Biras Creek
 

Has anyone been here recently? Is it worth a visit? How is the water? Calm? Clear? Nice for snorkeling? How about the food and rooms?

Thanks!

Shari,
Check out scubamom.com.
Biras is one of my favorite spots in the BVI. Last visited in the Spring but it was only for a day since we were staying on Virgin Gorda. They've done signifigant refurburshing inside and out! I really enjoy the beach, a small cove, calm and lots of sea life. Can't say that it would satisfy a snorkeler or not. Had lunch at Fat Virgin but dining still gets excellent reviews.

Thank you so much! Your web page is very informative. To surprise my husband with a wonderful getaway with nature/relaxtion/wine and food would you recommend Biras or Jade Mountain?!

not my webpage! wish it were! She does a fantastic job and is a wealth of information.

Can't make any comparisons but Jade Mountain does sound wonderful. I've not been to St. Lucia as it has never been high on my list but my son thoroughly enjoyed Anse Chastanet a few years ago. Altho I do like Biras, my choices have always been sand and swimming footsteps from the room which even Biras doesn't have - but it is a quick bike ride away. I do not like pools!

I am sure he would be pleasantly surprised no matter which you choose.

Shari,
Ah, St. Lucia and Virgin Gorda! My two favorite islands. I guess it depends on what you're looking to do on your trip as the two islands are very different from each other. We've stayed in a beautiful villa on Mahoe Bay in VG and at Stonefield Villas (between Anse Chastenet and Jalousie) in St. Lucia. Both were stunning. St. Lucia is much more like Kauai, HI (not sure if you've been there?) with the lush rainforests, huge pitons, and the water is a darker blue. Virgin Gorda is similar to St. John (not sure if you've been there?) but much less built up. The vegetation is still green, but there are many cacti as well. The Baths in VG are wonderful, and you can easily island hop the BVI's from there. VG also has the clear blue water and white sand. The people on both islands are extremely friendly. I can share my pictures of each with you if you would like. Let me know. Good luck choosing!

Hi Kelly! Yes, I would love to see some pictures. Can you compare the food/wine choices in each island? I have never been Kauai, but it is on my list. We did the Big Island and Maui. Can you compare the snorkeling?

Hi Shari,
I always say a picture says a thousand words. Here are the links to my pictures:

St. Lucia (May-June 04):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...share&Ux=0

Virgin Gorda (May-June 06):
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...share&Ux=0

Comparisons:
Food/Wine- I can only speak from our experiences.

Stonefield resort in St. Lucia was part of a very small intimate resort where everyone has their own private villa with plunge pool but can also use the resort’s main restaurant. The food there was very good, and authentic. We had brought some wine from home down with us (we love our fine wines) and would sit and watch the sunset by our private pool most nights with wine and the fresh fruit provided by stonefield. We did venture out to Ladera’s restaurant “Dasheene” for dinner one night which was also good. We also did Fish Fry Friday which was great-amazing local fresh food (check out the size of the lobsters in my pictures). We took a water taxi over to Anse Chastenet for lunch one day-it’s a black sand beach. The little beach hut/bar/restaurant there is very cute, but the sand gets HOT! I don’t recall the wine list at either place being anything really, so if you’re looking for really good wine I’d say bring your own. We did LOVE the Piton beer they had, as well as the St. Lucia green gold coffee-we actually ended up buying a case of the coffee!

Virgin Gorda-we rented a private house (caribbeanwind) and ate most of our meals at home as my husband loves to cook. The food stores were barren while we were there-keep in mind it’s a small island and if the barge hasn’t gotten there yet with the food, there isn’t anymore coming. I guess since we were there at the end of the month, pickins were slim. We couldn’t even find fresh fish which was interesting, so we did mostly pasta and canned foods. We did go to Giorgios restaurant for a good but extremely overpriced dinner. I do believe they had a good wine list. Dog and Dolphin also had great food. We also did the Friday night BBQ at Leverick Bay which we thought was good and very entertaining with the band. Bitter End also had good food.

Snorkeling:
St. Lucia we snorkeled by the Pitet Piton at Jalousie’s beach, which was okay. I thought Kauai and Maui’s snorkeling was better. I didn’t get out to snorkel in VG-our daughter was 10mths old then and it was too tough to get away to snorkel, but I hear that the snorkeling is very good-especially right off the Mahoe Bay (where we stayed!) maybe next time ;) The best snorkeling I’ve done was on the Napali coast of Kauai. The second best was Hawksnest in St. John.

It’s a tough choice between the 2 islands. Very different, and both very nice. Let us know which you decide!

