White sand at the north-west corner of Anegada, the flat coral island at the top of the British Virgin Islands, about a mile from the island's West End. The reef keeps the water shallow and calm most days, and the Cow Wreck Beach Bar & Grill sits on the sand. The name, the usual story goes, comes from cow bones that washed ashore from a wreck on the reef. You come by ferry or small plane, then a taxi across the west end from Setting Point.
The north-west shore of Anegada, British Virgin Islands — about a mile east of the West End, across the island's west end from the Setting Point ferry dock
The beach
White sand facing north-west, with the reef offshore taking the swell
The water
Shallow and calm inside the reef most days; winter north swells are the exception
The name
Cow bones washed ashore from a wreck — most accounts name the Rocus, a freighter carrying cattle bones that sank on Horseshoe Reef in 1929
On the sand
The Cow Wreck Beach Bar & Grill; Ann's Guesthouses and the Tipsy by Ann bar a short way along the shore
Season
The bar closes for part of the late-summer off-season: from August 1 in 2026
Entry
No gate, and no entry fee is published
Getting here
Smith's Ferry from Road Town on published dates, Inter Island's day trip from Red Hook and Cruz Bay, or a charter flight — then a taxi from Setting Point
Papers
A passport and the BVI's online ED card for everyone arriving from the U.S. Virgin Islands; from Tortola the trip is domestic
Webcam
None — there is no public live camera on Anegada; the nearest is Saba Rock in North Sound, Virgin Gorda
Today
Is Cow Wreck Beach good today?
Skip today Rough — 4.2 ft NNW swell, shore break · Thunderstorms in the forecast. If you go, the least bad stretch left is 8 am–11 am.
Day
The call
Why
Best time
Cruise guests here
Sea at the beach
Rain
Today
Skip today
Rough — 4.2 ft NNW swell, shore break · Thunderstorms in the forecast
8 am–11 am
—
Some chop · 2.8 ft
Thunder
Tomorrow
Skip today
Rough — 4.7 ft NW swell, shore break · Thunderstorms in the forecast
11 am–2 pm
—
Rough · 3.1 ft
Thunder
Sun, Nov 8
Skip today
Rough — 4.5 ft N swell, shore break · Sargassum offshore
3 pm–6 pm
—
Rough · 3.2 ft
57%
Mon, Nov 9
Skip today
Sargassum offshore · Choppy — NNE swell into the bay
1 pm–4 pm
—
Some chop · 2.4 ft
31%
Tue, Nov 10
Skip today
Sargassum offshore · Choppy — NNE swell into the bay
2 pm–5 pm
—
Gentle · 1.9 ft
33%
The call is the same one our beach report makes, refreshed every half hour: the swell reaching the north-west shore (Open-Meteo's marine forecast off Anegada), NOAA's sargassum satellite and the rain forecast. No cruise ship calls at Anegada, so there is no crowd model here. It is a model, not a report from the beach — the water in front of you has the last word. The bars under each call are the hours from 8 am to 5 pm. Today's beach report
The taxi from the ferry, the boats from Tortola and the USVI, what the BVI charges at the border, who is open in the off-season, today's beach and weather reads and the island around it — each one opens the full page.
Cow Wreck Beach from OpenStreetMap: the bar on the sand with the toilet block beside it, the end of the road in, Ann's Guesthouses along the shore to the south-west, and the reef mapped off the shore toward the West End. Tipsy by Ann is not mapped. Tap a pin for its section.
Getting there
How to get to Cow Wreck Beach
Anegada sits on its own about 15 miles north of Virgin Gorda, and there is no daily boat. From Tortola, Smith's Ferry sails from Road Town to Setting Point, on the south shore, on the dates its schedule lists. From St. Thomas and St. John, Inter Island Boat Services runs a day trip from Red Hook and Cruz Bay on the dates it sells. Fly BVI flies on-demand charters, including Anegada day trips, from Beef Island and around the region.
Cow Wreck is across the island's west end from the dock, past the salt ponds. Taxis meet the boats at Setting Point and charge the official BVI fare in the table, per person by the size of your party; there is no bus. Many visitors rent a car, jeep or scooter instead — the island is flat and the roads quiet, though the roads to the north-shore beaches are partly sand. Drive on the left.
Anegada's west end from a small plane: the rim of white sand, the reef in the foreground and the salt ponds inland Photo: Walker Mangum, Public domain
One way, per person by the size of the party: fares set by the BVI Road Traffic (Passenger Fares) Regulations (rates revised December 2022). Drive times are Google's for an ordinary day. Fare calculator for any two stops
Check the date, not the weekday: Smith's Ferry sails to Anegada only on the dates on its schedule, and weather can cancel a crossing.
