Tortola/Baths Day Trip Report Excerpt

[RoyalVizier]

Hey all!

I know that DCL's special itineraries to Tortola are generating a lot of questions and interest here on the DIS, and there are lots of people interested in knowing what other cruisers plans are and what excursions they've decided on.

I am currently writing a trip report from my June 20th Eastern cruise so I wanted to extract Tortola day and share it here so that maybe more people can find it, because currently it is firmly embedded deep within my trippie... maybe it will help some make decisions. So enjoy!!

Day 4: The Baths of Virgin Gorda and Dew Detected

Upon waking I conducted a full body scan and evaluation to be sure that bronchitis bugs hadn’t devoured me whole in the middle of the night. My skin was still holding everything in, my chest only gave the slightest wheeze when I inhaled, and my head was no longer on fire. I felt pretty good. I’m not going to say I felt like a million bucks, but I was feeling kinda like $5.99. Once I made my way to the bathroom and partook of my morning blinding, I discovered that it was only 5:30 am. Eesh. My internal clock needs a new battery. Ah well… once I’m up, I’m up so I did my usual morning thing and headed up top to see where we were and to watch our approach into Tortola!

Tortola day! Land at last! This was of course the day we were all most excited about. It’s a place we’ve never been before, and a place that Disney doesn’t go to regularly so it just felt special. Pre-cruise, we’d done an insane amount of research regarding what we were going to do on Tortola, and it was decided very early on that we were going to take in The Baths at Virgin Gorda. Now, this is an excursion offered through Disney which is where we landed in our research travels first, but upon further internet searches and DIS searches we decided that the process of getting to The Baths did not sound difficult at all to do it on our own. Plus it would be about $100 cheaper to do it on our own by way of ferry and taxi. So more research led us to Speedy’s ferry/taxi service which is only about a 15 minute walk from the Disney Magic dock. The plan was set!

I watched our approach into Tortola for awhile, and then I ran back down to the room to force my wife to get her buns up because she was missing it! So I told her to shake a leg and meet me up there, and I ran back up there. She joined me shortly after. Here’s pictures of our approach.

We did Topsiders breakfast and were back in the room to get ready to get off the ship by 7:45 am. We knew that the first Speedy’s ferry to Virgin Gorda was at 9:00 am so we were planning around that. We packed bags and backpacks with all the essentials: sunscreen, towels, cameras, and the video camera. That darn blasted video camera. If you recall from a previous installment this was the first voyage we’ve taken with a video camera. We were SO excited to have it so that we could capture the ship and The Baths… so of course we took it along as well. My wife also affixed her Ollie button to the front of her shirt because don’t you know he wanted to see The Baths as well. By 8:15 am we were off the ship, and as soon as we stepped onto dry land I wanted to get the video camera out. I got it out of the bag, turned it on, fiddled with it, started down at the display… and was greeted with two words in all caps in red: DEW DETECTED. Uh… huh? Dew? As in moisture? As in droplets of water? Humidity? On the lens? On the tape? So I rubbed my shirt over the lens to clear the condensation, turned it off then on again, cursed under my breath, and got the same thing. DEW DETECTED. DRAT and BLAST to tarnation! UGH! I ejected the tape. Looked at it. Warmed it with my Sink King laser beam eyes. Cursed at it. Inserted it again. Turned the camera back on. DEW DETECTED. Well DOO! Annoyed, I put the camera away and we kept walking up the pier.

You have to walk through an Information Station so we stopped there to ask the lady about Speedy’s to be sure we were going in the right direction. She was very kind and gave us a map and pointed the way. It’s very simple: just take a left down the main road and you’ll run right into it. Once we were outside of the port’s security checkpoint we were immediately approached by all kinds of people wanting us to take taxis somewhere or take an island tour or sell their ferry excursions. We politely declined and kept walking… after walking a ways, I could see the sign for Speedy’s just up ahead, and it was then that another man approached us offering Speedy’s service.

He escorted us towards his building where we paid and got everything situated. The tickets include both the ferry to get over to Virgin Gorda and also the open-air taxi to get from the Virgin Gorda drop off location to The Baths. It was $114 for the three of us so we considered it a good deal. We still had a bit of time before the ferry was scheduled to leave so we ran across the street to a small souvenir shop to look around. They had a great selection of straw hats which is exactly what my wife was looking for. Her poor scalp is the first and fastest to get sun burnt so she wanted to invest in head cover. She picked one out and donned it immediately!

Isn’t it lovely?

When we boarded the Speedy’s ferry we sat up top right at the back, and we noticed that we were surrounded by many nice folks we recognized from the ship, so we were certainly not the only ones making this adventure alone without the help of Disney. So we were on our way, and while we sat there this lovely woman who was sitting across from my wife piped up and made a comment about her Ollie button. She was saying how cute he was when a dawning realization swept over her face and she exclaimed, “Wait a minute, did you write a trip report on the DIS.” And I cracked up. I guess I never realize just how many people are reading these trip reports that don’t actually post any replies or comments. I guess with over 6,000 views to this thread more people are reading than are showing their faces so to speak. Hi Joanne from Texas! If you are out there I insist you post and say hey! In fact… all lurkers reveal yourselves! I’m taking lurker roll-call!

