Our family of four stayed in Sugar Mill 17-24 July, 2010.  We had an amazing week at Nail Bay and exploring all of Virgin Gorda.

We loved Sugar Mill.  The accommodations were outstanding.  The house is gorgeous; the views of the other islands are amazing.  We enjoyed watching the stars one night  up on the roof top deck.

Our boys (6 and 9) shared one of the bedrooms and loved having their own spot, as well as two swimming pools!  We had everything we could possibly need in the house, and more.

We had several truly delicious meals at Sugarcane.  Agnello and Chef took great care of us and made us feel very special.  We loved the shrimp curry, blackened grouper and the kids had pizza and pasta.  We enjoyed getting to know them, as well as Shelly, who was delightful.

Kasha kept in near constant contact with us when we were booking the trip.  She always answered all of our questions and helped us plan a great week.  She was very helpful when we arrived, and throughout the week.  Sunny took care of our house, our pool and us.  He made sure all was well & continued the great tradition of towel sculptures.  

We met Binny Sebastian, the first night at dinner.  It was so nice to have a General Manager introduce himself and be available for any question.

As for the island, it’s probably the most beautiful one I have visited (including visits to the USVI, St. Lucia and Hawaii).  To truly relax, be away from busting crowds, but surrounded by gorgeous beaches, water, and mountains, was fantastic.  We enjoyed discovering Virgin Gorda, from the famous Baths and Caves, to Devil’s Bay, Savannah Bay (a personal favorite), to Leverick Bay and over to Bitter End Yacht Club…each spot was different and picturesque.  I took hundreds of scenic photos.

We enjoyed watching our sons learn to snorkel and be amazed at the sea life right under their noses!  We took a two hour snorkel trip out to Great Dog Island and saw a variety of fish, sea urchins and a barracuda!  Parrot fish, Sargeant Majors, small crab — I only wish I knew all the names.  We saw so many.

It did rain a few afternoons, but it was a good time to grab an 85 minute Swedish massage at the spa, or borrow a movie from the lending library.

I really wouldn’t change a thing — except I would stay longer!

Hope to be back soon,

The Stevens family

A friend and I returned to Nail Bay where we had stayed about 8 years ago. It has changed quite a bit: the road was PAVED! We found the staff to be friendly and helpful. We were just there for 5 days, and the studio room was sufficient. There is a full kitchen that has a good coffee maker, so you can get groceries in town. The bathroom is small and probably needs a little work, but hey, it’s vacation. The views from our balcony were spectacular so I attached a couple of photos – one from mid-morning, and one at sunset. Our favorite thing to do is grab our snorkel gear (rent from Dive BVI in Spanish Town), throw it in a jeep, and go exploring. The Baths usually has good snorkeling, but it was too rough the day we went there. Trunk Bay just before the Baths was incredible – like a aquarium. It’s not easy to find, you need to go to Spring Bay beach and walk to the right behind the rocks on a little path to the beach – or you can swim over if it isn’t rough. If you want to snorkel at the beach at Nail Bay, go to the right as you’re facing the water – I found it awesome late in the day.A must do is a charter trip from Double D to Jost Van Dyke or Anegada. I got to swim with a tortoise! If you eat at the Nail Bay restaurant, ask the chef to make you an Indian dish not on the menu. The Mine Shaft was by far the best food (Roti at lunch was great). Chez Bamboo is overpriced.

Our stay atop Sugar Mill was wonderful. Breathtaking views from sunrise to moon rise.  The moon was waxing when we arived and there only were a few brief showers. We spent a lot of time topside, using the plunge pool and sunning on the comfortable outdoor furniture that miraculously dried out two minutes after the rain stopped.

Wonderful service, too.  Cardell looked after us and  showed us how to use the flat screen TV, I-Pod Dock, Cuisinart Coffee maker, and our favorite, a kitchen garbage can that opens up at the wave of your hand. Kasha and Latha at the front desk arranged with Sunshine Air (the Virgin Gorda airstrip was shut down after we arrived) for a sport fishing boat to take us to Beef Island, Tortola to catch our flight to St. Thomas.

Our third stay at Nail Bay, this year we went looking for places and vistas we hadn’t seen before.  One new place was a dirt road that on the tourist map is labeled South Sound.  We followed signs to Jumbi’s Shack but Jumbi wasn’t open.  We did see goats and cows, however, on that sunny Sunday afternoon.