A day trip on the Road Town ferry works only on a sailing date: the morning boat up and the afternoon boat back. Otherwise plan a night or two.
Taxis are few: take your driver's number at Setting Point and book the ride back to the boat.
Coming from St. Thomas or St. John, everyone needs a passport — U.S. citizens and children included.
Check the bar is open before you make the trip for lunch: it closes for part of the off-season.
Cow Wreck Beach: the boats, the charges and the bar's season
There is no gate at Cow Wreck and no entry fee is published. What a day here costs is getting to Anegada: the ferry or the plane, the taxi across the island, and, from St. Thomas or St. John, the British Virgin Islands' charges at the border. The boats run on set dates, and the bar closes for part of the off-season, so check both before you go.
What getting here costs
Cow Wreck Beach
No fee published
Inter Island, Red Hook or Cruz Bay round trip, adult (12+)
$220
The same, booked a day ahead
$200
Inter Island round trip, child (3–11)
$170 ($150 a day ahead)
BVI environmental and tourism levy, arriving from the USVI
$10
BVI departure tax, leaving by ferry
$20
Inter Island's fares are from its own trip page; the levy and departure tax are the UK government's figures, and apply only when you cross from the U.S. Virgin Islands. Smith's Ferry sells Road Town–Anegada tickets through its booking page; our route page has the sailing dates and the fare we hold. The taxi fare from Setting Point is the official one, in the table above. The BVI Tourist Board's listing gives the bar's prices as $8 to $53.
The boats and the bar
Inter Island, from Red Hook
7:00 am
Inter Island, from Cruz Bay
7:30 am
Inter Island, from Anegada
4:00 pm
The bar
Lunch and dinner — dinner booked by 4 pm
The bar, 2026
Closed from August 1; reopening not yet posted
Inter Island runs on the dates in its booking calendar, with check-in 45 minutes before. The bar publishes no opening hours: the BVI Tourist Board's listing says it serves lunch and dinner, with dinner reservations required by 4 pm, on (284) 495-8047. Our off-season tracker has it closed from August 1, 2026, with no reopening date posted — call, or check the closures page, before the trip.
Papers and the reef
✓A passport, arriving from the USVI — for everyone, U.S. citizens and children included — Inter Island requires one
✓The BVI's online ED card — required of every traveller entering the BVI since January 1, 2025; fill it in up to 72 hours ahead
✓U.S. customs on the way back — when the boat lands in Cruz Bay or Red Hook
Cow Wreck is a quiet beach with one bar on it, the Cow Wreck Beach Bar & Grill, and a few cottages and a second bar a short way along the shore to the south-west. Hours and prices are the businesses' own, as listed in October 2026.
A low, brightly painted wooden bar a few steps from the sand, its roof hung with T-shirts and licence plates. The BVI Tourist Board's listing says it serves lunch and dinner — lobster, conch, fish, steak, ribs and chicken off a grill fired with local wood — with dinner reservations required by 4 pm, on (284) 495-8047; it publishes no opening hours. The Caribbean Journal, writing in August 2026, sent readers for its Wreck Punch. It closes for part of the off-season: from August 1 in 2026, with no reopening date posted when we checked. OpenStreetMap maps a toilet block beside it.
The reef offshore takes the swell, so on most days the water in front of the bar is shallow, clear and calm over sand — people stand and wade a long way out. Southern stingrays cruise the sandy bottom. There is reef to snorkel further out and toward the West End; do not stand on the coral, and when a winter north swell is breaking on the reef the water inside surges and pulls.
Stay & drink
Ann's Guesthouses and Tipsy by Ann
A short way south-west along the shore, Ann's Guesthouses rent brightly painted cottages a few steps from the sand — the Caribbean Journal, in February 2026, noted kitchenettes in some units. Bookings are by phone, on (284) 440-4149 or (954) 516-8957; no rates are published. Tipsy by Ann, a family-run bar with beach games, is nearby; it publishes no hours and had posted no 2026 off-season dates, so check its Facebook page before you go. OpenStreetMap maps the guesthouses but not Tipsy.
We know of no lifeguard service at Cow Wreck or anywhere on Anegada: swim with someone, keep an eye on children even in the shallows, and stay in on a day when a north swell is breaking hard on the reef — the call at the top of the page reads the swell every half hour. The palms by the bar give some shade; elsewhere the beach is open sand and low scrub, so bring a hat and water.
