Salt Island British Virgin Islands

...Salt crystals forming in the pond...

Salt Island is one of the islands in the the British Virgin Islands that is now uninhabited and presents an interesting history with the two salt ponds and Her Majesty's Royal Mail Ship, The Rhone, off the southwest shore. Back in the days before refrigeration, salt was a prized commodity used to preserve fish and meats. At the height of Salt Island, 100 people lived on this island managing the salt ponds and harvesting the salt in the spring, when the flats would dry out. The last person left the island in 2004 and today, the few homes and outbuildings along with the stone walls and graves of the Rhone shipmates are all that remains. The government of the BVI's has restored the tradition of giving the Queen of England a one pound bag of salt on her birthday as payment for the use of Salt Island. Radeen and I have been here three times. We anchored our boat right off the dock in 25-30 feet of water, then dinghied ashore and walked around the salt ponds. With the goats and a few birds, and the interesting old buildings, Salt Island provides a wonderful photographic location. Don't forget to take a bag and a strong spoon to chip off some fine sea salt crystals to take back to your boat. Enjoy these photos from Salt Island....

This interesting building has 4 equal rooms, with an exterior door leading outside from every room. there are two large windows in each room. Inside, there are doorways leading between every room. We are left wondering why the owner went to such great expense and effort to install so many doors. The next 4 photos are all of the same house.

The moderate ESE winds were gusting around both sides of the high hills, making for a somewhat rolling night on anchor. Only two boats were anchored with us overnight and several boats came for a day stop. The anchorage is very deep so we dropped 150 feet of chain to anchor in sand.