Blog / travel

An update to our most popular blog post ever. Our 2022 BVI Travel Guide is here! 

The British Virgin Islands are…. Known as the some of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean, and really the World.  Known for great sailing the islands close proximity is a boaters paradise.  

First time visiting?….  The sailing is excellent.  The BVI also offers great snorkeling, surfing and board sports, like wing foiling and kite surfing.  Or just relax on one of our beautiful beaches.  Grab a cold beer or a rum drink and find a coconut tree.

Casual & easy going…. The BVI vibe is casual and easy going. Shorts and T-shirts rule and linen is a great option to dress up a bit. Shop our HIHO linen styles online here. You may need a light sweater in the winter when nighttime temps drop below 80 degrees! 

Surf or SUP…. Tortola and some of the outer islands feature some of the Caribbean best waves for surfing.  Cane Garden Bay is a World class point break!  If you like to SUP then there are plenty of wonderful spots- our favourites include Little Jost Van Dyke and the South side of Beef Island.  Wing foiling is the new hot Watersport and we offer lots of windy and flat water venues to choose from. Our UPF50 Shirts are perfect for all day sun protection, shop here online. 

Honeymooners…. Nothing better than spending a week in a small private villa or aboard your own yacht.  There are lots of private anchorages and plenty of deserted islands you can call your own.  Check out the tiny beach on the North West corner of Fallen Jerusalem, which is a stone’s throw from the tip of Virgin Gorda.

Best Island Cocktail…. Check out a Painkiller at Hendo’s Hideout on White Bay, Jost Van Dyke.  Or mix your own rum punch- 1 part lime and OJ; 2-parts combined white and dark rum; 3/4 part of simple syrup; generous dash of Angostura bitters.  Shake and enjoy.  If you let this sit overnight it tastes even better!

Best Sunset vantage…. Watch the sun go down from the beach bar at the Anegada Reef Hotel.  It’s priceless!

A perfect day is…. Sail down the Sur Francis Drake Channel and across to Sandy Spit.  Rig you Wingfoil gear and island hop down to White Bay (with your yacht following you…).  Have a Painkiller at Hendo’s Hideout.  Stay for dinner, or Scott back up to Great Harbour and eat at Foxy’s.

Best Shopping…  The BVI are not really known for great shopping, but check out the Beach House Boutique at Rosewood Little Dix Resort on Virgin Gorda. It has the best collection of casual and elegant island apparel and gifts. Treat yourself to a sumptuous meal at the Sugar Mill restaurant, which is located a stone’s throw from the boutique.  

Secret Spot…. Stay at one of Long Bay Beach Resorts new beach front rooms. Take long walks down the powdery sand beach and enjoy their Thai curry’s for a quiet and romantic meal.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are located to the East of Puerto Rico.  Collectively there are over 60 islands, cays and rocks that comprise the territory which is still a part of Great Britain.  Year round weather is very agreeable with temperature ranging from the mid-70's in the Winter to low-90's in the Summer.  English is the official language and the currency is the US Dollar. The best way to get here is to fly to St Thomas (in the US Virgin Islands) and come across by ferry. We hope you visit soon!

 Shop our BVI gear for your next visit here.

We’ve enjoyed running events for as long as we can remember (in fact our brand name originated from the eponymous inter-island windsurfing race and adventure). This year’s Painkiller Cup race on January 16th was a great example of why we love events, and what makes them great. In a very “off” year we thought we’d struggle to get competitors to commit but were pleasantly surprised to have 33-racers on the starting line at Sandy Cay. 

To accommodate the smaller number of racers, the course was designed downwind to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke, where the finish was off @hendoshideoutbvi. The course was about 45-50-minutes long for better racers, and around 90-120 minutes for the less experienced.

The weather was gorgeous with plenty of sun, light wind and small waves pushing everyone down towards White Bay. What made the event great were all of our friends and family racing together. We were additionally happy to get many compliments afterwards to say how much fun the event was.  Things are very quiet in the BVI right now and the Painkiller Cup gave a shot of fun and excitement to Hendo’s Hideout and beautiful White Bay!

