How difficult is Virgin Gorda at Tortola?

[taishartrueblood]

My dad has a bad knee, not a knee replacement level yet but probably soon. How hard will this be for him? If there are a lot of steps then he will have an issue and crawling and climbing are out.

Any experience?

 

[texdisneygal]

My dad has a bad knee, not a knee replacement level yet but probably soon. How hard will this be for him? If there are a lot of steps then he will have an issue and crawling and climbing are out.

Any experience?

It is probably not a good idea though it may be ok if you were to go and stay one one side or the other without going through the Caves.

You get dropped off at the Top of the World -- an area with a restaurant and some shops. There is a relatively short path down to the Baths that requires sure footing and has a good number of steps. The Baths area has always been very crowded when we have been there. There is a trail through very large granite boulders and water (the Caves) that requires some crawling, climbing, ladders, etc. On the other side of the Caves is Devil's Bay, which is a much larger beach area than the Baths. There is a much longer trail from the Top of the World to Devil's Bay. Hiking back up to the Top of the World from either side may be strenuous with knee problems.

The area is very beautiful, though!

 

[Skiton]

My mom had no trouble with the hike down and back to The Baths. She declined to go through the Caves, though, as they said there would be a lot knee-bending involved. She is a 76 year old lady and while she has very arthritic knees, she also walks three miles a day every day so she's in great shape. It's just the knee bending that is difficult for her.

 

[bgula]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but in the interests of information, we are also doing this tour in March. I'm assuming you would want shoes or sandals for the hike to the Baths. Once you've reached the bottom and start going thru water, you would obviously want to take said footwear off. However, is bare feet wise, or would aquasocks be advisable? Just not sure how rocky it is - and how sharp said rocks might be. Any info would be appreciated.

 

[alldiz]

I would like additional info about barefoot in water.
Also is there a sandy beach as well to sit down for a bit at baths?
Thanks
Kerri

 

[taishartrueblood]

Bgula, you going the first week in march? We are

 

[bgula]

Bgula, you going the first week in march? We are

2nd week

 

[taishartrueblood]

Duh, well we will check them out for ya

 

[texdisneygal]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but in the interests of information, we are also doing this tour in March. I'm assuming you would want shoes or sandals for the hike to the Baths. Once you've reached the bottom and start going thru water, you would obviously want to take said footwear off. However, is bare feet wise, or would aquasocks be advisable? Just not sure how rocky it is - and how sharp said rocks might be. Any info would be appreciated.

You definitely want shoes for the trails leading down to the beach -- and we all wore Teva type shoes through the caves -- there are spots where you are climbing up a rock face with a rope handrail and the extra grip is useful.

There are sandy areas in both the Baths and Devil's Bay (Devil's Bay area is larger but doesn't have any facilities). The sand is not soft sand -- it feels more like crushed shells or very small pebbles -- not really sharp, but fairly coarse. We wore our shoes the whole time. The sand gets in everything! Even after shaking out our shoes before returning to the ship we had probably a pound of sand we were able to shake into the trash can in our cabin, and I still had some that I could shake out when we got to Castaway Cay. When I got home, I had to vacuum the sand out of the dryer after washing our swimsuits! It would be a good idea to have a separate pair of shoes to wear back up the trail to avoid a sandpaper effect.

 

[texdisneygal]

Trail from the Top of the World down to the Baths






The Baths

 

[texdisneygal]

Entrance to the Caves




Another tight spot to crawl through in the Caves


The second time we did this excursion, there were MANY more people trying to go both up and down in this area


The Caves




Between the Caves and Devil's Bay

 

[texdisneygal]

Devil's Bay




The coarse sand






The trail from Devil's Bay up to the Top of the World


Top of the World

 

[taishartrueblood]

Great photos, perfect! That is exactly what I was looking for.


Thanks!

 

[JJsmama]

Trail from the Top of the World down to the Baths
View attachment 146312

thanks for the pics! doesn't look too strenuous for me after all! Ds and DH will love those caves! So, looks like there are restrooms out there?
I get to book excursions in just a few days!

 

[texdisneygal]

thanks for the pics! doesn't look too strenuous for me after all! Ds and DH will love those caves! So, looks like there are restrooms out there?
I get to book excursions in just a few days!

There are bathrooms at the Top of the World and some facilities at the Baths (I have been told there are restrooms down there, but I didn't verify that for myself). There are NOT any facilities of any kind on the Devil's Bay side -- we had a large group and it was crowded, so it took about 20-25 minutes through the Caves to Devil's Bay and about the same to hike back up to the Top of the World -- plan accordingly -- and have a great trip!

 

[JJsmama]

There are bathrooms at the Top of the World and some facilities at the Baths (I have been told there are restrooms down there, but I didn't verify that for myself). There are NOT any facilities of any kind on the Devil's Bay side -- we had a large group and it was crowded, so it took about 20-25 minutes through the Caves to Devil's Bay and about the same to hike back up to the Top of the World -- plan accordingly -- and have a great trip!

WOW! Good to know! I was thinking there were just a couple minutes of rocks between them. I was planning to book the 4 hour excursion. after all the trekking, I hope that is enough time.

 

[bceagle76]

This is all great info
I was very interested in doing but since I am on blood thinners with all this climbing and chance for getting bruised or cut I think I may have skip it
It looks great

 

[texdisneygal]

We've done the 4 hour one through Disney twice -- it is enough time at the beach for me, but I don't love sitting on the beach for a long time. If you want to spend more time exploring in the caves or sitting on the beach, you may want to book a longer one or look into going on your own.

We were on the 9:45 am tour -- and looking at the time stamps on my pictures, we were on the boat to go to Virgin Gorda by 10:10. We were on the bus to the Baths around 11:20 -- arrived at the baths around 11:40 -- hiked the trail down to the Baths by 11:50 -- Started through the caves around 12:20 -- Got to Devil's Bay at 12:50 (we were a little slow but took a direct path without exploring the caves much -- and there were several places where we had to wait for people going the other way to pass) -- Started up the trail from Devil's Bay to Top of the world at 1:40 and arrived at Top of the World at 2:00. They were already loading safari busses to return at that time, although I think our official meet back at the Top of the World time was 2:15. We had ages 8-mid 60s in our group.

The tour guides said we could go on our own or they would lead you through the caves -- we knew there would be fewer people at Devil's Bay before the group moved over there, so we went ahead early on our own, and it was much less crowded for the first 20-30 minutes.

This is all great info
I was very interested in doing but since I am on blood thinners with all this climbing and chance for getting bruised or cut I think I may have skip it
It looks great

It did cross my mind that if someone was to turn an ankle or something going through the caves it would be very difficult to get them out!

 

[Maddysdaddy]

Any thoughts about a middle-aged guy with broad shoulders and ample 'assets'??? Are they going to have to get the jackhammers out to free me from the caves (I ask only half jokingly).

 

[texdisneygal]

The entrance from the Baths is probably the smallest place -- so if you make it through there, you're probably good for the rest of it. There were only two places that I remember seeming small (both pictured). For the first one, I went through on my hands and knees (I'm 5'6", medium build, and had a very full backpack and a bag of towels that I was taking through with me) but for the second one (which is also fairly close to the Baths' side entrance) I made it through with just crouching.

If you felt like the Baths entrance was too small, you could either stay at the Baths or hike the trail to the Top of the World and then down the other side to Devil's Bay. That being said, the Caves area is much more open on the Devil's Bay Side, so you could always start on that side and go through as far as you feel comfortable. I think it is a little trickier to go through that way (you end up going down the rock face instead of up -- which is difficult if people are also trying to go up), but we made it through both ways on our first trip without kids.