Caribbean Vacation Recap: Scrub Island

Hey guys! I’m back today with second recap of my Caribbean vacation last week. In case you missed it, I posted all about St. Thomas yesterday. I’m just going to pick up right where I left off!

After we left the hotel in St. Thomas on Monday morning, our next destination was the Scrub Island Resort, Spa and Marina. We planned to stay there until Thursday morning. I had never heard of Scrub Island before we started planning this trip, but it’s a small private island in the British Virgin Islands. There is not much on the Island except the really gorgeous Marriott property. This was B’s “must have” Caribbean destination.

Warning: this post is like one giant photo bomb. We had such an amazing time that I think any couple would love this destination for a special trip, honeymoon, etc.

In order to get to Scrub Island, you have to first take a ferry to Tortola. Tortola is the largest British Virgin Island, and it’s also where the Scrub Island Marriott ferry will come to pick you up. The pick-up location is in Trellis Bay, which is right beside the small airport in Tortola.

So remember how I told you that I was super thankful that B planned this trip? I realized during this part of the  trip how much planning it took to make ferry and taxi plans.  In order to get to Scrub Island we had to:

• Take a taxi from the hotel in St. Thomas to the ferry station
• Take a ferry from St. Thomas to Road Town, which is a place in Tortola
• Take a taxi from Road Town to Trellis Bay
• Arrange for the Marriot ferry to pick us up at Trellis Bay

Not going to lie- I may or may not have purchased an over-priced single-serve screw top bottle of wine at the little store at Trellis Bay once we finally got there!

The Scrub Island ferry picked us up right on time and everyone was super friendly. The British Virgin Islands are BEAUTIFUL and it was such a lovely boat ride. When we got to Scrub Island, we were completely blown away. If I could describe it in 1 word, it would be: paradise. It was amazing.

First, they greeted us with a Rum punch when we got off of the ferry. If you want to know a way to make this girl happy after a day of traveling, it’s by delivering a fruity mixed drink to me!

Room

And then we also got a really cool surprise and found out that our regular room was being upgraded to a suite. It was huge and beautiful! I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning. B made sure to remind me that he doesn’t normally stay in places like that

About Scrub Island Resort, Spa and Marina

Scrub Island is the perfect place to unplug. There isn’t a lot to explore since the area is so small, so we felt happy just relaxing on the beach.

Do you ever go on a trip and end up exhausted because you felt like you had to see everything or you’d miss out? Yeah, Scrub Island was the exact opposite of that. There are several pools, a few restaurants, a market, and a spa. You can also walk around the property if you wanted to go on a little hike. Here’s the spa:

Food

For our meals, we got breakfast foods at the little store on the resort and made breakfast in our room every morning. That was pretty perfect for me because I prefer a lighter meal if I’m going to sit out on the beach all day.

We ate lunch and dinner at one of the restaurants called Tierra! Tierra! and we ordered a homemade pizza on election night from the little store below us. And yes, we did sit and eat pizza and watch the election results all the way in the Caribbean! No comment on the election itself.

We realized on Wednesday evening that the resort hosts a cocktail hour and pig roast. We saw a lot of people going and it looked fun, but we were trying to get our stuff together to leave early the next day. I would definitely check it out if you’re planning on going!

Gym

There was a gym that was so great that I really wanted to share the pictures with you! The equipment was nice and new. I only used it once when I woke up really early in the morning but I enjoyed it. There were people coming in and out all morning!

Excursions

Because the BVI has lots of cool islands, you can take a ferry to pretty much anywhere by connecting to one in Tortola.  A lot of people were staying at the resort for a full week and they took excursions to other islands. A popular destination was The Baths at Virgin Gorda. Pictures of that looked amazing- I definitely want to go there someday!

We decided not to go on any big excursions because we already had plans to go to St. John later in the week. But we did decide to go snorkeling and were able to hop onto one of the scuba tours to make it out to some beautiful reefs. The tour company picked us up at the marina at the resort so everything was very simple.

We saw a lot of beautiful reef and coral. But the best part is that there were a lot of Hokies going scuba diving! We had a lot of fun chatting with them, and I think I’m converting B into more and more of a Virginia Tech fan each day.

Final Thoughts

It was so hard to say good bye to Scrub Island… we didn’t want to leave. I can’t remember the last time I felt so rested and relaxed. We had a really, really good time.

My favorite memory from our time there will be watching the gorgeous sunset together ever evening. It was a simple reminder of how important it is to slow down and enjoy life with the people you care about. We will definitely be coming back some day!!