This is a long post today with a lot of videos, but it is our most exciting posting.
View it when you have time, don’t rush.
On Monday March 30th, we cruised from the beautiful Scrub Island Resort to an island called Virgin Gorda.
Virgin Gorda is a large island, east of Tortola (see Red Circle).
Our destination for the day was a marina in Spanish Town & a trip to The Baths National Park (see Red Arrows)
This was THE BIG DAY that we had been waiting for.
The Baths National Park is supposed to be the main attraction in the BVI.
It did not disapoint.
Here is the Google description of The Baths
The Baths on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands is a unique national park defined by massive granite boulders forming scenic sea caves, tide pools, and narrow tunnels leading to white-sand beaches like Devil’s Bay.
The ride from Scrub Island to Spanish Town was only a short 6 miles.
Our original plan was to leave Scrub at 7am, and attempt to get to The Baths National Park by 8am.
The Baths do not have reservable mooring balls, it’s a FCFS (first come) system.
And hopefully after securing a mooring ball, you must then take a dinghy ride to the dinghy line.
Then you must swim about 50 yards, from the dinghy line to the entrance to The Baths.
During our discussions the day before with Tarek & Steve, they recommended NOT to use the FCFS mooring balls (gotta get up too early-7am, compete for a mooring ball at 8am, and try to beat the cruise ship crowds into The Baths).
They recommended staying at the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour, taking a 15 minute Taxi ride to The Baths, and going thru The Baths in the afternoon, after the rush of crowds from the cruise ships.
Since we had reservations at the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour anyway, we decided to follow the recommendation from Steve & Tarek.
The plan worked perfectly.
We slept in until about 8:30am, departed about 9:30am, and did a slow water side cruise by The Baths, the mooring field, and the dinghy line.
As expected at 10am, the FCFS mooring field was packed, and the dinghy line was packed.
We checked into the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour about 11am.
We had some safe arrival drinks after the exhausting 6-mile ride.
We then took a taxi ride to The Top of The Baths Restaurant.
Note = The Taxi & Shuttle drivers can only get to the Top of The Baths Restaurant, they cannot drive directly to the Baths entrance. The walk/hike from the restaurant to the entrance of The Baths National Park & Devil’s Bay is about 10-15 minutes.
The restaurant was perched high on the hills of Virgin Gorda, with beautiful views of the moored boats below.
Top of The Baths Restaurant
After some snacks & drinks at The Top of The Baths, it was now about 2:30pm.
Time to Go !
The entrance to The Baths National Park was about a 15 minute hike from the restaurant.
The Hike Began !
I should back up a little bit.
prior to going to the entrance to The Baths, we first went to a nearby area called Devil’s Bay.
Many folks had told us how pretty it was, so we stopped there first and took a short swim.
The Devil’s Bay Beach & Swimming Hole was spectacular, the water was great, and as usual “Dare Devil Dave” was taking on new challenges.
And of course, whatever Dave does – Mike has to follow !
Before you knew it, Me-Dave-Rich were all on Dave’s Boulder.
And, as usual – Mike has a slight incident following Dave’s lead.
Only a flesh wound, no medical attention required.
Ok, enough of Devil’s Bay.
It was time to do – The Baths !
There will be A-LOT of Photos & Video to follow, hope you enjoy.
The Videos are all in order as we passed – over, under, thru the Bolders of the Baths
Video #1
Video #2
Video #3
Video #4
Video #5
Video #6
Video #7
Video #8
Video #9
Video #10, End of The Baths Hike
After the spectacular afternoon walking thru The Baths National Park, we returned to the Top of the Baths restaurant, where our taxi driver “Ulrick” was patiently waiting for us.
Ulrick had dropped us off about 3pm & it was now about 5pm, after a wonderful 2-hour walk thru Devil’s Bay & The Baths.
Surprisingly, Ulrick did not make us pay when he dropped us off at The Top of the Baths Restaurant.
He said that we’ll get square later.
How’s that for Trust.
Ulrick became our Taxi driver for the day & evening.
On the way back to the boat, Ulrick took us to 3 different stores, attempting to find Anita’s elusive Corona Light.
After a quick “clean up” back at the boat, Ulrick returned about 6:45pm to take us to a famed Virgin Gorda restaurant – Coco Maya !
Coco Maya is another one of the restaurants that I reserved about a month before the trip.
It was spectacular, with lights all over the place, music, games, and it was RIGHT on the WATER.
It also has several fireplaces.
Yes, you saw correctly – Ulrick ate dinner with us !
It was fun sharing stories with him.
He is also a musician, and was involved in the half-time show during the 2020 Superbowl in Miami (just before Covid).
Today was definately the most fun day, a great experience, and The Baths did not disapoint us after all the pre-trip hype.
That’s all for today.
Hope you enjoyed the virtual tour thru The Baths.
Tomorrow we’re off to – The Saba Rock & The Oil Nut Bay Marina & Resort !
Mike/Ashley, Rich/Anita, Dave/Ginger
Love reading about your wonderful time at the baths and on Virgin Gorda! Ours was a bit different… We had a boaty ball in St Thomas Bay and got hit in the middle of the night by a barge that was put out on anchor long after we all went to sleep. Unmanned. Slack tide had everyone swinging different directions. I sleep light and heard weird water sounds against the hull through the open window which got my attention. Looked out the port hole to see…. RIVETS ON A FLAT STEEL WALL! omg. So I went on deck and saw this barge within a few feet of our boat. I started the engines and got distance to the barge, still on anchor, which woke everyone up. Missed that hit. We set a night watch with the crew. Another couple took the first watch. We went back to bed. Not for long. Heard engines come on then crash! The barge hit our port aft quarter right at the stainless steel handle. Lucky no hole in the hull! At that point it was almost daylight so we broke charter base rules and left early. Glad we chose option A for Insurance, it was all covered. We were determined not at fault since we were on a sanctioned boaty ball but holy smokes that was some excitement I’d like to never experience again. Shannon & Scott
OMG Shannon
What a story
I’m glad you sent me this AFTER we got back
Thx for reading & for the comments