While I love spending long, lazy days in a lounge chair gazing at the green-blue Caribbean with a book in hand, the highlights of my most recent trip to the British Virgin Islands were the moments that blended both relaxation and exploration: a “beach drop” on a secluded shore, a visit to the Baths and a dreamy beach picnic.

Secluded Dining at White Bay

The best part of our stay at Peter Island Resort was the lunch the staff planned for us on White Bay Beach, the most private of the island’s five beaches. Departure times are fixed: 10 a.m. for the half-day, three-hour package or 9 a.m. for the full day (six hours). After a 10-minute van ride, we arrived on White Bay’s stunning white-sand strip and were handed bottles of chilled water, beach towels and snorkel sets. Fancy yachts bobbed just outside the buoys, but we relished being the only ones on the beach. This paradisiacal setting — with soft, powdery sand and crystal-clear waters shimmering in every shade of blue — was our exclusive haven for the next few hours. The waters teemed with wildlife. We spotted bright yellow juvenile rock beauty fish, a massive stingray with its nose buried in the sand and colorful queen parrotfish. At 12:15 p.m. sharp, lunch arrived. We dined on the hotel’s juicy signature burger and sweet-potato noodles and coconut-fried tofu in a sesame-hoisin sauce, accompanied by a bottle of Prosecco on ice. The memories we made at White Bay outshine those from Peter Island Resort itself.

Beach Drop at Spring Bay

Rosewood Little Dix Bay offers a range of complimentary activities for hotel guests including guided snorkeling trips, nonmotorized water sports rentals, farm tours and our favorite: boat trips to one of seven beaches on Virgin Gorda. These “beach drops” depart from the hotel’s dock four times per day (advance reservations required). We boarded a sleek speedboat with six other hotel guests and zipped off to Spring Bay, a nearly empty beach adjacent to Virgin Gorda’s famous Baths National Park. The boat ride was smooth, the beach landing was effortless, and the captain was friendly and knowledgeable. He dropped us off with sun umbrellas, towels, waters and sunscreen. (Had we wished to make a day of it, we could have preordered a picnic with chilled wine to bring along.) Rugged granite boulders frame Spring Bay’s clear, placid waters, and a lush tropical landscape backdrops its fine white-sand beach. The snorkeling wasn’t remarkable — request a drop-off at Savannah Bay Beach for better — but the serenity of the setting was intoxicating. When we started feeling peckish, I messaged our hotel butler, and less than 15 minutes later, we were speeding back to the resort.