Affordable yachting

If you love luxury yachts but hate the high price tag they carry then fractional ownership may be for you.

Tortola-based The Moorings offers an affordable (relatively speaking) deal which can get you on board your own private luxury yacht for less than half a mil.

For $430,000 you can buy a one-tenth ownership of the yacht pictured here to the left. It entitles you to four weeks on board including a captain and chef.

After five years the yacht is sold and proceeds are divided.

How great is that?

Smuggler's Cove indeed

When I think of Norman Island only one thing comes to mind: Willy T's. It's sad but true.

Yes, I've snorkeled in the Caves and Indians but all the evenings and afternoons I've spent at Willy T's are emblazoned in my mind.

So it was with quite a bit of interest that I read this article in Yahoo! news which says that 49 hungry and thirsty migrants hid out for days amid a tangle of trees and brush on Norman Island.

Apparently the human smuggling is not limited to one place. All the islands of the BVI "are increasingly attractive to Caribbean smugglers carrying illegal migrants to the nearby U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico," reads the article.

"The new route swings deep into the eastern Caribbean and runs northwest along the Leeward Island chain before heading to the British Virgin Islands. The migrants, mostly from Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, generally fly to the island of Dominica, then hook up with smugglers who take them on chartered sailboats to U.S. territory under cover of darkness."

BVI Posh

A new magazine covering all things Caribbean has just launched with an event in the Caribbean American community in Brooklyn, NY.

The fledgling mag was born of the mind of Founder, Publisher and Editor Janette Brin who was born in St. Thomas (USVI) and raised in Tortola (BVI).

According to the press release, "POSH Magazine will feature articles on personal growth, social and political issues affecting the Caribbean region and its people globally coupled with profiles of celebrities and rising stars of the community."

It's too early to tell whether the magazine will deliver on all these claims but the website is pretty swish.

Virgin Gorda makes the list

The editors at Frommer's Travel Guides have released a list of twelve surprising, thriving, or emerging travel destinations -- basically places not to be missed in 2007.

And lo and behold -- among such destinations as Krakow, Poland, Portland, Oregon, and Ethopia -- was Virgin Gorda.

VG made the list because of it's off-the-beaten-path feel: "You can take jeep tours of the island, hike through the jungle, or explore funky Spanish Town and its unassuming bars and restaurants. Best of all, you can hang out at the Baths, a string of beaches where giant boulders form tranquil pools and grottoes flooded with sea water," reads the article.