“Snorkel the caves in the morning, jump off the Willy T at sunset, sleep in the Bight: Norman Island is the first night of a BVI charter done properly.”
Norman Island is the BVI’s Treasure Island. Pirates hid Spanish silver in its caves in 1750, the story reached Robert Louis Stevenson, and the island has been trading on it ever since: nobody lives here, but the Bight on its north side fills with charter yachts every evening.
It is small, about two and a half miles long, and everything a charter wants is at the west end. The Bight is the anchorage, with the Pirates Bight beach restaurant at its head and the Willy T floating bar moored in it. Round the point is Treasure Point with the three caves, and half a mile off the point are the Indians, four rock pinnacles that are the most-snorkeled site in the BVI.
It sits five miles across the Drake Channel from Tortola, next to Peter Island, which is why nearly every week starts or ends here: the popular seven-day loop makes it night one from Nanny Cay, and boats starting in St Thomas reach it the afternoon they clear in.
Must-dos on Norman Island
- Swim into the caves at Treasure Point, the snorkel the whole island is named for
- The Indians, four pinnacles in 30 feet of water with the reef fish of the BVI around them
- Jump off the top deck of the Willy T, then a Painkiller at the bar below
- Lunch on the loungers at Pirates Bight and the trail up the ridge behind it
- A night in Benures Bay or Money Bay, where you are the only boat
From our visits to Norman Island
November 2025, with my family, aboard the catamaran ATLAS, night one of our charter.
We left Nanny Cay after breakfast, stopped for a swim off the boat on the way, and were anchored in the Bight before noon. Lunch was on the loungers at Pirates Bight: the kids in the water in front of us, the boat in view from the table.
The afternoon was the drone and the water toys. At sunset we took the tender through the anchorage, one of us on the e-foil alongside, and ended at the Willy T. People were queuing on the top deck to jump, waiting for the light, and someone counted them down: three, two, one, go. We had a drink at the bar below with the kids, then a night swim off the back of the boat and dinner on board.
Next morning the whiteboard said swim at Kelly Cove, then Cooper Island. That is the Norman routine: the first night, and on the way past.
Mo Pristas, Co-founder, DMA Yachting, November 2025
The Bight: Pirates Bight and the Willy T
The Bight is a deep, sheltered bay on the north-west side, and it is where the first night of most BVI weeks is spent. It is a mooring field with room to anchor beyond the balls, protected in any normal trade wind, and with the two things the evening needs: a restaurant on the beach and the floating bar in the middle.
Pirates Bight is the beach: white loungers and blue umbrellas on the sand, a long pier for the tender, a restaurant and bar in the white buildings at the back, and a gift shop. It does lunch and dinner, takes a reservation through the crew, and is the quieter half of the bay. The trail up the ridge behind it starts at the restaurant and gives the view over the bay and across to Tortola.
The Willy T is the famous half. The William Thornton is a floating bar and restaurant moored in the Bight since 1989, rebuilt after Irma, with a bar on the lower deck, a rail on the upper deck to jump from, and tenders rafted three deep alongside by five o’clock. The jump is the rite of passage; the Painkiller is the drink. Our BVI beach bar guide puts it in the company of the Soggy Dollar and Foxy’s.
Which evening for which group
- Willy T for the group that wants the night out: friends, birthdays, repeat BVI guests. Go at sunset for the jumping, stay for the bar. Kids are welcome on the lower deck until the evening picks up.
- Pirates Bight for the group that wants a table: families, couples, a first night that ends early. Dinner on the beach and a two-minute tender back.
- Dinner aboard for both: the anchorage is calm, the sunset comes over the mouth of the bay, and the tender can still run you to the Willy T for one drink after.
Treasure Point: the Caves and Privateer Bay
Treasure Point is the headland on the west side of the Bight, and the three caves are cut into the base of it, opening onto Privateer Bay. This is where the 1750 treasure was found and the reason the island carries its name. The caves are shallow, you swim into them from the water, and the first one goes back far enough to be dark.
