Matt and I celebrated our 1o year anniversary in Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands at a resort called Oil Nut Bay almost 9 months ago (sorry for just now finishing up our recap!). We decided we wanted somewhere tropical and we had not been to the Virgin Islands in almost 12 years. So when I briefly discovered this beautiful resort on instagram, it immediately piqued my interest. As I had narrowed my ideas down on where to stay, I called Melanie our travel advisor, to help plan the details. She was so helpful communicating with the staff of Oil Nut Bay and booking our suite as well as transportation details, dining and excursions.

The resort or island is literally one of a kind. It has some of the most beautiful homes that I have ever seen in my life. I honestly think it’s crazy that this place even exists and that it is only occupied year round by the employees, no other residents. One home or villa is prettier than the next!

Here’s a look at our 5 night stay and our experience on this gorgeous island:

How to Get Here

Well, that’s one thing about this place — its not too easy to get to. We flew from Pensacola to St. Thomas via Miami. From St. Thomas we took a helicopter ride the airport to Oil Nut Bay. You do have to make a quick stop to go through customs on your way. The flight was unbelievable and so fun to see all the islands. On the way home, we took a boat called Island Times. The ride is about two hours, but again, it was a gorgeous ride and flew by. You do have to stop through customs on your way back to St. Thomas as well. But everything was really quick.

They do have an airport called Beef Island that is more convenient to fly into if you are staying at Oil Nut Bay or in Virgin Gorda. It is a little harder to find flights because it is a small airport and the flights are typically more expensive. From this airport, you could take a fairly short ferry straight to ONB.

Where We Stayed

We booked our stay at Oil Nut Bay resort in Virgin Gorda. I originally fell in love with this private island on Instagram. The island is absolutely beautiful with stunning private homes and multiple cottages to rent. The entire island uses golf carts for transportation and the only way to this island is by boat or helicopter.

The island has two restaurants on property — a poolside dining option that is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and Nova that is open certain nights for lunch and dinner. The food was really good and we experienced wonderful service. The resort also has a room service option or a fun lunch option where they will set up a picnic lunch for you at the top of a hiking trail. You can also have a private dinner or event set up on the hillside Pavilion of the main pool which is really nice too.

We chose to stay in a cliffside suite which was breathtaking. We had a large one bedroom suite with a sitting room, wet bar area, large bathroom, outdoor shower and an expansive outdoor area with an infiniti pool. The views were gorgeous and we were given our own golf cart to get around the island.

The staff was exceptional and always looking to help us in any way possible. The resort was mostly unoccupied (apparently May starts slow season!), but there was still plenty of staff on deck to help with any of our needs. It honestly felt like we had the whole island to ourself 90% of the time!

What We Did

We had four full days during our trip and we spent two of them at our resort enjoying what it had to offer and then chose to spend two days out on the water and doing some exploring. I thought that was a perfect combination of fun and relaxation.

When we were on property, we enjoyed the pool with an amazing swim up bar and lots of fun cocktails, the beach, a little round of pickle ball and tennis, and then had a scheduled hike and picnic lunch that we actually golf carted to instead of hiked (ha!)! We also had scheduled massages up at our room one day that was luxurious! They do not have an actual spa (at least not yet) and so they boat in massage therapists to the island and have them come to your room.

On probably our favorite day of the trip, we scheduled a full day boat tour with Plan B Charters to take us all around the BVIs. We passed by Saba Rock and The Bitter End Resort, climbed through The Baths of Virgin Gorda (a must see), went snorkeling at The Caves & The Indians, stopped for lunch at our favorite (and currently rebuilt after the storms:) Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke. Then we popped into Foxy’s and traveled to Norman Island to have drinks and jump off the Willy T’s Pirate ship!! They also have a great restaurant there called the Pirates Bight. We boated by the Peter Island resort which is still closed from the hurricane several years ago and we ended at Cooper Island with drinks at their super cute Rum Bar. It had a great little beach bar/restaurant and the cutest tables in the ocean to hold your drinks for you! My kind of place! 😉 It was an amazing day and I couldn’t believe how much ground we covered!! I would highly recommend these guys to take you out one day.

On our last day, we took a day trip over to Little Dix Bay resort and had lunch over there and did some exploring. I was taking notes to see if that would be a fun spot to check out on another trip. We had a really delicious meal and the set up was really pretty there with a lot more action going on. I still loved our resort the most, but I saw the charm of that beautiful place too.

Where We Ate

As I mentioned above, the resort had two restaurants on property that we enjoyed. We had breakfast each morning at the poolside restaurant and had dinner multiple nights at Nova. Nova is a swanky, outdoor restaurant that is located by the boat docks. This restaurant is available to guests of course, but also is a restaurant that boaters can come enjoy. Nova is known for their fun, lively brunch on Sundays. Unfortunately, we left on a Sunday and did not get to experience their live DJ brunch.

Several nights during our stay we ate at restaurants off the island. We went to Coco Maya, an Asian infused restaurant, one night which was a short ferry ride away and then maybe a 20 min taxi ride. The ambiance at Coco Maya was gorgeous. I highly recommend it for that. Matt and I ordered the sushi and we weren’t blow away. I wish we had ordered differently because I know people love their food. I would say this is one of the nicer restaurants, but its also kid friendly. They have corn hole set up on the beach along with a giant jenga and a cool fire pit.

We also had dinner at Saba Rock which is just a short 10 min ferry ride from Oil Nut Bay. It is the coolest restaurant and was completely rebuilt after the hurricane. The restaurant is on its on little island (so it can only be accessed by boat) and has 11 (I think?) hotel rooms as well. They have a really neat bar area, a cute gift shop and we had a great meal. I would highly recommend stopping here.

Sugar Cane was one spot that I heard had amazing food & atmosphere that we did not make it to this trip. I would love to check this spot out next time. I also heard Hog Heaven is a fun, casual spot with beautiful views that would make for a great lunch spot over on Virgin Gorda.

Final Thoughts

This was definitely a trip of a lifetime!! We had so much fun celebrating our 10 year anniversary here and exploring the BVI’s. I felt like the island was exclusive, stunning and superbly well-run! The service was definitely next level and our accommodations in the cliffside suite were breathtaking. And I am telling you, each house on the island was prettier than the next! It would be such a fabulous trip to take with a large family or a group of friends and rent one of the homes on property!

I did mention during our stay that the island was a bit of a ghost town when we were there in the end of May. I probably could have used a little more action with a few more faces walking about the island, but really nothing to complain about. Apparently their high season is New Years until Easter or the end of April. I also imagine that even during high season, the place never feels too crowded.

I loved having the mix of relaxation on the island and then more action-packed boat days mixed in. I thought 5 nights was the perfect amount of time there because it did take a full day of travel each way. I definitely hope to get back there one day and take my extended family! I think the adults and kids alike would have a wonderful time!

I hope this was helpful and please feel to leave any additional questions in the comments.