Hi Kelly! Thanks for the pictures! You have a beautiful family. The photographs are wonderful. I especially like the sunsets on St. Lucia. How did you fly to VG? There are direct flights to St. Lucia from Atlanta and NY. It seems more difficult to get to VG. It looks like you fly into Tortola and then catch a boat or take a helicopter. The scheduled daily flights don't coincide with the arrivals from the US. It looks like it would require a night in Tortola. Am I missing something? I guess if it is more difficult, then I would just choose St. Lucia. Your photographs make it look so lush and lovely!

Hi Shari,

Thanks! The sunsets on St. Lucia were the best we've seen, but I don't think you can go wrong with either island!

Where are you coming from? We left out of Philly. To get to VG, take a direct flight to St. Thomas and then take a ferry over to VG. We made the mistake of flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then taking the only airline that flies into VG, Air Sunshine. Air Sunshine turned out to be a nightmare for us, and I highly recommend not using them. But the ferry seems like a pretty easy way to get there.

For St. Lucia, we flew to San Juan and caught a connecting flight to St. Lucia-be sure to fly into the southern airport on St. Lucia if you stay near Sourfiere as it's closer (they have 2 airports).

Shari; I am not a fan of Biras Creek/ Part of it is because other than the Baths, a very few xpots in Mahoe Bay and Oil But Bay the snorkeling is poor to fair. If you search Biras Creek you will see the basis of my comments. There are some real high points to Biras and some lows. At $1000/day for 2 there should not be any lows, in my opinion.
St. Lucia us Not a snorkelers paradise either but the coral is a bit more healththy than around Virgin Gorda. The island is a tropical paradise with 4-5 lovely hotels and a dozen good restaurants plus 2 hotels have above average to good food.
Biras by the way has excellent dinners, adequate breakfasts and only fair lunches 5 days a week when they offer only beach buffets.

My addendum is that I have used Air Sunshine regularly and haven't had much to complain about. I much prefer leaving in and out of VIJ. The other option is to transfer to AEagle in SJU and fly into Tortola and Biras will pick you up by the airport and transport you.

Flying into St. Thomas would be a hassle to do in one day IMO but people do it. There is one ferry that is direct on Saturday afternoon at 3 but the other direct ones are early in the morning. In March I overnited it both going and coming home choosing the STT route but I do have friends who live there. There's also a seaplane but flights are limited to once a day now and it's early in the morning.

The option is to go to Tortola and then ferry to VG - sure makes for a very long day and sometimes hard to make flight connections coming home. In fact, when staying at PIR we flew into Tortola, we'd overnite it there and then catch their boat early in the morning - making it a full first day and already on Island Time.

You do have the option of eating at the Fat Virgin now and their lunches are quite good. When we were there, they did only a couple of lunches on the beach - but that might well have changed but I sure would have liked it everyday so I didn't have to trek back to the pavillion!

Shari - if there's a next time, do provisioning thru Bobby's on Tortola. You can preorder on line and they bring it over and deliver right to the villa.

I am a huge fan of Biras Creek's, and believe that it has so much to offer. So the snorkeling is fair, compared to Roatan or the Maldives or Lizard Island. So what? The place is a class act through and through, and if you enjoy a variety of outdoors activities, you will be well-rewarded. Some people have impossibly high standards when it comes to evaluating snorkeling these days. Hey, with global warming and hurricane activity over the last several years, many of these places have dropped down a few notches.

I loved the snorkeling from Biras - out to Oil Nut Bay, to Mosquito Island, to the Baths. Maybe not much directly from the beach, but I went last year and had an amazing time!

Check out reviews on tripadvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...n_Islands.html

Hi!
I visited Biras a few years back and loved it. The people and food were fabulous. The feeling of seclusion was amazing. You feel like you're on the resort all by yourself. The snorking isn't great right off the beach, but you can take one of the Boston Whalers and be on your own beach in a few minutes. Great fun!

I'd also recommend Peter Island. It's a tad larger than Biras but still very quiet and secluded. It has BEAUTIFUl beaches and many opportunities for snorkling. Check it out.

You won't be disappointed with either!

We prefer to get to VG by taking AA to SJU and then on to Tortola (30 min flight)on AA. The North Sound Ferry leaves from next door to the airport and in 15 min. you are on VG. If you have an early morning flight home, you could stay right on Beef Island next to the airport.
Biras Creek is $$$$ and we prefer Guavaberry by a mile........ we do take day snorkle trips from BItter End ( 2x daily, $10) on a comfy boat. Otherwise, we snorkle away on any of the many deserted beaches to be found on VG!!