Plenty of spas offer treatments by the water, but how many offer them on the water?
Sailboats off the coast of Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. Image by DeAgostini/Getty Images
Anchored off the coast of Jost Van Dyke in White Bay, the floating Ocean Spa BVI is the first of its kind in the British Virgin Islands, and one of the only ones in the Caribbean as a whole. “It’s the only spa that I know of where brightly coloured tropical fish swim under your massage table,” says Dale Mapp, the spa’s owner and creator.
Views aside, massages are the signature here, and between the easy ocean breezes and the gently rocking waves, they’re an especially relaxing experience. Guests can sip a glass of sparkling wine and watch the sunset as aestheticians do their work, or go all out with a Champagne and Moonlight couple’s massage, which includes a bottle of primo bubbly and treatment by candlelight. (Though marine-based options seem a natural fit for the surroundings, thalassotherapy isn’t on the menu yet, but Dale plans to incorporate treatments like salt scrubs and seaweed wraps next.)
Ocean Spa’s owner and creator Dale Mapp waves from the deck. Image by The British Virgin Islands Tourist Board & Film Commission
A 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Dale fell into the spa world after doing some serious soul searching about his next move. “I desperately needed a change,” he says. Inspiration for the floating spa first struck 10 years ago, but when he began researching ways to make his vision a reality, there was a dearth of information available online. “There was no template,” he says. He built the first version in 2009 on a different island, but vandals got to it before construction was complete. “Unfortunately, that one never got off the ground,” Dale says.
He relocated to the British Virgin Islands and rebuilt the structure there – and then, in 2017, Hurricane Irma hit. For the third time, he started from scratch, importing metals and pontoons and salvaging everything else from around the BVI. “The salvaging was the emotional part, especially coming across children’s toys and clothing among the broken lumber and mangled metal roofing,” the spa’s site says. “A wooden gate has been converted to wooden benches. A closet door with the scribbles of a child is also there.”
Ocean Spa finally opened for business in fall 2018, and today, nearly two years on from the hurricane, Dale looks at the route that brought him to White Bay with equanimity. “Beauty comes in many forms,” he says, “and out of the most dire circumstances. Storms don’t always come to disrupt our lives – they come to clear a path for us also.”
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