We returned to New Jersey to a light snow storm – followed by two blizzards.

My husband and I just returned from Nail Bay, after staying 1 week in the Sundowner villa. I can honestly say this was the most relaxing and enjoyable vacation we have ever had, and we travel quite a bit. I have never stayed in a villa before, so I was concerned as I didn’t plan on cooking and was unsure if I would miss my usual hotel/resort experience.
I can say now that in Virgin Gorda we could not have asked for a better place!
The location of Nail Bay is absolutely beautiful, with views that are tops in the world in my book. The foliage creates a wonderful scene, as does the lapping surf that you’ll see (and hopefully hear) from your villa. Sundowner has the most amazing views of the Dog islands.
The layout of the villa locations was done with privacy in mind. Sundowner is steps above the beach, but we never saw another soul except when driving up the main road. It seems all villas are set back in a way that the trees and flora complement true privacy, even when standing on your patio.
The villa was appointed quite nicely, with comfortable king bed, fully equipped kitchen, grill, bathroom amenities, plunge pool, etc. There was never a shortage of towels, the closets were packed full of them, extra sheets, toiletries, bug spray, kitchen gadgets galore. I can’t imagine not having what you needed already there. Somehow, housekeeping knew our schedule as they always seemed to come when we were out, and the villa was always perfectly clean.
Everyone we encountered at Nail Bay was truly happy and accommodating. From check in to check out and all questions in between, we were always met with a smile and a good morning/afternoon.
Bottom line, Nail Bay is a very special place. Romance at its best, so if you’re looking to spark some fire, this is the place.

This was our third trip to Nail Bay and – like the times before – it was wonderful. Best part this time was finding the road all done and we rented a car to explore the island even more than we did before. The appartment was great and there is nothing nicer than having breakfast on the balcony with the most beautiful view. The staff at Nail Bay is outstanding, the welcome is like coming home. We enjoyed the great restaurant, the pool and reading, reading, reading at the beach or collecting shells. We are definitely planning to come back next year!
Ursula and Maris Persidskis

I would like to thank all the staff at Nail Bay for making our vacation/daughters wedding an enjoyable time for all of us.  Everyone in the office went far out of their way to overcome several obstacles that were thrown into our plans.  The wedding ended up taking place down at the Full Circle villa, and the accomodations were exactly what we needed.

The large dining room and table made the reception dinner very enjoyable for everyone.  We just wish the entire office staff would have joined us.  The food was great and they had the right amount of food for all of us too.

We capped off the week with a healthy hike up to Virgin Gorda Peak.

The landscaping around the resort never ceases to amaze me.

This was our 3rd time staying at Nail Bay and hopefully not the last.  We heartily recommend it to everyone we talk to.  Thanks again to Binny, Kasha, and the whole crew for a wonderful time in paradise..AGAIN.

Virgin Gorda Villa

My husband & I vacationed at the Sundowner and it was INCREDIBLE.

What a wonderful getaway. We loved everything about it, the pounding surf, the seclusion and the wonderful staff at Nail Bay.

We are so pleased we found this little piece of paradise and will return again.

Thank you Nail Bay!