Getting back
Taxis, cars and the road in
There is no taxi stand. Taxis drop you where the road ends by the bar; take your driver's number and book the ride back, especially to make a ferry. Driving yourself, the road out from the west end of the island reaches the beach from the south, past Ann's Guesthouses.
Inside the reef the water stays shallow a long way out, and on a calm day it is flat enough for small children and for standing about with a drink from the bar. On a rough day the swell finds its way over the reef — the call at the top of the page reads it.
Southern stingrays and the fish that follow them work the sand in front of the beach, and the reef is further out. Bring your own mask and fins — we know of no rental on this beach — and go on a calm morning.
Anegada's westernmost point is about a mile west of the bar. The shore runs out to it past the reef, and sand tracks reach the tip from the west-end road. In 2008 a leaning palm marked the last of the island.
The salt ponds that fill much of the island's west end, between the Setting Point dock and Cow Wreck, hold a flock of Caribbean flamingos. Hunting had wiped them out on Anegada; in 1992 The Conservation Agency, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo and the Guana Island Wildlife Sanctuary brought 22 birds from Bermuda and released them here, and the Western Salt Ponds became a protected Ramsar wetland in 1999. Look on the way over, keep your distance, and bring binoculars.
The other famous beach, on the north shore toward the middle of the island: reef close enough to snorkel from the sand, Big Bamboo at the west end and Flash of Beauty at the east. The taxis run there from Setting Point at the same official fare, so a Loblolly morning and a Cow Wreck afternoon is a common day.
The great reef off Anegada's east end has caused hundreds of shipwrecks. One of them, the Rocus — the 'Bone Wreck', a 380-foot steel steamship carrying cattle bones — went down on it in 1929; her stern lies in about 40 feet of water, a dive site today. The reef is protected: see it with a licensed dive or snorkel operator, not your own boat.
Eating at Cow Wreck means the Cow Wreck Beach Bar & Grill: lobster when it is in season, conch fritters, grilled fish and burgers, the Caribbean Journal wrote in February 2026, and a strong rum punch. Kitchens on Anegada cook what has been ordered, so call ahead — the bar wants dinner reservations by 4 pm. Bring cash as well as a card.
Every year in late November the island's restaurants hold the Anegada Lobster Festival — 27 to 29 November in 2026, the BVI Tourist Board's event page says — with extra boats from Tortola and the USVI. In 2025, its thirteenth year, nine restaurants took part.
Sorting spiny lobsters at a waterfront stand on Anegada during the Lobster Festival (November 2019) Photo: anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0
At Cow Wreck
Cow Wreck Beach Bar & GrillLobster, conch, fish and the Wreck Punch on the sand; lunch and dinner, dinner booked by 4 pm on (284) 495-8047. Closed from August 1, 2026 — check it has reopened.
Tipsy by AnnThe bar by Ann's Guesthouses, a short way along the shore. No published hours; check its Facebook page.
Elsewhere on Anegada
Big Bamboo, Loblolly BayOn the north shore toward the middle of the island; the island's other beach lunch.
Setting PointThe restaurants by the ferry dock and the anchorage, where lobster is grilled on the beach at night.
Weather & sea
Cow Wreck Beach weather and the best time to go
Warm all year, with a steady easterly trade wind blowing across the flat island and short tropical showers rather than all-day rain; the forecast below has this week's numbers. December to April is the dry, busy sailing season. June to November is hurricane season, and in late summer some of the island's restaurants — the Cow Wreck bar among them — close for a few weeks.
Cow Wreck faces north-west, with the reef between the beach and the ocean, so the easterly trade wind comes across the island from behind the beach rather than onto it. Most days the water inside the reef is calm and clear. In winter, swells from storms far up the North Atlantic arrive from the north and break on the reef; then the water inside surges and pulls. The call at the top of this page reads the swell every half hour.
