Ocean Spa BVI, the only floating spa in the British Virgin Islands, was built out of lumber from the wreckage of Hurricane Irma.
Ocean Spa BVI is a floating spa, anchored off the coast of the island of Jost Van Dyke in White Bay, in the British Virgin Islands. Rocking gently on the serene, salty waters, it is the only floating spa massage in the BVI and one of the only floating spas in all of the Caribbean.
The 550 square-foot structure was created by Dale Mapp, a 25-year veteran of the hospitality industry. It took 10 years for Mapp to realize his dream of opening a spa, and Ocean Spa BVI is his third try. The first attempt was vandalized, and the second was destroyed by Hurricane Irma, which swept through the open Atlantic region in September 2017.
The most powerful hurricane on record in the area at the time, Irma caused catastrophic damage and killed more than 130 people. The British Virgin Islands were hit hard. The island of Tortola bore the brunt of the core, suffering damage to structures and seeing residential areas left in ruins. And almost all of the homes and businesses on Jost Van Dyke, the smallest of the BVI’s four main islands, were destroyed. The restoration of electricity alone took five months.