and another bar.

We attended Bombas Full Moon Party in January of 2010 and did a little research on it before attending. One website said “Not for the easily offended” and after attending, we completely understand what they meant. Leave the kiddos at home – this party starts around 9 p.m., doesn’t really wind up until dawn, and it’s wild!

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Many people come to partake in Bombas Mushroom Tea which is only served during certain hours, with special glasses that you need to purchase. Some of the locals we talked to recommended skipping the tea and going for Bombas Rum Punch instead, or adding rum to the tea. We tried both the tea and the punch – for research purposes of course…

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Pouring the Mushroom Tea

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Midnight rolled around and we said goodbye to Bomba. As we looked around, the place had gotten crowded with both locals and tourists and we waded through a sea of people trying to find our ride. This party was just gettin’ started!

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To see more posts on Tortola and other islands, check out our Island Blog Directory

All information is correct to our knowledge at the time of writing, but be sure to verify current information before your visit.
Pictures and other content may not be re-used without written consent from Rum Therapy, LLC