Check out our limited edition 2021 Painkiller Cup suntek shirts online! They come in blue and white for both men and women and have built in UPF50 protection. Click here to shop.

We caught up with the inimitable Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon (aka JetSetSarah) after her recent trip to Grenada.  Sarah knows our islands almost better than we do.  She’s a travel writer, on screen host, and a self described “Carivangelist”. We’ve hung out with her in the Virgin Islands and appreciated her quick take on the Spice Island of Grenada. Follow her adventures on Instagram and on Facebook and at JetSetSarah.com

1. How often do you travel to Grenada and what makes it such a special island?This was my fifth visit to the “Spice Island” and even though I’ve only been home a few days I’m already looking forward to my sixth! Grenada is at the sweet spot of being an island that’s relatively undiscovered by crowds and still genuinely welcoming and also having a diverse and developed (but not too developed!) tourism product in terms of hotels, restaurants and activities. You can have a high-end and vacation in a luxury resort or a homey, intimate stay at a bed-and-breakfast. Either way, you’re guaranteed a good time.
2. What’s your favourite thing to do in Grenada?Most people don’t know that Grenada is a three-island nation with two sister islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. I’ve done day trips (it takes two hours on the ferry) from St. George’s to Carriacou, which has just 7,000 people, a single gas station and, they say, 100 rum shops. I’d love to go back and stay over for a couple of nights to really get the feel of the place without rushing to make the afternoon ferry.
3. Can you give us an “insider” tip to the most unique attraction on the island? On this last trip I visited Grand Etang National Reserve for the first time. It’s a 3,000-acre protected rainforest in the center of the island that’s really popular with hikers and birdwatchers. I went with local guide Simon Green, whose company, Hidden Treasures Hikes, offers custom tours. We hiked to Grand Etang, the crater lake at the center of the forest, and saw Mona monkeys swinging in the trees. Visitors make the mistake of thinking that beaches are the Caribbean’s best or only asset. But there’s so much more magic to be found when you leave the coast and go deeper. Grenada is proof.
4. Give us a rundown of your favourite places to stay/eat/drink on the island? Stay: I was a guest at a couple of places, at opposite ends of Grenada’s best-known beach, Grand Anse. Silversands is a two-year-old luxury resort with a fabulous spa and the Caribbean’s longest infinity pool. Mount Cinnamon has a clutch of villas and suites on the hillside above the southern end of the beach and is a great pick for families. On my next trip I have my eye on a stay at Calabash Hotel, a family-run boutique beachfront resort on the south coast. Eat: No one leaves Grenada without eating at BB’s Crabback in St. George’s. It’s a family run join on the water that’s famous for its - you guessed it - crab backs. Drink: I don’t have a favorite bar but I do recommend that wherever you choose you order a traditional rum punch. Everyone has a slightly different recipe but they’re all so good, and ALWAYS topped with a generous dusting of nutmeg. Grenada is the world’s second-largest exporter of the aromatic spice, so not to try it would be rude!

Ryan and Crystal Van Denabeele (@caribbeancastaways and formerly RumShopRyan and Castaway Crystal) have, even by our jaded standards, a dream life.  Together they run the Caribbean Castaways blog and podcast, a burgeoning portal to all things Caribbean. This husband and wife team travel throughout the region often, helping to inspire and inform people on the best the Caribbean has to offer. We know the islands pretty well, and so do they, so it's nice to get their occasional take on what makes the different islands special or different.

It’s a funny thing about visiting the Caribbean but tourists like to leave some proof they were there.  The great bars of the Caribbean are adorned with license plates, business cards, intimate apparel and visitor photos.  Graffiti too, as in writing your name, some summary of the experience and the date.  Stickers, though, are by far the most popular.  At HIHO we are happily on this bandwagon and leave our mark at our favorite bars & watering holes.  Our great friends at Sticker Mule help us by making it easy to source stickers, which we tastefully affix here and there.

The thing about Aruba is the great weather and the location out of the hurricane belt. It is also one of the easiest islands to get to with direct flights from many US cities. This “One Happy Island” is a sunny and beautiful destination with something for everyone. Beautiful white sand beaches are the perfect setting for a relaxing vacation but there are lots of activities on the water and in the desert. When you are on Aruba you get a sense of the Dutch influence with the unique architecture all over the island.  

