The colors are the first things you notice in the Virgin Islands. The shimmering sea is a palate of blue, green, and purple. Bright white sand and green coconut palms create a picture so pleasing to the eye it is difficult to look away. When the sun shines brightly from above, the tropical colors intensify until they dance beneath the light.

At other times of day, color is more muted, but no less beautiful. At dawn, curls of orange and pink glow from behind the mountains. After the sun drops below the horizon in the evening, the sky turns a deep, dark blue so pure it could swallow you. At night, the sky is black — the perfect backdrop for the extravagance of stars above.

But the Virgin Islands are much more than beautiful. They are alive. Step off the plane and you are bombarded by the lyrical and seemingly undecipherable tongue of the islanders — an English awash with colorful phrases, colloquialisms, and a dialect that is part West African, part American, and part Caribbean. Study this language long enough and you have studied the Virgin Islands in their entirety.

The Virgin Islands are much more than beaches, bare feet, and piña coladas. They are quiet villages, bustling shopping districts, financial services centers, and the exciting convergence of people from around the world. They are societies built almost miraculously from the embers of the brutal West Indian plantation system. Today’s Virgin Islanders are worldly, educated, and alert to opportunity. Thankfully, they are also learning to prize what makes their island home unique, and visitors are the beneficiaries of this.

One of the greatest things about the Virgin Islands is their sheer variety. Each island is distinct. You can choose to drop off the map on isolated and quiet Anegada or immerse yourself in the pleasant bustle of St. Thomas’ Charlotte Amalie. Pick your way through St. Croix’s numerous museums and historic attractions, or set sail from Tortola to one of the British Virgin Islands’ remote cays.

Subtler differences distinguish the British and U.S. Virgin Islands. The U.S. islands are more closely linked to the U.S. mainland, culturally, politically, and economically. You will see yellow ribbons commemorating U.S. troops overseas and islanders celebrating Independence Day and Thanksgiving. In the British islands you will sense the reserve so long associated with the British, but don’t expect a proper cup of English tea.

Virgin Islanders across the border have more in common than they have differences, however. The common Virgin Islands culture is one that prizes self-reliance, honesty, and hard work in equal measure to friendliness, warmth, and generosity. Many people lament that this traditional culture is being erased in favor of the American culture depicted on television sets and movie screens. But you can find traditional Virgin Islands culture in the fungi music, fried fish dinner, or just in a conversation you strike up with your friendly bartender, taxi driver, or the guys under the tree.

The heart of a Virgin Islands experience is in the details: the spicy jerk chicken bought from a roadside stand, the sound of scratch band music wafting through the night, or the sight of a solitary bright red bromeliad deep in the forest. For someone else, the moments they remember may be the cool bite of an early morning swim, the winding cobblestone alleys of the islands’ old towns, and the sound of tree frogs chirping at night.

Many visitors simply want respite and relaxation. And there is nothing wrong with that. Indeed, when the first travelers began “discovering” the Virgin Islands, emptiness and obscurity were their greatest attraction. Despite decades of growth, it is still possible to find the same quietude that so delighted the first visitors to the Virgin Islands. At the right places and the right times, there is a stillness so powerful it steadies your own mind and heart. In the middle of the forest of St. John, on a quiet beach on St. Croix, at the heart of a seaside village on Tortola the stillness surrounds you. Dust settles, no one moves, and the world pauses just long enough for you to notice.

Life exists in equal measure to silence: comings and goings on the harbors; dancing under the stars; a delightful mélange of cultures; the exciting start of a regatta. The joy of the Virgin Islands is that you choose your proportions: two parts stillness, one part life — chill and serve. Yield: paradise.