Publish Date: Monday, April 11, 2011
Location: Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands
Coordinates: 18° 30.169′ N 64° 21.804′ W
Some cruising grounds are legendary throughout the world: The Greek Islands, Alaska’s Inside Passage, the South Pacific’s Polynesian islands, and The Bahamas’ Exumas cays all come to mind. The eastern Caribbean Islands certainly make the list, and the British Virgin Islands might even qualify in their own right, which is why we’ve come.
We are currently anchored in North Sound on Virgin Gorda, which is a large, well-protected harbor with several small resorts lining the banks (The Bitter End Yacht Club being the most well known). I don’t have to travel for work this week, so our plan was to cruise to the BVI’s over the weekend, spend the week anchored someplace beautiful (and with good cellular and Internet coverage so I could work), and then cruise back to Puerto Rico next weekend.
So far so good: We cruised to Jost Van Dyke on Saturday morning, where we picked up a mooring ball, checked in with BVI’s Customs and Immigration, and dropped into Foxy’s beach bar for lunch. We were tempted to spend the night at Jost Van Dyke to experience the famous party scene and calypso music at Foxy’s, but we had a higher priority that lured us away…
There is a unique geological formation on the southwest end of Virgin Gorda called The Baths, where huge granite boulders seem to have been dumped on the beach by some mythical gargantuan wheel barrow. We wanted to visit The Baths early in the morning to avoid the crowds — we had heard that the small cruise ships shuttle their passengers into The Baths starting late morning — so we left Jost Van Dyke and cruised to Cooper Island Saturday evening. We went ashore and had a nice dinner at the Cooper Island Beach Club, and then endured a windy and rolly night in the lee of the island. We got up at dawn Sunday morning and headed for The Baths.
The Baths have been designated a national marine park by the BVI government, which they preserve by disallowing you to land your dingy on the beach. There are large mooring balls set offshore for cruising vessels, and there are small mooring balls about a hundred feet offshore for dingies. You must swim into the beach from there. When we arrived at about 7:30am there were already about a dozen sailboats there, and we picked up one of the few remaining mooring balls for Three@Sea. It didn’t look like anybody was on the beach yet, so we hopped into Dilly Too (our dingy) and headed in. By 8am we slipped into the water and started swimming for the beach — it felt like quite an adventure!
The Baths did not disappoint: All three of us agreed they are one of the coolest things we’ve seen during our 2-1/2 years of cruising. We had them completely to ourselves at that time of the morning, which definitely enhanced our experience. We felt like we were walking through nature’s cathedral, wondering how such a beautiful arrangement of massive boulders came to be. Sand underfoot, sunshine overhead, and water lapping in and out of the narrow crevices completed this unique experience. We spent about an hour exploring from one end to the other before returning to the beach. It was magical!
What a difference an hour makes: several tour boats had arrived from Tortola, and a cruise ship tender had just dumped their snorkel-equipped passengers into the water. It looked like a naval invasion, as more than a hundred people stumbled up onto the beach, out of breath and unhappy about having to swim to their target. How different The Baths would have felt with a long queue of people waiting at every narrow passageway! We smiled to ourselves as we slipped into the water to swim back to our dingy.
With The Baths tucked away as a wonderful memory, we cruised to our current location in Virgin Gorda to get settled for the week. Although I would prefer to be here on vacation, I think the next best thing is to have my office located in such a beautiful place. I am indeed a fortunate man.
Thanks for the great pictures and descriptions of your travels. I have never responded but have been checking in frequently to see what you guys are up too. I enjoy your entries very much.
Dear David, i just got a lovely note from KAthryn and mentioned the Baths to her and the new CIBC menu! Delighted to read your blog and find you have already been to these 2 WONDERFUL places! Our very favorites and part of our yearly trek. Your timing and description of the Baths was spot on, as it is very important to go before the “cruise ship people” invade! I am so happy to think of you 3 at this beautiful paradise…. ahhh, enjoy! Love, Liz and family
A ‘navel’ invasion! Was that Naval Invasion, or were you referring to the many body parts that were going ashore? 🙂
🙂 Hi Tim — Thanks for pointing out my use of the wrong word in such a humorous way. I have corrected it. Thanks!
Good morning David;
I was struck by the great shot of the boulders with Dilly and Three at Sea………………did you notice the one on the right? Looks like someone, I’am sure that they didn’t, carved a head in the boulder on the right……..cool!
Looks and sounds like you’re having the having the adventure of a life time.
Art
Wow, that truly does seem like a magical place. Thank you for sharing. I had a feeling of total calm just looking at the pictures. Beautiful!
Hi gang, Those pictures bring back great memories when I was there in the 90s. Not as many people around at that time. Enjoy
Absolutely spectacular and world class cruising. How warm is the water? I see Three @ Sea anchored nearby. Do you use a passive roll dampner? I don’t see the arm extended from the port side.
Dave
Hi David, Kathryn, and Ayla,
Wow, I absolutely loved those pictures! Wish we were all there walking between those boulders with you. It was so hard for Anthony to go back to school yesterday!
Warmly,
Jackie
oooohhhh,,,,,aaaaahhhh – way cool! auntie m
Hi David –
The water temperature is about 82 degrees F, which is very nice for swimming: warm enough that you don’t get cold too quickly, but cool enough that it’s still refreshing!
We do have a passive “flopper stopper”, and we did have it deployed at both Cooper Island and The Baths, which made both tolerable. The photo that you see of the port side of Three@Sea (the last photo in the album) was taken at our current anchorage in North Sound, and we do not need to have the flopper stopper deployed here. It’s nice and calm. 🙂
David,
Happy to hear you are enjoying the BVI’s. If you haven’t already, you really need to go visit the caves at Norman Island, and the Indians that are near by. The Indians provided the best snorkeling I have ever done, pristine coral, and fish every where. The caves present a unique experience swimming into a cave and with great coral as well. A quick dingy ride over to the Bight and you will find the Willy T, an old sail boat turned into a floating restaurant/party barge. The Roti’s are delicious, a bit spicy and very filling. This is all in BVI waters just east of St. John USVI.
Blessings
Doug
This is awesome, Dad! Fabulous blog, and you really captured the feeling of the day. Cool! I particularly liked the line, “…huge granite boulders seem to have been dumped on the beach by some mythical gargantuan wheel barrow.” That is really descriptive, and gave me the image of mythological deities hauling these boulders into place, creating a mysterious home of endless exploration. Very, very nice!
ahh the memories! I loved thatr place and would try and get there every week when i worked down in the Caribbean Islands. I dont remeber too many people, but i do remeber photos shots with the guys thinking they were Fabio.. Enjoy and great pictures
I love your post. What a great week, what a great life. You are selling us the dream. Thank you for sharing with us. PS. When do we get to see the Besemer, Nordhavn, “on watch” video?
Three@Sea fans,
Robin & Vickie
I love your blog. My wife and our three young girls are all going on a trip to the bvi’s the usvi’s and the Spanish virgin islands for a month. I would like to meet you if the timing was good for you. We arrive on the 21st and stay though may 25 th.
Let me know.
Hello
Just wanted your family to know that my family (Jan and Chris & 4 kids) are inspired by your website … can’t describe how much we enjoy your adventure … my crew espcially enjoys Ayla – keep up the great videos ! looking forward to ongoing posts … had to respond this time … amazing pics and descriptions of the Baths !!!