The next 7 days on Anegada
Day
Sky
High / low
Rain
Wind
Seas offshore
Today
Thunderstorms
85° / 80°F
87%
SW 18 mph, gusts 30
3.6 ft
Tomorrow
Thunderstorms
83° / 79°F
90%
WSW 20 mph, gusts 28
4.1 ft
Sun, Nov 8
Thunderstorms
84° / 80°F
66%
W 15 mph
3.8 ft
Mon, Nov 9
Partly cloudy
84° / 82°F
18%
NNW 8 mph
3.2 ft
Tue, Nov 10
Overcast
83° / 82°F
24%
NE 13 mph
2.8 ft
Wed, Nov 11
Overcast
83° / 82°F
21%
E 13 mph
2.8 ft
Thu, Nov 12
Drizzle
84° / 82°F
24%
ESE 11 mph
3.2 ft
Open-Meteo forecast for Anegada, refreshed every half hour. The seas are offshore; how much of it reaches the sand is the call above. BVI weather & sailing week · North swell season
Sea temperature by month
80°Jan
79°Feb
80°Mar
81°Apr
84°May
85°Jun
85°Jul
85°Aug
87°Sep
86°Oct
84°Nov
81°Dec
Daily-mean sea-surface temperature off Anegada, averaged 2021–2024 (Open-Meteo marine reanalysis): warmest in Sep (86.5°F), coolest in Feb (79.4°F).
Live cameras
Is there a Cow Wreck Beach webcam?
No. There is no public live camera at Cow Wreck Beach or anywhere on Anegada that we can embed, and we would rather say so than show a still photo dressed up as live. The nearest live camera is at Saba Rock, in North Sound at the east end of Virgin Gorda — about 15 miles south, and a different coast.
R. H. Schomburgk's survey, “Anegada, with its Reefs”, is published by the Royal Geographical Society. It marks the West End and the reef running along the island's north-west shore.
1929
The Bone Wreck
The Rocus, a 380-foot steel steamship carrying cattle bones to be ground into bone meal, sinks on Horseshoe Reef. Bones from the wreck wash up on the beach — the usual story of Cow Wreck's name, though some accounts date the name to an earlier wreck.
1992
Flamingos come back
Twenty-two flamingos bred in Bermuda are released in Anegada's salt ponds, where hunting had wiped out the island's flock.
May 11, 1999
A protected wetland
The Western Salt Ponds of Anegada, 1,071 hectares of lagoons, mudflats and mangrove, are designated a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.
November 2025
The thirteenth Lobster Festival
Nine of the island's restaurants serve lobster for the annual festival, produced by the BVI Tourist Board with the Anegada community.
August 1, 2026
The off-season
The Cow Wreck Beach Bar closes for the late-summer off-season.
“Anegada, with its Reefs”: R. H. Schomburgk's survey, published by the Royal Geographical Society in July 1832 — the West End at the left, the reef marked along the north-west shore Photo: R. H. Schomburgk, Public domain
The Cow Wreck bar closes for part of the off-season — from August 1 in 2026. Call (284) 495-8047 or check our closures page before you make the trip for lunch.
Check the boat's date
The Road Town ferry sails to Anegada on set dates, not every day. Pick your day from its schedule first, then plan the beach around it.
Book dinner by 4
The bar wants dinner reservations by 4 pm, and kitchens on Anegada cook what has been ordered.
Book the taxi back
Anegada has only a few taxis. Take your driver's number at Setting Point and fix a time to be collected at Cow Wreck.
Bring a mask and fins
We know of no rental on the beach. Your own gear means you can look for the stingrays over the sand.
Passport from the USVI
From St. Thomas or St. John everyone needs a passport and the BVI's online ED card, U.S. citizens included.
By ferry or plane to Anegada, then a taxi across the west end of the island. Smith's Ferry sails from Road Town, Tortola, to the Setting Point dock on the dates its schedule lists; Inter Island Boat Services runs a day trip from Red Hook (St. Thomas) and Cruz Bay (St. John) on the dates it sells; Fly BVI flies on-demand charters to the island. Taxis meet the boats at Setting Point and run to Cow Wreck at the official fare, or you can rent a car or scooter.
How much is a taxi from Setting Point to Cow Wreck Beach?
Taxis on Anegada charge fixed BVI fares, per person by the size of the party. From the Setting Point ferry dock to Cow Wreck Beach it is $20 for one rider, $10 each for three or more. The ride is about 11 minutes (6.9 km). There are only a few taxis, so book the ride back.
Why is it called Cow Wreck Beach?
For cow bones that washed ashore from a wreck on the reef. Most accounts name the Rocus, a 380-foot steamship carrying cattle bones to be ground into bone meal, which sank on Horseshoe Reef in 1929 and is still known to divers as the Bone Wreck; some date the name to an earlier, 19th-century wreck.
Is the Cow Wreck Beach Bar open?