My husband and I celebrated his 76th birthday, staying in “Sundowner” from January 29 to February 14th 2009. We arrived after dark on the five o’clock ferry from Charlotte Amalie, and all of Kasha’s arrangements worked out splendidly. Our rental car met us as we emerged from customs. After a tenuous drive in the dark, we found the parking lot by the restaurant at Nail Bay. Kasha had waited to greet us, and had us led down the hill to Sundowner. We quickly dropped our luggage, and went to the restaurant for a late dinner. When we got back to our villa, we turned off all the airconditioning, opened every window that we could, and turned on the ceiling fans. What a joy it was to have the balmy BVI air circulating, and to hear the waves on the beach. Sundowner is much more spacious than it appears on the web site. We were impressed with the large dressing-room with two huge closets, shelves and a bureau. The bath was spacious and complete, with two sinks and plenty of drawers for toiletries. The shower was marvelous. We tumbled into a bed graced with fine linens, and a memory foam matress. In the morning we couldn’t believe the view from the bed….a semi-circle of vistas all beconing us to get up and enjoy the view. After breakfast, we went to the office and formally checked in. One of the greatest surprises was the quality of the kitchen. It was spacious, with a side by side fridge/freezer, beautiful cookware , full stove, microwave, espresso machine, coffee maker, complete china dinner service for many(!) and every cooking utensil we needed. There was a very complete supply of glass and stemware, and plastic for the terrace. The plunge pool was quite large and lovely. There were lots of books, games, music and excellent sattelite TV. The huge terrace/deck increased the living space enormously, and we spent much of our time there. We were familiar with Virgin Gorda from the days when we kept a yacht in the VI. We visited many of our old haunts like the Bath and Turtle, and walked a different beach each day. We have cruised extensively in the US and British VI, have stayed at The Bitter End, owned a beautiful Unit at Gallows Point St. John, but this was the lovliest spot we have ever experienced. We both heartily recommend it and hope to return again. We are impressed with the great care and planning that have gone into the infrastructure of this property, and the pride with which it is managed and maintained . It shows that Ajit George is a frequent presence, and Bini Sebastian was always alert to anything that needed to be done. We cannot compliment Kasha enough,for making sure I got Stanley’s fresh Anegada lobster, but a special thanks go to Cordell who kept our little island palace so beautifully. Our towel sculptures just kept on going…they were wonderful. The quality of attention and service that we experienced at Nail Bay was truly remarkable. We’d recommend this property to anyone who wants a perfect vacation.

My husband and I celebrated his 76th birthday, staying in “Sundowner“from January 29 to February 14th 2009. We arrived after dark on the five o’clock ferry from Charlotte Amalie, and all of Kasha’s arrangements worked out splendidly. Our rental car met us as we emerged from customs. After a tenuous drive in the dark, we found the parking lot by the restaurant at Nail Bay. Kasha had waited to greet us, and had us led down the hill to Sundowner. We quickly dropped our luggage, and went to the restaurant for a late dinner. When we got back to our villa, we turned off all the airconditioning, opened every window that we could, and turned on the ceiling fans. What a joy it was to have the balmy BVI air circulating, and to hear the waves on the beach. Sundowner is much more spacious than it appears on the web site. We were impressed with the large dressing-room with two huge closets, shelves and a bureau. The bath was spacious and complete, with two sinks and plenty of drawers for toiletries. The shower was marvelous. We tumbled into a bed graced with fine linens, and a memory foam matress. In the morning we couldn’t believe the view from the bed….a semi-circle of vistas all beconing us to get up and enjoy the view. After breakfast, we went to the office and formally checked in. One of the greatest surprises was the quality of the kitchen. It was spacious, with a side by side fridge/freezer, beautiful cookware , full stove, microwave, espresso machine, coffee maker, complete china dinner service for many(!) and every cooking utensil we needed. There was a very complete supply of glass and stemware, and plastic for the terrace. The plunge pool was quite large and lovely. There were lots of books, games, music and excellent sattelite TV. The huge terrace/deck increased the living space enormously, and we spent much of our time there. We were familiar with Virgin Gorda from the days when we kept a yacht in the VI. We visited many of our old haunts like the Bath and Turtle, and walked a different beach each day. We have cruised extensively in the US and British VI, have stayed at The Bitter End, owned a beautiful Unit at Gallows Point St. John, but this was the lovliest spot we have ever experienced. We both heartily recommend it and hope to return again. We are impressed with the great care and planning that have gone into the infrastructure of this property, and the pride with which it is managed and maintained . It shows that Ajit George is a frequent presence, and Bini Sebastian was always alert to anything that needed to be done. We cannot compliment Kasha enough,for making sure I got Stanley’s fresh Anegada lobster, but a special thanks go to Cordell who kept our little island palace so beautifully. Our towel sculptures just kept on going…they were wonderful. The quality of attention and service that we experienced at Nail Bay was truly remarkable. We’d recommend this property to anyone who wants a perfect vacation.

