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Pirates Bight, Norman Island, BVI

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Pirates Bight sits on the hauntingly beautiful Norman Island, which is said to be the inspiration for Robert Lewis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” The restaurant and bar opened in 2002 and has since become a destination of choice for the sailors and visitors who flock year-round to the British Virgin Islands for its renowned sunshine, seas and beaches. The bar and restaurant earned its reputation as a family place of relaxed afternoons, legendary parties into the night, and the famous cannon shot at happy hour each night.

Now, when the yachts, sailboats and other vessels arrive at this historic spot, they will find a transformed destination. Led by Lane Pettigrew, described by Architectural Digest as “the Caribbean’s architect laureate,” a team of designers, construction crews from Meridian Construction and hospitality experts re-imagined and rebuilt the Pirate Bight experience.

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A revamped food menu includes a fresh takes on Caribbean classics like fried conch and barbequed ribs, while also extending into freshly caught local fish and locally sourced produce. You can check out their menu Pirates Bight Norman Island Menu.

While much has changed, the spirit of fun and adventure remain at the heart of the experience. Pirates Bight is a great stop on a day trip to the BVIs.  You can relax and have lunch there on the way back from the Baths (Virgin Gorda Day Trip) or after snorkeling and before having drinks at Willy T. if you are doing the Norman Island Day Trip.

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If you are taking a paddleboard on your day trip, you can also paddle from Willy T. over to Pirates. It takes about 10 minutes, it is mostly upwind but on the way back to Willy T. you will usually have downwind. The beach is flat, sandy and easily accessible. With food or drinks you can use the comfortable beach chairs for free. Aside from the beach, food and drinks there are also restrooms of course and a little souvenir shops with some nice T-Shirts and Cover-Ups for sale.

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“The Club” on Norman Island

the temporary structure that hosted Pirate’s after the original burned down now is home to a new bar / restaurant called “The Club” which serves great food, check out their menu here.

More information on Pirates Bight, Norman Island:

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Day Trip St. John – Cooper Island (BVI)

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We have quite a few repeat guest and returning St. John visitors who have been to Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke and are asking for something new. Cooper Island is a lesser known, small, isolated island and can only be accessed by private boat.

 

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Where is Cooper Island, BVI?

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It is on the South Side of Tortola and about half way between Norman Island and Virgin Gorda.

 

It hosts a small, eco-friendly (75% of their power is solar generated), beautiful resort which has just undergone major renovations. There is great fresh food (it is famous for the chicken roti), awesome cocktails, a beautiful beach and good snorkeling. There are even some tables in the water.

Day Trip St. John – Cooper Island

Here is a quick write up and a few pics and a video from a day trip from St. John to Cooper Island last Tuesday. We met our guests at High Tide at 9:00 AM, filled out the customs forms and checked into the BVI at Tortola Westend. From there we headed straight to Cooper Island.

 

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We arrived there before the rush, beating the bigger boats and went for some snorkeling right off the beach where we saw Barracudas, squid and lots of colorful fish.

 

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We spent some time wandering around the resort, checking out the shop and the coffee bar and then sat down in the comfortable loungers for lunch.

 

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 Lunch at Cooper Island Beach Club

We had some excellent Chicken Roti in the beautiful and relaxed setting and then left to snorkel some of the famous but also the lesser known snorkeling spots in the area.

 

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After the snorkeling we went to famous Party Boat Willy T. for some cocktails and of course jumped of the deck. Our jumps were quite stylish compared to the lady after us, who landed flat on her belly.

 

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From there we went along the South Shore of St. John, passing impressive Ram’s head and stopped for another snorkel at Tektike, which can only be accessed by boat.

Snorkeling Tektike

The Tektite snorkel is one of the absolute best snorkeling spots on the island of St. John. The name, Tektite, refers to a research project conducted at Beehive Bay a small cove on the southeastern tip of Great Lameshur Bay. The Tektite Project was conducted in 1969 in a cooperative effort by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Navy, NASA and the General Electric Co. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects on human beings of living and working underwater for prolonged periods of time. More information on the Tektite Project is here.

 

You will see a very wide variety of fish and amazing coral formations.

 

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We saw some moving sand and after a bit of patience spotted the beautiful ray.

 

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After a great day on the water, we arrived back in Cruz Bay, St. John right in time for a beautiful sunset. Here is what our guests had to say about the trip:

 

5* “Absolutely fabulous!! Had a fabulous time with Captain Steve!” M.H., April,2015

5* “Great day in the BVIs with Captain Steve and Lucy. They will totally customize your trip to what you would like to see and do for the day. We have chartered from other companies in the past and Rockhoppin Adventures is by far the most professional, well run of any that we have used in St. John”, E.H. April 2015

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Day Trip St. John Cooper Island Video

Send Booking Enquiry Day Trip St. John – Cooper Island

Ready for a great time on the water? You can fill out the form below or send an email to info(at)rockhoppin.com or rockhoppinusvi@gmail.com. We will get back to you within 24 hours, usually faster. We get tons of emails with weird business proposals through the contact form and it does sometimes happen that a booking enquiry lands in the spam folder (or our response lands in your spam folder). You can also text us on 340-514-5527 to make sure it went through.

 

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Easybreath snorkeling mask for your powerboat charter

by Posted in Boat Charter Tagged , , , , , , ,

We now have 8 Easybreath Snorkeling masks (they come in S/M and L/XL) on board of our 32 FS Regulator Powerboat, which you are welcome to use for free on your Snorkeling Trip with us. You will look a little bit like an Alien, but these masks are truly amazing.