The yacht picks up a day mooring in Privateer Bay or stays in the Bight and sends the tender round the point; the National Parks moorings here are for daytime only. The snorkel is along the wall of the point as much as in the caves: fans, tarpon in the shade, and the reef fish that come to the boats. It is a stop in our BVI snorkeling guide for a reason.
Go in the morning before the day boats from Tortola arrive, and when the north swell is running in winter, let the captain call it: the caves take the swell first.
The Indians and Pelican Island
The Indians are four rock pinnacles standing out of the water between Norman Island and Pelican Island, half a mile off the point. Below the surface they drop to about 30 feet on a reef of fans, brain coral and a tunnel you can swim through, with more fish than anywhere else this side of the channel.
It is a National Parks site: mooring balls only, no anchoring, daytime only, and the balls go early. Captains put the yacht on a ball or hold off while the tender takes you in. Snorkelers stay on the shallow side, and divers do it as a shallow reef dive, which is why it is in our BVI dive site list.
The order that works is Indians first thing, caves after, Bight for lunch; or the reverse on the last morning before the run back to Tortola.
The quiet side: Benures Bay, Money Bay and Kelly Cove
Norman has a quiet side. Benures Bay on the north shore, east of the Bight, is sand and grass with room for a few boats, no bar and no moorings, and snorkeling along its eastern edge. Money Bay on the south coast is the same idea with more swell; the captain of one of our catamarans says that if you go to Money Bay you will probably be the only boat there. Kelly Cove, just west of the Bight, is the morning swim stop before you leave.
These are the bays for the second Norman night, or for the group that liked the island but not the Willy T. Benures made our list of secluded BVI anchorages.
Fitting Norman Island into the week
Norman is the first night or the last, and sometimes both. From Nanny Cay or Road Town it is under an hour, so a boat that boards at noon is anchored in the Bight by mid-afternoon with time for the caves. From St Thomas, boats clear in at West End and reach the Bight the same afternoon, which is why our St Thomas round-trip route starts here too.
Passage times as our boats run them:
- Nanny Cay or Road Harbour to the Bight: 5 to 6 miles, 45 minutes to an hour on any yacht.
- West End, Tortola (customs from St Thomas) to the Bight: about 8 miles, an hour.
- The Bight to Peter Island’s Great Harbour: 30 minutes; to Cooper Island: about an hour and a half; to Jost Van Dyke round the west end of Tortola: two hours.
- The Indians and the caves are on the way out or the way back, never a separate leg.
People also ask about Norman Island
Is Norman Island worth visiting on a BVI yacht charter?
Yes, and almost every charter does. It has the best first-night anchorage on the south side of the channel, the caves and the Indians for snorkeling, Pirates Bight for a table on the beach, and the Willy T for the night out. Nobody lives on the island, so the whole of it is beach, trail and water.
Is Norman Island good for a first night?
It is the standard first night from Tortola: under an hour from Nanny Cay, a sheltered mooring field in the Bight, and two places to eat or drink ashore. Boats boarding in St Thomas reach it the same afternoon after clearing in at West End.
Can you snorkel the caves from a yacht?
Yes. The yacht takes a day mooring in Privateer Bay or the tender runs you round from the Bight, and you swim into the caves from the water. Go in the morning before the day boats, and in winter let the captain judge the north swell.
Is the Willy T right for every charter group?
No. It is a floating bar with a jumping deck, loud from late afternoon, and the right night for friends and repeat guests. Families and quieter groups do the sunset jump and one drink, then dinner at Pirates Bight or on board.
Can you start a charter on Norman Island?
Not from the island itself, there is no base there. Charters start at Nanny Cay, Road Town or Scrub Island on Tortola, or in St Thomas, and Norman is where the first night is spent.
Where do yachts anchor at Norman Island?
The Bight, on mooring balls or at anchor beyond them, for the night. Privateer Bay and the Indians have National Parks day moorings only. Benures Bay and Money Bay are anchor-in-sand bays for a quiet night.
