Thursday, July 12, 2012

The Baths at Virgin Gorda

     Heading east from Redhook, USVI, making a quick stop at Soper's Hole, BVI to check in with customs, and we are underway down the Sir Francis Drake Channel headed toward Virgin Gorda and The Baths.    Upon your arrival, there will be no doubt that you have found this place.  The giant granite boulders  strewn all around the beach like someone had dropped them there just to mess with your mind.    They are completely out of place from the rest of the geology of the area.     The spectacular view is like you have just been beamed down there from the rest of the Virgin Islands because this doesn't look of feel like  the rest of the area at all.     Christopher Columbus was said to have named the island because it looked like a fat woman lying on her side, thus the name "The Fat Virgin" (Virgin Gorda).

       If you are on a tour when you arrive, you will land at Spanish Town and be taken by bus to the park.   The spectacular  outcrops that make up the 8 square mile park become very apparent as you near them.     If you are lucky enough to be able to just cruise up in your own boat the view from the water is absolutely breath taking.       

     Once in the park, the grottoes, exotic pools and the beaches will keep your eyes and senses aroused continuously.    The Baths is one of the natural wonders that I never fail to at least swing close to on any trip I make to the BVI.

     If you are of the beach persuasion, the beaches and the breaking waves echoing through the boulders is a very calming and warm sounds take you far away frome everything else.   This park is one of those that has a new surprise for you with every step that you take, the outcrops and the meeting of the land and sea should no be missed..

      Well the sun is beginning to get low in the west and it is time for us to head back down the channel to the Marina  and ready ourselves for another voyage, but this one will have my mind and senses vibrating for a long time.     Should your travels take you to the Virgin Islands, make sure you take the time to visit this majestic park on Virgin Gorda.  ;o)