Anegada

The island's name comes from the Spanish tierra anegada, "flooded land", a fair description of a coral island whose highest point is only about 28 feet above the sea. Low and hard to see until close, and surrounded by the 18-mile Horseshoe Reef, it became a graveyard for ships: the reef has caused hundreds of wrecks, among them the Royal Navy frigate HMS Astraea in 1808, the Donna Paula in 1819 and the MS Rocus in 1929. The wrecks once made Anegada an important dive destination, and relics from past centuries that washed ashore are kept in a small museum at Pomato Point.

The island's wildlife has its own history. In the 1830s thousands of Caribbean flamingos lived in the western salt ponds, but they were hunted for food and feathers through the 19th and early 20th centuries and had disappeared by 1950; they have since been re-established. Overfishing likewise wiped out the conch on the reef beside the Settlement, leaving the mounds of empty shells that still stand on the shore.

Living on so low an island, Anegadians traditionally rode out hurricanes by tying their dories to mangrove trunks and covering them with tarpaulins. Hurricane Earl passed 15 to 20 miles to the north in 2010, flooding the south side; in September 2017 the northern eyewall of Hurricane Irma passed directly over the island, causing major damage, though no serious injuries were reported. From 2008 to 2013 the island drew sailors with one of the tallest Christmas trees in the Caribbean.

Anegada's culture is that of a small fishing community at the edge of the territory. Its fishermen supply most of the fresh fish and lobster eaten across the British Virgin Islands, and life revolves around the sea, the weather and the ferry, whose arrival brings much of the island down to the dock. Most people live in the one village, the Settlement; the island shares the territory's Belonger identity, English-speaking and Christian.

Conservation has become part of local life. The rare Anegada rock iguana is raised in a headstart facility in the Settlement, where hatchlings are kept safe from feral cats until they are large enough to defend themselves; an annual Iguana Festival held outside the facility celebrates the island's native species. The western salt ponds are a Ramsar wetland, the ponds and the south-eastern mangroves are recognised as an Important Bird Area, and officials try to keep visitor numbers at the flamingo areas low enough for the birds to thrive.

Visitors are expected to fit in with the island's pace: taxis are arranged through the restaurants, and the reef is protected, with anchoring on it now illegal.

The 2024 census counted 450 people on Anegada, most of them in the Settlement. At about 15 square miles it is the second-largest island in the territory, so the population is thinly spread and much of the land is empty, roamed by feral cattle, donkeys, goats and sheep.

Tourism is the main business: on a typical day in the season the island has 200 to 300 visitors, who come for the beaches, the snorkelling and diving, the flamingos and the fly fishing on the south-shore flats, where bonefish are plentiful. Commercial fishing is the other mainstay, with local fishermen supplying most of the territory's fresh fish and lobster.

About 70 pupils attend the Claudia Creque Educational Centre, the island's only school, which covers pre-school, primary and secondary levels. Daily supplies come by sea: groceries ordered on Tortola arrive on the ferry, and fresh fruit and vegetables come from a garden near the Settlement. When a hurricane threatens, some residents leave for Tortola, but most stay.

Lobster is the island's food. Lobster, found with conch and many kinds of fish in the deep waters of the North Drop off the north coast, is caught by the island's fishermen, and much of the fresh lobster and fish eaten across the British Virgin Islands comes from here. It is the island's signature dish in the beach restaurants, and those staying in cottages with a kitchen can go down to the docks and ask the fishermen for fresh conch, fish and lobster to cook themselves.

Conch was once the other great harvest. The reef by the Settlement was among the Caribbean's richest conch grounds until overfishing emptied it, and the shell mounds on the shore are its legacy. The rest of the island's cooking follows the territory's: fresh fish, "fish and fungi" — fish with fungi, a cornmeal-and-okra dish rather like polenta — johnnycake, a fried bread, and salt-fish pates.

Eating out means a handful of beach bars and restaurants spread around the shore, plus a bakery in the Settlement for breakfast and lunch. Rum is the drink, often as a Painkiller — rum with pineapple juice, orange juice and cream of coconut, dusted with nutmeg — the cocktail created on Jost Van Dyke.