The Baths at Tortola

[tigerlily2009]

We are debating on port adventures in Tortola and the baths port adventure in particular. A few of us do not like the idea of crawling in tight spaces and climbing up rocks to get to the baths. It is from my understanding that you can still go straight to the beach if you do not want to do this part.

Has anyone been on this excursion? If you were not going to do the caves/baths portion and only the beach is it still a good excursion...or would you pick another one?

Any port adventures tips for Tortola would be great!

 

[AussieNSW]

We did this excursion and half of our group went through the caves while the others stayed at the beach and went for a swim. I stayed at the beach and went for a swim it was nice and the boat trip was nice but a swim at beach anywhere would have been nice. The beach area was pretty but to me not special or different enough to make the effort on the path down to it.

 

[RafikiTiki21]

I have not done the DCL excursion, but I have been to the Baths. Its one of the few places in the world where these granite formations are, and the boat ride through the BVIs to get there is spectacular. To me, just experiencing them without crawling and hiking through them would still be a good choice.

If you want a more traditional beach and less travel time, there are several other Tortola options.

 

[Sparky47]

I did the excursion through DCL. I was hesitant to do the caves because I pictured them dark and was afraid the climbing and squeezing through cracks would be too difficult (as a bigger, not physically fit person). I was wrong. 3-4 years later this is still one of my favorite excursions. The "cracks" are very easy to navigate and the climbing was not difficult (in several locations, there are ladders). I did not feel that the spaces were too tight at all. I would love to go back to do this excursion again!

 

[Budzooka]

Just did this excursion last month. It was fun and glad we did it, but it was a little tougher than I expected. Granted, I also had a 5 year old with us in which I was focused on trying to make sure she didn't slip or fall on the rocks. You can skip out on the caves and just stay at the beach, but the Baths beach itself wasn't that great. There were lots of rocks at the bottom of the ocean that made it difficult to stand and the water was choppy. All of us banged or scraped a knee/foot/hand while in the water. Once you got through the caves, we got a little bit of time at Devil's Bay, which was a much better beach.

 

[squirk]

I liked Devil's Bay, but I am not sure that it, by itself, is worth the trip. I agree with @RafikiTiki21 - if you have no interest in the Baths beach or the caves, there are probably better ways to spend your Tortola day.

 

[Joel0917]

i did this through Non-DCL - used Patuche charters. it was good. the good they dropped us off at the beach and just swim up. But they suggested we walk/climb into the caves and snorkle out. This was awesome. But carrying snorkle gear and climbing over rocks and a one lane rope bridge was tough. i had wife and 2 kids with me and i carried all 4 sets of gear. it was a tough climb. but id do it again. But the cathedral was so crowded, we didn' treally get a good picture in there. your camera likely will get wet so we only took a disposalbe in there. so that was a bummer.

 

[tigerlily2009]

Thanks all! Is there another port adventure that you would recommend instead of the baths for 4 adults? We are pretty laid back and just want to relax.

 

[Masonmj84]

We did this a few months ago.

Since the Baths are on Virgin Gorda, it's about a 30 minute boat ride over from Tortola (on our boat ride, the AC wasn't working and it was very stuffy inside. The ride was also a bit choppy and DW, who is subject to motion sickness, threw up).

As noted above, the Devil's Bay Beach (the one you have to crawl through the rock formations to get to) is a much better beach than the main Baths beach, which is very rocky and crowded (several children got cuts and scrapes from the rocks).

If you are at least somewhat fit, the trip through the rock formations isn't bad at all (I thought it was worth it to get to the Devil's Bay Beach and the Cathedral was pretty cool).

 

[Simba One]

You can walk down to the same beach without going thru the caves. The path starts in the parking lot. It's the one you use to come back up from Devils Bay beach. It's not a bad walk.

 

[JustinsMommy07]

We are booked for this excursion on our upcoming cruise and after reading some reviews I am having second thoughts. There are 3 families going with five kids ranging from 6yrs to 9yrs. Do you think that the caves/rocks will be too difficult to navigate for the kids? Also, what type of clothing/footwear did everyone wear? I was thinking aquasock type shoes.

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

.

