Whether you're a beginner or a salty dog, you'll enjoy stretching your sea legs at Bitter End Yacht Club.

Every once in a while I feel it . . . I feel the need to be surrounded by the smells, the sounds, and the tastes of saltwater air. Over the years I’ve learned there is only one way to remedy that—go sailing! Yes, a week away with my family on the idyllic jewel-toned waters of the Caribbean is exactly what we need to unwind together and escape the rigors of everyday life. One thing though—we’ve sailed on boats, but we’ve never sailed a boat. So it will be a week away at a sailing school.

Our adventure would be at Bitter End Yacht Club on the North Sound of Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands (BVIs). Getting from here to there involves a full day’s excursion—so in one way Bitter End lives up to its name. But once you get there, you will quickly realize that the rigors of travel are well worth it—and once you’ve settled in, a week just isn’t quite enough time to relax and enjoy the area. You have two options of reaching the BVIs—aboard your private or chartered aircraft to Beef Island or commercially to San Juan and air charter to Beef Island to clear customs; from there hop on an hour-long ferry journey to Virgin Gorda.

Bitter End Yacht Club, originally a shorefront pub with five guest cottages, provided the last outpost for sailors and captains to stay before they reached the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Still only accessible by sea, the resort now has 78 thatched-roofed villas scattered along the shoreline—each with a porch hammock that makes naps part of the daily routine with the rain showers gently sweeping through every afternoon. Bitter End maintains its rustic heritage and awakens long-forgotten memories of childhood family vacations. The resort still generates its own electricity, collects and distills all its own water, and utilizes solar power. Long before “green” became a fashionable term Bitter End was intended to be—and remains—organic, comfortable, and beautiful. The majority of the rooms do not have air-conditioning, and even with three on-site restaurants the cuisine is reminiscent of camp food. You can even enjoy movies under the stars in an open-air pavilion.

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