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See and breathe underwater as easily as you would on land

The main obstacle to snorkelling is the difficulty in breathing underwater with a snorkel. Indeed, breathing through your mouth is unnatural, and the snorkel mouthpiece is sometimes considered too intrusive, uncomfortable and unhygienic. That’s why Tribord invented the Easybreath, the first full-face snorkelling mask, for breathing underwater as easily and naturally as you would on land with your nose and mouth. Thanks to its large size, this innovative mask also offers users an unobstructed 180° field of vision, and s prevented from fogging up by a double air-flow system that is identical to the system used in domestic extraction fans.

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The Easybreath snorkeling masks have a soft rim that goes around the edge of your face, no more uggly pressure marks from wearing the mask. They have soft elastic straps going over the back of your face in an X-shape, no more rubber squashing your ears.

Everything will look so clear and bright you will be amazed. They only downside is once you have snorkeling with this mask, you do not want to go back to a traditional mask anymore.

Easy Breath Snorkeling Mask Rental on St. John

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Alien invasion on St. John? No, a parcel from France with the Easybreath Snorkeling masks. We also have one mask that has a GoPro Mount so that you can mount your camera right onto the masks for the most amazing photos or videos.

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Easy Breath Snorkeling Masks benefits at a glance

  • breath through your mouth
  • 180 degrees free of vision
  • no fogging
  • no pressure on your face or head from straps
  • free to use on your day trip or half day snorkeling trip with us

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Easybreath Snorkeling Mask Video

More information about the Easybreath Snorkeling Mask

http://www.tribord.co.uk/content/easybreath-snorkeling-mask

Weekly Easybreath Mask Rental on St. John

If you want the Easybreath masks for the whole week, you can rent then with SUP-Stjohn.com

 

 

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Top 4 beachfront heavens of the BVI

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Virgin Islands Property and Yacht Magazine has just published in article with the top 4 beachfront heavens. And the winners happen to all be destinations we cater to with our 32 FS Regulator Powerboat. While the first 3 can be easily combined into a day trip, Saba Rock is a bit far out and we are not sure it is worth to go all the way to bitter end just for Saba Rock, if you want to go to Virgin Gorda you will surely want to also see the Baths and some of the other sights…. Read More

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Day Trip St. John – Virgin Gorda – Jost (video)

by Posted in Boat Charter Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Here are some photos and a video from this weeks powerboat charter trip  St. John – Virgin Gorda – Jost van Dyke. It was quite a rough day with 5ft swell at 10seconds and 25knots of headwind, but the guests were happy and head a great time. We left Cruz Bay at 9:00 AM, passing beautiful Stade Amsterdam and checked into the customs at Tortola Westend. We pulled out of Soper’s Hole but were hitting some hard waves on the North Shore, so Captain Tyler decided to the take the route South of Tortola which was more comfortable.

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Arriving at Virgin Gorda we went straight to the word famous Baths, first having some drinks on board, then going for a swim to the shore and a hike around the boulders. From there we went straight to Jost van Dyke to finish off the day with painkillers at Soggy Dollar Bar. Check out the video below.

Day Trip St. John – Virgin Gorda – Jost van Dyke Powerboat Charter Video

Photos Day Trip St. John – Virgin Gorda – Jost van Dyke

Review Day Trip St. John – Virgin Gorda – Jost van Dyke

5*

We had such a great time yesterday in spite of pretty rough waves. Virgin Gorda in the morning and most in the afternoon for Soggy Dollar adventure.

Paulette, March 5th, 2015

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Ivan’s Stress Free Bar Reopening

by Posted in Boat Charter Tagged , , , , , ,

Friday the 13th was a good day on Jost van Dyke, BVI. Ivan’s Stress free bar celebrated their 24th (!) anniversary and their reopening after a makeover, which was more like a complete rebuild. It went from this:

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to this:

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That’s an awesome party deck upstairs, no? Also all the rooms and cabins are really nice now. Come on a day trip to Jost van Dyke with us and check out the new Ivan’s. Here is a video one of our charter guests took on Friday.

Ivan’s Stress Free Bar Reopening

Post by Mark S Gierth.
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Breakfast @ Bitter End Yacht Club, BVI

by Posted in Boat Charter Tagged , , , , , ,

We had breakfast at Bitter End Yacht Club, Virgin Gorda the other day. They describe themselves as “an island retreat where love of the water, family tradition, welcoming staff and the generous Caribbean spirit matter most” and they have been selected a World’s Best Resort by the readers of Conde Nast Traveler!

Yes, it is a great place and the breakfast buffet is the best I have seen in the Virgin Islands so far. You can choose from a wide variety of food, truly English Breakfast with sausages, you can have a freshly made omelette with ingredients of your choice (e.g. salmon, spinach, peppers), eat fresh fruit, cereal, a wide variety of bread and jam, fruit juices etc.

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Check out the photos from our visit at Bitter End Yacht Club below.

 

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Our St. John Powerboat – Rockhoppin’ Charters

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Our St. John powerboat “Wahoo Wa'” is a 32FS Regulator with Twin Yamaha 250s. It  is 32ft long and has forward-facing, cushioned seating and  provides a comfortable, stable, usually dry  ride from rock to rock. Our Powerboat has plenty of space and extras like colored exterior lights, sound system with iphone connector, GPS, chart plotter etc.

We have Coast Guard approved and up to date safety gear: life jackets (adult and children), 2 VHF radios, field medical kit etc. to keep you and your loved ones safe. A five step ladder provides easy access in and out of the water.

It is moored in Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI in front of the Grande Bay Resort.

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