The Bomba Shack, Cappoons Bay

If you like the idea of having your rum punch in a bar where the floor is sand, the foundations are plywood and the walls are flotsam and jetsam and other junk -  including auto parts, hubcaps, broken televisions,  computer monitors and toilet seats – and the ceilings have women’s underwear hanging down; well, then Bomba’s Surfside Shack might be just the place you’re looking for.

Thirty years ago, Cappoons Bay, beside Apple Bay on Tortola’s north shore, was a stretch of beautiful white sand beach which was also one of the very best surfing spots in the whole of the Caribbean.  Then along came Bomba, who decided to give up the day job – building ships in Soper’s Hole – and open up a small bar on the beach.

The Bomba Shack gets built.

Because he had next to nothing with which to start the bar, Bomba and his friends made use of every piece of scrap that they could find.  Consequently, driftwood and telegraph poles were the main elements used for the foundations and old corrugated tin was ‘recycled’ for the roof.  The bar is still there!  It’s like a multi-dimensional collage jointly made by Jackson Pollock and Tracey Emin; and, with new pieces being added all the time, it’s still a ‘work in progress’.

When Bomba first opened, in 1976, he didn’t have enough money to buy stock so, again, his friends came to the rescue and brought in their leftovers to help fill the shelves.

Now, Bomba’s is a full service bar and restaurant open daily from somewhere between 10 and 12 in the morning until goodness knows what time at night.

And I suppose I ought to explain the women’s underwear thing from the first paragraph.  Well, as well as the walls being totally covered with graffiti generously contributed by visitors down the years and photographs of women in various stages of undress, there is a veritable lingerie store just hanging from the ceiling.  At Bomba’s, you see, a woman can have a free drink if she gives Bomba her panties.  She can have free drinks for the whole night if she takes them off in front of him.  If she gets totally naked, she can have a free t-shirt.  Politically correct it might not be – but the punters love it and the ‘secret family recipe’ rum punch – essentially 4 ounces of rum with a squeeze or two of fruit and lots of ice – seems to encourage lots of girls to go with the flow.

Bomba’s Shack is one of the most ‘happening’ places on the island, with people coming not just from the nearby  resorts but from all over the BVI.  Every Wednesday night, from about 9 pm, there is a reggae band and similarly on Saturdays and Sundays.  Once a month, there is the famous Full Moon Party – but that really needs a page to itself to do it any kind of justice.

At Bomba’s Surfside Shack you will usually find Bomba himself sitting in the corner – if he’s not there, keep an eye out for an ancient Cadillac with ‘Don’t sit on my car!’ spray-painted on the hood cruising around and catch a glimpse of him then.

When you’re near the bar, you must pay it a visit – I suppose it depends on the time of the day whether you want to have your kids with you or not – they might not be too keen on seeing mom getting a free t-shirt; kids can be quite conservative sometimes!

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