We stayed in 202 Island Oasis in December 08. It was lovely. The view is just amazing. You can see Long Bay and Nail Bay from the large porch that is well furnished with tables and chairs. The porch gets a nice breeze as well and can be shaded or sunny. We loved hanging out on the porch and eating dinner out there. The porch looks over beautiful grounds with flowers of many colors. The unit is as described in advertising and it was super clean and well equipped. It was very comfortable. We appreciated having two full bathrooms as well (even though it was only the two of us). Housekeeping services were wonderful (even cleaning the grill!).  They did a great job cleaning and also left nice touches like fresh flowers on the bed or those adorable towel swans).  The resort is calm and pretty. Just down the hill is Mountain Trunk Bay-a gorgeous beach (boulders on one side, sand in the middle, coral on the other side). You can walk or drive (limited parking). It is a steep hill to walk down/up but we usually walked. The hills all around Virgin Gorda are very steep and great exercise if you want to walk.  Even though it was high season Mountain Trunk was never crowded (usually empty). It had beach chairs and palapas as well. It was just beautiful. We enjoyed snorkeling there. While we loved the beach there we did the Virgin Gorda thing and hopped beach to beach. Each is gorgeous in its own way but I wouldn’t skip Savannah Bay or Spring Bay (especially The Crawl). The walk through the boulders from Spring Bay to Devil’s Bay (through The Baths) is really cool. We also enjoyed Long Bay and took a peek at Little Dix Bay as well. Most of the beaches in the Valley are a short drive away. The beaches (even Nail Bay resort’s Mountain Trunk Bay) are all public. This means that you can go to bay’s like Little Dix Bay as long as you save the palapas/chairs for the guests of the resort. On our beach (Mountain Trunk) there were always chairs so it was never an issue. I never saw anyone but resort guests on the beach-it really was quite empty.

Virgin Gorda is so relaxing and Nail Bay was an excellent choice. It is located off the beaten path a bit (we like that though). We also enjoyed the hike up Gorda Peak, from which you get a lovely view of the North Sound. The hike is a rocky trail up but it isn’t very steep. It took around 30 minutes to get to the top (even though it is marked at 50 min.). Along the way we saw hermit crabs, lizards and beautiful flora. It was mostly shaded and more “woodsy” than we expected. There is a lookout tower at the top (we ate our picnic there) and picnic benches along the way.

The food in VG is expensive (groceries and out) and generally you don’t get what you’re used to paying for. That said, we ate out at The Bath and Turtle (ribs and burgers are good and it was nice to sit in the harbor at the bar area), Top of the Baths (incredibly overpriced but we felt like we were paying for the sunset view and the food was tasty especially the seafood linguini), and the Sugarcane (Nail Bay’s restaurant). Most of the time we ate breakfast and lunch at home. We ate in (grilled) half of our dinners (nice gas grill on Island Oasis’ porch).

Driving is challenging at first (on the left and on winding steep dirt roads) but you get the hang of it. The dirt road to Nail Bay is quite rough but it was worth it to get the view and the location. Because beach hopping was an essential part of the trip for us (and snorkeling), having a rental car was a must. If possible, try coming in during the day so that it isn’t as intimidating to drive your rental car to Nail Bay the first time. Also, we got the least expensive rental car (just two of us). Perhaps an upgrade would have included shock absorbers for a smoother ride.

Things to know: Nail Bay rents snorkel gear. So does Dive BVI at the harbor near the ferry where you might arrive.

Getting there: We flew from Atlanta into St. Thomas and took a lovely 1.5 hr. ferry ride to VG. I loved sitting on top of the ferry and it allowed us to avoid flying in a small plane. The ferry ride is beautiful. We took Speedy’s ferry in both directions.

During our week we experienced “the Christmas winds” and a couple of days the water was rougher but still swimmable (not good for snorkeling) . On those days we checked out the Baths and went swimming instead. The snorkeling is excellent at many beaches.

Kasha and Clive were very helpful. They offered to set up our rental car and it was waiting for us when we arrived at the ferry dock (complete with chickens and roosters running around). The ferry system was reliable as well.

Nail Bay is a great place to go if you want to cook/eat in some of your meals since the kitchen is nice (small workspace though). We tend to avoid nightlife and bar scenes and are simply seeking relaxation, beach, and snorkeling in a beautiful and crowd-free setting. We were so happy in Virgin Gorda and at Nail Bay.  I would love to be able to go back.  Given that we got engaged on Mountain Trunk Bay on the incredible star-filled second night of our stay (we actually saw 6 comets’two incredibly long ones), it would make a great honeymoon spot!

p.s. I must admit I am concerned about a newspaper article we read about a proposed 100 room hotel at Nail Bay. I can’t imagine that Mountain Trunk Bay would ever be as empty (a huge draw for me) with a nearby 100 room hotel. I am worried it will kill the isolation we were searching for at Nail Bay. Could the owners respond on the blog??