Norman Island

Norman Island anchors the chain's southern end wrapped in its favourite rumour: local lore and recovered coin finds tie the uninhabited island to real buried treasure, and tradition claims it among the inspirations Robert Louis Stevenson drew toward Treasure Island. The practical treasures snorkel easily: the Caves at Treasure Point - three sea-cut chambers whose torch-lit backs and fish-clouded mouths make the territory's favourite mask-and-fins stop - plus the Indians' pinnacles nearby, and the Bight's protected anchorage where floating establishments and beach fires run the evening economy. Trails climb the ridges for channel panoramas over it all.

History

The island is named after a pirate who bought or leased it early in the 18th century, and it has a documented history of buried treasure: in August 1750 the crew of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe mutinied off North Carolina, and Owen Lloyd brought part of its silver here and buried it. Word spread and people from Tortola dug it up, until Gilbert Fleming, lieutenant-general of the Leeward Islands, recovered part of it under a proclamation giving the finders a third as a reward; the island is one of several said to have inspired Stevenson's Treasure Island (Wikipedia, Norman Island).

What's there

• The Caves - torch-lit snorkel chambers at Treasure Point.
• The Indians - the pinnacle snorkel garden offshore.
• The Bight - the anchorage's evening theatre.
• The ridge trails - channel panoramas over the lore.

When to go

December to May with the charter season; mornings give the Caves their calmest, clearest water before the day fleet arrives.

Good to know

Access is boat-only by design - day charters solve it for the yachtless; the Caves crowd midday and moorings fill in season. The treasure remains, officially, rumour.

Nearby

Peter Island's bays, the Indians and the channel to Tortola.

Key facts