It closes for part of the late-summer off-season: from August 1 in 2026, and it had not posted a reopening date when we checked. In season the BVI Tourist Board's listing says it serves lunch and dinner, with dinner reservations required by 4 pm, on (284) 495-8047; it publishes no opening hours. Call before you go, or check our off-season closures page.
Is Cow Wreck Beach good for swimming?
Yes, on most days. The reef offshore takes the swell, so the water in front of the bar is shallow, clear and calm over sand a long way out. On a day when a winter north swell is breaking on the reef the water inside surges — the call at the top of this page reads the swell every half hour. There are no lifeguards.
Can you snorkel at Cow Wreck Beach?
Yes, in a quiet way: southern stingrays work the sand in front of the beach, and the reef is further out. Bring your own mask and fins — we know of no rental on the beach — and go on a calm day. For coral right off the sand, Loblolly Bay on the north shore is the island's beach snorkel.
Can you stay at Cow Wreck Beach?
Yes. Ann's Guesthouses rent brightly painted cottages a short way along the shore from the bar, booked by phone on (284) 440-4149 or (954) 516-8957; they publish no rates. The island's other places to stay are at Setting Point, The Settlement and Loblolly Bay.
Do you need a passport to visit Cow Wreck Beach?
From the U.S. Virgin Islands, yes: Anegada is in the British Virgin Islands, so everyone arriving from St. Thomas or St. John — U.S. citizens included — needs a passport and the BVI's online ED card, and pays the BVI's $10 arrival levy and $20 ferry departure tax. From Tortola or Virgin Gorda it is a domestic trip.
Can you do a day trip to Cow Wreck Beach?
Yes, on the right day. On a Smith's Ferry sailing date the morning boat reaches Anegada and the afternoon boat goes back to Road Town, which leaves the middle of the day for the beach. Inter Island's trip from Red Hook and Cruz Bay is run as a day trip, leaving Anegada at 4 pm. A charter flight works any day. Check the bar is open first if lunch is the plan.
Is there a webcam at Cow Wreck Beach?
No. There is no public live camera at Cow Wreck Beach or anywhere on Anegada. The nearest live camera is at Saba Rock in North Sound, Virgin Gorda, about 15 miles south.
Photo & map credits
Cow Wreck Beach from the bar in November 2019: painted palm trunks and yellow picket benches on the sand, people wading in the shallow turquoise water and the reef line on the horizon — anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
The Cow Wreck Beach Bar in November 2019: a yellow counter and stools under a roof hung with T-shirts and licence plates, the sea beyond the sea grape on the left — anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
A yellow sign at Cow Wreck Beach: “Cow Wreck Beach — Caution — Drunk People Crossing” (November 2019) — anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
A southern stingray on the sand at Cow Wreck, with a rainbow runner swimming over it (May 2008) — ScubaBear68, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
A coconut palm leaning out over the water at Anegada's West End, the island's westernmost point (May 2008) — ScubaBear68, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Anegada's west end from a small plane: the rim of white sand, the reef in the foreground and the salt ponds inland — Walker Mangum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Anegada from the air: a long, low island with the salt ponds inside it, ringed by sand and the turquoise water over the reef — David Broad, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Loblolly Bay on Anegada's north shore: pale sand, low green scrub, clear shallow water and surf on the outer reef — Cayeldo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Horseshoe Reef from the air: coral heads in turquoise shallows running out from Anegada, the island low on the horizon — Walker Mangum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Sorting spiny lobsters at a waterfront stand on Anegada during the Lobster Festival (November 2019) — anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
“Anegada, with its Reefs”: R. H. Schomburgk's survey, published by the Royal Geographical Society in July 1832 — the West End at the left, the reef marked along the north-west shore — R. H. Schomburgk, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
The beach at Loblolly Bay: pale sand, clear shallow water and low green scrub along the shore — Cayeldo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Loblolly Bay looking east along Anegada's north shore from under a thatched shade: white sand, two swimmers in the turquoise shallows, the reef dark under the water, and the far end of the bay — Flash of Beauty's end — on the horizon — Kathleen Tyler Conklin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
White sand and a low dune of scrub on Anegada, photographed on the drive to Cow Wreck Beach: shallow green water inside the reef and the flat shore running away into the distance (May 2008) — ScubaBear68, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
A coconut palm leaning out over clear, shallow water on white sand at Anegada's westernmost tip — the same shore as Pomato Point, about 1.5 km north of it (May 2008) — ScubaBear68, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (resized).
Photo: anoldent, CC BY-SA 2.0
Skip today today
Skip today today
Skip today today
Good today