 

[SpaceSquirrel]

I did the excursion through DCL. I was hesitant to do the caves because I pictured them dark and was afraid the climbing and squeezing through cracks would be too difficult (as a bigger, not physically fit person). I was wrong. 3-4 years later this is still one of my favorite excursions. The "cracks" are very easy to navigate and the climbing was not difficult (in several locations, there are ladders). I did not feel that the spaces were too tight at all. I would love to go back to do this excursion again!

could you tell me the name of this excursion? I want to be sure we book the exact same one!

 

[seacruise]

We are booked for this excursion on our upcoming cruise and after reading some reviews I am having second thoughts. There are 3 families going with five kids ranging from 6yrs to 9yrs. Do you think that the caves/rocks will be too difficult to navigate for the kids? Also, what type of clothing/footwear did everyone wear? I was thinking aquasock type shoes.

No, the kids will have no problem navigating the Baths. It's the anxious parents trying to keep up with them that you need to worry about. We wore Teva type sandals and the kids wore aqua socks, both types worked well.

 

[aidtrismommy]

We are going to the Bath's in December through Aristocat Charters. I am claustrophobic and was unsure how I felt about the caves. I watched a youtube video of a man and his wife walking through and I feel better about it. I suggest watching a video to get a better idea.

 

[sabrecmc]

I just did this with my 10 year old. We had fun, and the "caves" were not really caves so much as passages between rocks where you can walk or climb through. It was not overly difficult, but I do think you need to be in good shape. The beach area was fine. Kind of neat and different with the big boulders, but basically, just a beach. They did have restrooms and a bar, plus a little gift shop area. As someone mentioned, you had to take a hydrafoil out there on the DCL excursion, then an open-sided bus, and that trip was tough on my daughter who gets motion sickness. For that reason, I probably wouldn't do it again. But, we did have fun. She liked climbing through the rocks. It was kind of neat and different. She also built a sandcastle and had fun snorkeling. We had calm weather and the water was clear, but because the bottom is rocky, the depth changes a lot, so as you walk through the water, you do have to be careful of your feet and of little ones.

 

[Chemist]

There are 3 families going with five kids ranging from 6yrs to 9yrs. Do you think that the caves/rocks will be too difficult to navigate for the kids?

Quite the opposite, I think the caves and rocks will be so much fun for the kids that they won't want to leave them!
Seriously, climbing around rocks is loads of fun.

We went on the excursion last month. It was a blast.

(I really think its billed at being much harder than it is.)

 

[Mitchell G]

Great info here!

 

[Madzac]

We just did this a couple weeks ago from the Fantasy through DCL. As stated you take a boat from the Tortola dock to Virgin Gorda. I recommend taking motion sickness meds if you are prone and trying to sit outside on the boat. Several kids got sick on our boat. After arriving you take open air buses to the top of the Baths park. They make 1-2 stops for pictures that are absolutely gorgeous. Upon arrival at the baths you get a briefing and then the guide walks you down the fairly easy path to the first beach. There is a fork in the road that goes directly to the better beach of Devils bay you could take if you wanted to avoid the caves.

Our guide told us we had an hour at the first beach and to wait for him for a guided tour through the baths. We decided to be rebels and go on our own which was a great decision. Only thing to note, there are no restrooms or food areas on the second beach so take care of that first. The path through the caves was manageable. There was one place you had to climb a rock with a rope that was a bit challenging and a few places requiring you to crouch a bit but otherwise it was not bad. Our kids were 5, 8, 11, and 14. 5 yr old did fine with me behind her and big brother in front to help a little. We all wore our keen sandals. It was an adventure and fun. The second beach was lovely and almost no one was there when we arrived and we had about an hour before the DCL folks arrived from the group through the caves. I was so glad we did it ourselves, both because climbing through the baths with 200 people doesnt sound fun and it was great to have such an uncrowded beautiful beach for that time! If I did it again I would totally make the same choice.

We had nearly two hours from the time we arrived until we had to be back up on top. The path up from Devils bay is a bit longer and steeper but still manageable. It was hot though and took a good 15 min to walk back up where we got back on the buses. The boat ride back was much smoother.

Im really really glad we did it and we had an awesome time. The baths are an amazing sight to see! Now that we have done it however, I would do something else next time just simply because I dont feel like I need to do the caves again and it was a long trip to get all the way there. One nice thing though, when we got back it was about 130 pm and many tours were just going out so we had a less crowded boat!

 

[professorandmom]

We just did this a couple weeks ago

Thanks SO much for these details. Could you tell me what time your excursion left the ship?