Deadman's Bay — Peter Island, British Virgin Islands
A private island where the rooms sit behind the sand and the bay is yours before the day boats arrive.
The whole island is the hotel, reached by the resort's own ferry from Road Town on Tortola, or by helicopter. All fifty-two rooms sit along Deadman's Bay, twenty-eight of them directly behind the sand, so the walk to the water is a few steps across the beach. Buoys mark the swimming area and keep the day boats outside it; the anchorage lies beyond them, which is worth knowing if you want the bay to yourself early. Guests swim the length of the beach, from Deadman's to Little Deadman's, and Dead Chest Island stands about three-quarters of a nautical mile off the bay. The channel between is open water with charter and ferry traffic through it, so treat that crossing as a boat trip rather than a casual swim. The exposed side of the island is a different sea entirely, and not one to swim. The resort reopened in December 2024, seven years after Hurricane Irma closed it.
