Scrub Island of the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

is a part of the Lesser

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

, a group of islands that are young volcanic or coral islands. It is home to the Scrub Island Resort Marina and Spa.

Geography

Scrub Island is located approximately east of

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

(eastern Fajardo, Puerto Rico to Scrub Island), NE of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and North of Trellis Bay (Trellis Bay dock and Scrub Island Marina). Formed by volcanic activity, Scrub Island is long and made up of a total which includes Big Scrub () and Little Scrub (). The mountainous island highest eastern peak reaches and the highest western peak reaches .

History

Earliest inhabitants that paddled up from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

were recorded about 5000 years ago on Scrub Island. At this time, Scrub was presumably connected to

Great Camanoe Great Camanoe is a small island just north of Beef Island and northeast of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that forms part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. Great Cama ...

and

Marina Cay Marina Cay is an island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. The island was uninhabited until 1937, when author Robb White and newly married wife Rosalie “Rodie” Mason settled on the island. Originally having settled on the near ...

Island because sea level was significantly lower. The first record of Territory was claimed by the

Arawak The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), w ...

Indians who had left traces of Arawak pottery around 200BC, and they were preceded by

Ciboney The Ciboney, or Siboney, were a Taíno people of Cuba, Jamaica, and the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti. A Western Taíno group living in Cuba during the 15th and 16th centuries, they had a dialect and culture distinct from the Classic Taíno in th ...

Indians who settled in nearby St. Thomas in 300 BC. The European discovery of the British Virgin Islands is attributed to

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

. During his second voyage on 2 November 1493, small islands now known as the Lesser

were discovered, one of which was Scrub Island. For many years after the discovery, the islands were untouched until privateers, pirates and buccaneers used the island as a haven. Concrete evidence also shows buried pirate treasures. During the early 17th century, the Dutch expressed interest in the copper mines that were discovered, but due to the Dutch’s interest in piracy and a Spanish attack, the settlement was economically unsuccessful. In 1672, the British took control. Presently, Scrub Island is occupied by Scrub Island Resort Marina and Spa which first development in the

in the last 15 years. In late 2013 the Scrub Island Resort went into bankruptcy protection in the United States, and was locked in dispute with its primary lender, FirstBank, after receivers were appointed in the British Virgin Islands in relation to unpaid loans made to the Resort. The resort emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2015.

Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina

Scrub Island Resort, Spa & Marina is a luxury private island resort built in 2010 and was the first resort development to be built in the

in more than 15 years. It has 52 guest accommodations as well as a collection of two-, three- and four-bedroom villas, Ixora Spa, restaurants, three private beaches and a 55-slip marina. The master planned resort was designed by architecture firm OBM International USA for Mainsail Development International. Scrub Island is fringed by three beaches that shelve into the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

. It features protected coves, nature trails and scenery. The island is virtually vehicle-free with resort shuttles serving as the primary form of transportation.

Accommodations

Scrub Island Resort accommodations consist of 26 guest rooms; 26, one- and two-bedroom suites; and a collection of hillside villas.

Watersports/Marina

Scrub Island Resort’s marina offers 55 slips available for lease or transient docking, including five for mega yachts up to 170 feet. The shallows surrounding Scrub Island, as well as many nearby coves, bays, reefs and inlets, are used by snorkelers and divers.

Restaurants and Dining

The Resort features a number of restaurants.

Bankruptcy

On 1 November 2013 the primary lender to the development, FirstBank, sought orders of the Commercial Court in the British Virgin Islands appointing a receiver over the Resort due to the failure by the Resort to make repayments on over US$100 million of loans. The Resort did not comply with the order, but instead sought bankruptcy protection from the U.S. courts, and a Chapter 11 order was made on 20 November 2013. The Resort appeared to have reached an agreement with the bank in relation to the restructuring of the debts, but that agreement collapsed in acrimony in late 2014 with the bank claiming that it had been materially mislead. The resort emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2015.

Sale

In December 2015 it was announced that the Resort would sell the larger currently undeveloped side of the island currently referred to by the Resort as Big Scrub.

Travel to Scrub Island

The most convenient international airport to Scrub Island is

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan ( , ; Spanish for "Saint John the Baptist, John") is the capital city and most populous Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in the Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the ...

. From San Juan, guests can take a connecting flight with

Cape Air Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, is an airline headquartered at Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Hyannis, Massachusetts, United States. It operates scheduled passenger services in the Northeast, the Caribbean and Eastern Montana. ...

Air Sunshine Air Sunshine was an airline based in the United States and in Puerto Rico. It operated scheduled service to and from San Juan and Vieques, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Anguilla, Dominica, Sint Maarten, Nevis, St. Kitts, Tortola and Virgin Gorda in ...

or Island Birds Air Charters to

Beef Island Beef Island is an island in the British Virgin Islands. It is located to the east of Tortola, and the two islands are connected by the Queen Elizabeth Bridge. Beef Island is the site of the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport (IATA c ...

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

(airport code: EIS). Scrub Island is a seven-minute ride from

via the resort’s private launch. Additional options include flights into St. Thomas with a 45-min. ferry ride to

or St. Martin offering convenient connections. Scrub Island also has two heliports available to guests.

References

Other sources

Oldendrop, C.G.A. (1987)

777 777 may refer to: * 777 (number), a number * AD 777, a year of the Julian calendar * 777 BC, a year in the 8th century BC * Boeing 777, a commercial jet airliner :* Boeing 777X, the newer generation of the Boeing 777 Art and entertainment Alb ...

A Caribbean mission: History of the mission of the Evangelical Brethren on the Caribbean islands of St. Tomas, St. Croix, and St. John. Edited and translated by A.R. Highfield and Vladimir Barac. Ann Arbor: Karoma. Putley, Julian. "A Glimpse of BVI History". The British Virgin Island Tourism Directory 2007: 9. "Christopher Columbus," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007

External links

''Virgin Islands Daily News'' report on the development
{{British Virgin Islands Autograph Collection Hotels Islands of the British Virgin Islands