An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be called an eyot or ait, and a small island off the coast may be called a holm. A grouping of geographically or geologically related islands is called an archipelago, such as the Philippines.
The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially simply the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
The Caribbean is a region of The Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands and the surrounding coasts. The region is southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the North American mainland, east of Central America, and north of South America.
The rocky cliffs on the south-western face of the island plunge into the sea, The National Park moorings make it a popular snorkeling and dive site. It is perfectly possible to land a boat on the other sides of the island, although there is not much to see.
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving where the diver uses a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba), which is completely independent of surface supply, to breathe underwater. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, allowing them greater independence and freedom of movement than surface-supplied divers, and longer underwater endurance than breath-hold divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a new mixture called enriched air (Nitrox) has been gaining popularity due to its benefit of reduced nitrogen intake during repetitive dives. Open circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver through a regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas. Closed-circuit or semi-closed circuit rebreather scuba systems allow recycling of exhaled gases. The volume of gas used is reduced compared to that of open circuit, so a smaller cylinder or cylinders may be used for an equivalent dive duration. Rebreathers extend the time spent underwater compared to open circuit for the same gas consumption; they produce fewer bubbles and less noise than open circuit scuba which makes them attractive to covert military divers to avoid detection, scientific divers to avoid disturbing marine animals, and media divers to avoid bubble interference.
In some older charts, Pelican Island is referred to as Witch Island, as is Flanagan Island. This confusion may be connected to a pre-1977 lack of clarification as to whether Flanagan formed part of the Danish (now US) islands, or the British Virgin Islands.
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The economy of the British Virgin Islands is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean. Although tiny in absolute terms, because of the very small population of the British Virgin Islands, in 2010 the Territory had the 19th highest GDP per capita in the world according to the CIA World factbook. In global terms the size of the Territory's GDP measured in terms of purchasing power is ranked as 215th out of a total of 229 countries. The economy of the Territory is based upon the "twin pillars" of financial services, which generates approximately 60% of government revenues, and tourism, which generates nearly all of the rest.
The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, is a group of islands in the Caribbean and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.
Buck Island Reef National Monument, or just Buck Island is a small, uninhabited, 176 acre island about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the northeast coast of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. The monument also includes 18,839 acres of submerged lands totaling 19,015 acres. It was first established as a protected area by the U.S. Government in 1948, with the intention of preserving “one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea.” The U.S. National Monument was created in 1961 by John F. Kennedy and greatly expanded in 2001 by Bill Clinton, over the bitter opposition of local fishermen. Buck Island National Monument is one of few places in the Virgin Islands where brown pelicans and threatened least terns nest.
Saint John is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
The Little Sisters is an informal name for a group of some of the smaller islands of the British Virgin Islands, south of Tortola and southwest of Virgin Gorda. These islands are also called the Southern Islands.
Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of 55.7 square kilometres with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in Road Town. Mount Sage is its highest point at 530 metres above sea level.
Necker Island is a 30-hectare (74-acre) island in the British Virgin Islands just north of Virgin Gorda. The island's land is entirely owned by Sir Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, and is part of the Virgin Limited Edition portfolio of luxury properties. The whole island operates as a resort and can accommodate up to 34 guests, with additional room for six children.
Flanagan may refer to:
Little Jost Van Dyke is one of the British Virgin Islands. It is a small island on the east end of the island of Jost Van Dyke. Like Jost Van Dyke, it takes its name from the Dutch privateer Joost van Dyk. It is the location of the Diamond Cay National Park, which includes the nesting grounds of wild boobies, terns and pelicans.
Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is relatively simple by comparative standards; photocopies of all of the tax laws of the British Virgin Islands would together amount to about 200 pages of paper. Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is mostly notable for what is not subject to taxation. The British Virgin Islands has:
Diamond Cay is a tiny islet located just off Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. At low tide, it is connected by a sandbar to Jost Van Dyke. It was declared a national park in 1991. The Diamond Cay National Park provides habitat for pelicans, terns and boobies to nest.
Great Tobago is an uninhabited island of the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean, located, along with sister island Little Tobago, approximately six miles west of Jost Van Dyke. The Tobagos are the westernmost of the British Virgin Islands.
Pelican Island may refer to:
Flanagan Island is an island located within the Virgin Islands archipelago in the Caribbean and forms part of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Indians are an uninhabited small archipelago of islets in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. They are west of the small British Pelican Island and east of the small US Flanagan Island.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the territory of the United States Virgin Islands.
The foreign relations of the British Virgin Islands are largely conducted on behalf of the British Virgin Islands Government by the United Kingdom through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a result of the Territory's status as a British Overseas Territory. However the Constitution of the British Virgin Islands provides that this power is delegated to Premier and Ministers of Government in relation to certain specific areas:
the Caribbean Community, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, the Association of Caribbean States, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, or any other Caribbean regional organisation or institution;
other Caribbean regional affairs relating specifically to issues that are of interest to or affect the British Virgin Islands;
the relationship between the British Virgin Islands and the United States Virgin Islands in matters of mutual interest;
tourism and tourism-related matters;
taxation and the regulation of finance and financial services; and
European Union matters directly affecting the interests of the Territory.
The British Virgin Islands requires its residents to register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. Many plates have 'Virgin Islands' and 'Nature's Little Secrets' above and below the sequence respectively. Before 1996, European standard 520 mm × 110 mm sizes and British stamping dies were used, but current plates are North American standard 6 × 12 inches as used in the US Virgin Islands.
