Wednesday 6 March, BVI day 2, Virgin Gorda: At The Baths, a highlight of the BVIs.
A peaceful night for Oana but a bit disturbed for me. I woke at one point hearing the generator noise from the nearby catamaran. When I looked out the cockpit the 60ft cat was side on to our stern and only 3-4m away from touching us! We kind of thought they had anchored too close! I shine our powerful spotlight into each cabin window, hoping to get some response. But no one comes on deck. Soon the cat has swung back to its usual safe position, but I sit in the cockpit, watching for a while, and it never repeats the same maneuver again. Odd. Must have been a freak wind shift or something. But no doubt, they had anchored too close.
Today we were planning on a nice spinnaker sail downwind to Lee Bay to meet Christian and Eve on the Swan66, Gale. But we wake to a message saying they have problems and can no longer meet. That’s a shame, we were looking forward to catching up with them. So, what do we do now? New plans are needed.
Before long we have booked a rental car for tomorrow and today we will visit The Baths – a popular “not to be missed” spot on the BVI. You can only pick up a buoy at The Baths and the swell there is rolling the yachts, even the catamarans. So we decide to anchor off Spanish Town instead, and go the last distance by dinghy.
The Baths is a shoreline in an area that is defined by huge (giant in fact) granite boulders all weathered into different shapes. Where these amazing rock formations meet the sea small beaches form between the giants and you can walk through between them and under them. The place is so popular these days that you cannot take your dinghy ashore. Instead you must tie it to a line of barrier buoys and swim the last 40m to the shore, in between the granite boulders.
We spend a good hour or two wandering around and marveling at the spectacle that nature has produced here. It could almost be a man made theme park! Infact the Wild Wadi water park in Dubai could have been modeled on The Baths here in BVI! Each boulder seems to only be touching its neighbor at small contact points. You get the feeling you are an ant walking in a pile of rounded pebbles!
There are lots of charter cats on the mooring buoys but surprisingly The Baths is not crowded at all. By 2:30pm we feel we have explored every nook and cranny in the place and we retire to the small beach overlooking The Baths.
The blue sky, the crystal turquoise water, the golden sand and the enormous granite bolders present an amazing site to see while we lie at the water’s edge letting the small wavelets cool us down. A really magical place. Certainly not one to miss while in the BVI.
Back at Cloudy Bay we have a late lunch and a relaxing evening with the usual cool breeze (26DegC) flowing through the boat.
A lovely day …. pretty close to, if not actually in, paradise.