My wife, Austin, and I took a 6 day vacation to the British Virgin Islands this past week. We’ve been wanting to do a tropical vacation in February for several years, so this year we planned it and made it happen. I was expecting to get a nice break from those chilly days on the river, but I have to say the weather here is not much different than what we encountered down there. On our trip, I was able to explore some of the vast flats and unpressured fish on Anegada, which is a relatively unknown and unvisited coral atoll island (flat like the Florida keys and not like any of the other volcanic Virgin Islands). There are 3 flats guides on the island. I fished with Capt. Garfield Faulkner. Being a local lobsterman, waterman, and flats guide, he was very knowledgeable about his fishery. He was also very entertaining and accommodating. We saw lots of schools of 20-60 bonefish and plenty of smaller groups, too. We caught some bones on the fly. We also saw a handful of smaller tarpon, and I was able to hook and catch the second one we saw within casting range. The tarpon was quite a battle on my 8 weight. I didn’t bring along my good camera, so here are a few quick pics I took with my phone. They are all random, mostly of beaches in Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, and Anegada. The pictures aren’t great quality, but you get the picture.
I plan on returning, with a lot more focus on the fishing and great beaches in Anegada.
Pile of Conch Shells
Anegada flats
Head high Caribbean Swell
