I stood on the dock at The Bitter End Yacht Club, looking out into Virgin Gorda's North Sound on a warm, sunny winter's morning, stammering like a star-struck fool.

My goal in visiting the water sports department just after sunrise had been to score a pair of binoculars so that I could get a closer look at the massive yachts sitting at anchor. I couldn't read their names from my vantage point, and I knew they were perhaps the biggest yachts I'd ever seen. It's with some embarrassment that I'll admit having sneaked behind the unattended desk and rummaged around for the binoculars on my own, only to be caught by a meandering sailing instructor who, thank goodness, turned out to be a fellow yacht-spotting freak.

"That one there is Rising Sun," he practically blurted, pointing to the 452-foot Lürssen that ranks among the Top 10 largest motoryachts in the world. It belongs to Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle and fourth-richest person on the planet.

I tried to form an eloquent reply, what with my being a boating journalist and all. I'm not supposed to be impressed by these things, since I write about them every day. In truth, though, I was as tongue-tied as any movie fan who happens upon George Clooney on a deserted beach. I may have even drooled a little as the instructor helped me adjust the binoculars for an optimal view.

"And can you see behind it?" he said, pointing past Rising Sun to what looked like mammoth tree trunks jutting skyward in the distance. "That's Athena."

Oh, you know. Just the second-largest sailing yacht in the world, a 295-footer built by Royal Huisman for Netscape founder Jim Clark.

I cleared my throat and tried to say something intelligent, but all I could think about was my stupidity in having brought a camera to the British Virgin Islands without a telephoto lens. Sure, I'd planned to snap some pictures of the Bitter End Yacht Club's private beaches, catamaran-filled moorings, and stunning views, but I had no idea that the resort, so long a favorite among cruising sailors, had also become a destination of choice for megayachts.

As I would soon learn, Rising Sun and Athena are just the beginning. Before my week's stay was over, the 233-foot Lürssen motoryacht Skat would also drop anchor. And just a short time after my departure, the Bitter End would welcome the largest yacht ever to tie up at its dock: the 230-foot Lürssen motoryacht Martha Ann. The club had to undertake a special engineering survey to ensure the dock could handle the load.

FEELING COMFORTABLE

"What in the world is going on?" I asked resort manager Mary Jo Ryan. The Bitter End has welcomed small cruising boats since the 1960s and is a longtime cherished anchorage among bareboaters in the BVI. North Sound is well protected from weather, the resort's restaurant and pub offer enticing dining options, and the bar is always well stocked (something skippers of all size boats can appreciate). Every year that I've visited in the past, there have been maybe one or two motoryachts"”in the 100-foot size range"”in the harbor, always surrounded by moorings chock-a-block with modest-size sailboats full of families enjoying cruising vacations. That's what I, and I think a lot of people, consider the heart of the Bitter End's clientele.

"It's been building this way for about the past two years," Ryan told me. "The big boats are welcome here, and it's a deepwater harbor, so they feel comfortable navigating. It seems to me that they've all done St. Barth's, and they're looking for some place new, and now they're here. I think they feel good here."

As well they should. The Bitter End, which I have always found comfortable and nicely appointed, truly took things up a notch with its 2007-08 renovations. All 47 of the beachfront rooms got new bathrooms, custom-made linens, expansive windows, and even air conditioning, in some cases. The spa expanded to accommodate increasing demand and added certified employees to provide treatments ranging from massage to aromatherapy. A new chef took over restaurant operations in early 2008 and introduced new recipes to the already high-quality menu.

"He also changed the menu to do more a la carte instead of just the buffets," Ryan says. "Italian night is a good example of that. You can now order plated dinners instead of scooping your pasta from the buffet."

My favorite new service, though, is the upgraded WiFi access. There has been WiFi available at the Bitter End since about February 2007, but until summer 2008, even Ryan admits, the service was unreliable. During my stay in early 2009, I was able to get online with high-speed access virtually any time I wanted"”as long as I was in the restaurant.

"We have the ability to offer WiFi in the rooms," Ryan explains, "but our surveys show that half of our repeat clients do not want it there. It's mostly the wives. They want their husbands out playing with them and the kids, not using their laptops in the rooms. So we have it available if you need it, but it's something you have to think about leaving your room to use."

Fair enough. After all, the Bitter End is a vacation destination, and why would you want to spend all day online when you can be relaxing on the beach, using the water toys, participating in regattas, and enjoying day excursions that include fishing, snorkeling, and scuba diving?

Of course, I'm far from the only person who feels this way. Ryan says the Bitter End is still attracting about 15 to 20 weddings a year, ranging from intimate elopers to events for nearly 150 guests. Birthdays and anniversaries, too, tend to draw good crowds. An 80th birthday party scheduled to start the day after I left would include nearly 40 guests, and a recent anniversary celebration included 80 revelers.

And if the yacht club's repeat guest program is any indication, those numbers will only continue to grow. When the program began in 2003, repeat visitors would get a flag with anchors and stars that delineated how many times they had visited. The flags hung overhead in the restaurant, adding to the charming nautical décor.

"The problem now," Ryan says, "is that I have more than 2,000 flags. There's not enough room to hang them all. Now, only when our repeat guests are in house, we fly their flag. That makes it manageable."

And welcoming. And beautiful. And fantastic, just as the Bitter End always has been"”and hopefully always will be, no matter what size boats arrive in the years to come.