What to do:

Venture outside of the usual tourist spots and visit Boca Grandi for windsurfing, which is located on Aruba’s southern tip. Boca Grandi is a scenic stretch of white sandy Aruba Beach where steady trade winds provide challenging conditions for advanced windsurfers. On the west coast, just north of the Ritz Carlton, there is a great place for windsurfing lessons and rentals, for all levels of experience and it’s run by a company called Windsurfing Aruba. Learn more about rentals & lessons here. 

Check out Wacky Wahoo’s for a fresh catch of the day and one of highest rated restaurants on the island and family run - it is off the beaten path but walking distance from most of the high rise hotels - book your reservation in advance, here is their website. Quinta del Carmen is a one of kind experience – located inside a building from the 1920’s which was originally a hospital, the building has been renovated and has some of the best fine dining on the island. To take a look at their menu and to contact them for reservations, visit their website here.

Where to Stay:

Amsterdam Manor is a charming low rise property along Eagle Beach – more of a low key experience, great service and easy going vibe. Take a look at their website here. The Boardwalk is another great boutique style property named by USA Today as a Hidden Gem Hotel. There are many high-rise style resort options as well on Aruba, we would recommend the Ritz Carlton, Hyatt or Marriott, all located along Palm Beach. But most of the hotels are located right along the beach and you can’t go wrong with the location of any resort! And you must visit the Ritz Carlton Gift Shop where you can buy our custom HIHO Caribbean “One Happy Island” shirts featuring the Aruban Flag. For more information about the Ritz Carlton Aruba, visit their website here. 

Our interest in collecting charts & maps must have started when we were young and sailing boats up and down the Caribbean.  Pouring over the chart we were using as we made our to or from Antigua or down to Puerto Rico we always fascinated over the islands we were passing.  Even though we were sailing in our backyard it was always interesting to see exactly where were or learn the name of the point, rock or islet we were passing.  (Confession- we still pour over charts, though they are now digital and you can zoom in and out electronically…)  Now we collect all the charts we can get our hands on.  Of course we favor ones from the Caribbean and we have a cool collection of UK, US and French charts with some dating back to the 1960’s.  We started framing them and hanging them in our stores.  We take sections of torn charts and frame them too.  The attached photo shows one wall in our store.

 HIHO is an acronym for Hook-In-Hold-On, which was the original name for the well-known windsurfingrace that took place in the Virgin Islands from 1979 to 1986.  When we took over the event the name was shortened to HIHO.  The clothing brand that was to later emerge was also dubbed HIHO.  Toiling under this storied past we favor naming our clothes after friends along with islands we know and places we surf & sail.  Our line is peppered with the Tobago surfshort, Barbara Beach coverup, CGB, Kate short, Cooten Bay Cardigan and the St Barth dress… Inspiration comes in many ways, shapes and reasons.  For us, getting a name right is as important as picking the right colors and finding the perfect material.  It’s easy naming a dress after St Barth or shorts after our friend Kate.  The mayreau scarf is named after the most delightful island in The Grenadines.  Fran, who has designed much of the line, has had a bag and a dress named after her. Next year’s favorite sweater- the Cooten Bay Cardigan- has been given the name of a North shore break that serves up a bombing left wave!

Wake up early and spin down to STT to catch the 9:00amflight to Miami.  4hr layover in MIA and then depart for Peru.  Arrive in time for dinner at La Gloria , considered Lima’s best restaurant.  Peru is home to our knit suppliers and we visit often. 

We enjoy developing new styles, checking out samples, discovering fabric improvements and monitoring quality.  Best of all Peru offers exquisite cuisine and each meal is a culinary feast.  Lunch is usually ceviche, recognized as Peru’s best-known contribution to international cuisine.  Dinners, which in true Latin style, are started late, are at restaurants like the aforementioned La Gloria, or at Osaka, the cities best Japanese restaurant. 

Lima sprawls and a working day involves driving from factory to factory through the gritty working class Northern portion of the city in taxis.  Meeting our suppliers and seeing our product being made is important and, for us, gratifying.  Savoring Peru’s fantastic cuisine is a bonus!