Bitter End Yacht Club, located in the British Virgin Islands, offers a breathtaking retreat for adventurers and thalassophiles. Founded in the late 1960s by Basil Symonette, the club emerged from a desire to create a sanctuary away from societal ostracism. Initially a simple clubhouse serving drinks and meals, it evolved to include accommodations due to legal requirements. The Hokin family, regular visitors, negotiated with Symonette to eventually take over the property, enhancing its reputation as a premier sailing destination known for its natural beauty and serene atmosphere.
"Bitter End Yacht Club is tucked away on a peninsula off of Virgin Gorda's North Sound, just beyond Richard Branson's Necker Island and Prickly Pear, a national park. It's the last land outpost before the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. To adventurers and thalassophiles, it's a paradise like no other."
"Former charter skipper Basil Symonette founded Bitter End in the late 1960s. The scrappy clubhouse where he served yachtsmen stiff drinks and simple meals was quite difficult to reach-and that was the whole point. According to Lauren Hokin, a member of the third generation of her family to run Bitter End, Symonette had been ostracized by influential, homophobic family members. He and his partner made a sanctuary out of the remote shoreline."
"Since the law required you to provide lodging if you served alcohol, Symonette reluctantly got into the hotel business, too. 'I think he had two barebones cottages with, according to my grandmother, paper sheets on the beds,' said Hokin."
"By 1970, Hokin's sailor family had become regulars. They spent the next three years negotiating with Symonette before finally getting to call the place their own. It wasn't long before the BVI became a popular sailing destination for its spectacular reefs and sparse crowds."
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