Now here’s where I made a complete idiot out of myself once again, something that I am quite good at. I considered leaving this out, but that wouldn’t be fair as I promised myself I would give a complete and accurate account of the week’s events. It was hot. Really hot. And sunny. And sitting there on the top deck of the ferry I could already feel the sun’s rays beating down on my face, filling my pores with sweet sweet sunshine. So I needed sunscreen. Now this wasn’t to be the first time I’d applied sunscreen on this cruise (or in my life) but I wanted to use more today because I just knew that the sun was burning hotter and brighter today. I mean, hello… it’s Tortola sun instead of sea day sun! So I squirted an extremely generous amount of sunscreen into my palm, rubbed my hands together (at this point wondering if perhaps I’d gotten too much) and then applied to face. IDIOT! I would LOVE… LOVE to know what everyone surrounding me was thinking. Joanne from Texas, by all means, jump in here for I’d love to hear your thoughts (or anyone else reading who was there). Were you thinking, “What the heck is with this guy? Does he think he going to burst into flames at any moment, and he needs a WHOLE TUBE OF SUN BLOCK to protect him from impending Armageddon? Does he fear Apollo himself is going to strike him square in the face with a sun stick and singe his goatee right off of his face? You could coat an entire army of lifeguards from head toe with that amount of sun protection goop. Does he think the sun itself is going to careen from its orbit and shoot up his nose?” Surely these are the thoughts that were being thought as I slathered an insane amount of sunscreen into my face. I’m sure my pores were screaming and drowning! Believe me… not one UV molecule was going to conquer the barrier I had installed.

This picture doesn’t quite visually portray the reality of the moment.

I think after about 20 minutes I'd finally gotten it all rubbed in... kinda.

The DIS only allows 25 photos per post so... TO BE CONTINUED.

 

[RoyalVizier]

Day 4: The Baths at Virgin Gorda and Dew Detected (CONTINUED)

So anyway… the ferry ride was about 30 minutes. When we arrived, we boarded an open air taxi for another 10 minute ride to The Baths. The Top of the Baths is sort of the entryway to the trail that leads down to The Baths beach and the caves that lead to Devil’s Bay and Devil’s Bay beach. There are two shops for trinkets and there is also a bar area with seating and a pool. We were dropped here and the driver of our taxi gave us a few options of times to be picked up.

Once arranged we were set and we poked our head into one of the shops, and then paid our admission (which I believe was $3/each) and we were on our way. Before we headed down the trail I wanted to try the camera one more time, and yea… same thing: DEW DETECTED. I guess my adventure would have to be captured in stills. Now I was saddled with this useless blasted camera bag, and let me tell you it didn’t help matters when I was stealthily navigating through the boulders!

I think we saw on a sign that it is 350 yards down to the beach via a trail. The trail is easy to navigate so there were no worries there. There are large boulders and rocks along the way, as well as some declines and steps, but it is gorgeous. We took tons of pictures as we navigated our way through. I’ll let the picture speak for themselves in a lot of this installment…

I don't know who that idiot in the background is...

Ohhhhhh scary!

Overall it was about an 8 – 10 minute walk. The trail opened up to a beach where there were tons of people. There was a place selling drinks and food, there were restrooms and places to rinse your feet. There were a lot of tour groups and excursion groups already there already at about 10:00 am.

So the trail that leads to Devil’s Bay… I could probably introduce this portion with the exact same words I used a few installments ago when I talked about going to the fitness center on the ship. I am not a physical person, so during the decision making process of Tortola day and ultimately the decision to take in The Baths we knew that it would probably be the most adventuresome thing we’d ever done. I can already hear some of you readers that have visited The Baths laughing at me because I imagine some (or most) wouldn’t consider the Devil’s Bay trail adventuresome or strenuous in the least. To each his own, but for my personal fitness and activity level, it was a tad strenuous. Not unbearable, and not unpleasant at all, but it required a bit of exertion on my part. I could describe our walk in words, but I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

There were plenty of areas where stairs were required to get up to higher rock areas. Actually, they were more like ladders, which I am NOT a fan of anyway let alone ladders located in a place called Devil's Bay.

Again... too many pictures so... TO BE CONTINUED AGAIN.

 

[RoyalVizier]

Day 4: The Baths of Virgin Gorda and Dew Detected (CONTINUED AGAIN)

This next shot was probably taken about .5 seconds before I got a very unfortunate scrape (more like a gash, actually more like a Devil's Bay gnome had mistaken my leg for a WDW turkey leg and started gnawing) on the back of my calf. At the time I was too worried about surviving and getting solid footing to look down and see if my leg was injured as bad as it felt... so when I was finally able to check it out... yea, blood was running down my leg.

This was at the top of a steep incline in which there is a rope installed onto the side of the rock work to assist you in your ascent. Well at the top there is a particularly tricky spot where you need to step down and crouch and twist to the side at the same time. Well my body doesn't DO that, hence a bleeding leg.

Hanging on for dear life!

The most gorgeous spot in all of The Baths in my opinion.

Yea, remember when I visited the fitness center and bonked my noggin on the ceiling... yea, this is the second time during the trip where height was not on my side.

There were more than a few spots where I needed to crawl forward on my hands and knees. I'm just too darn tall!

Crouching showoff!

Finally we came out at Devil’s Bay, a beautiful beach area, and the water was a stunning crystal blue.

We got in for awhile and just did the beach thing, until we experienced a fish attack! After four cruises you’d think my daughter would know that there are fish in the ocean, but evidently that keeps slipping her mind because fish never fail to surprise her.

It probably didn’t help that I was in the ocean with a bleeding leg.

When we’d had our fill of the serenity, we packed it in and started the journey back through the grottos to the trail up to the Top of the Baths. I admit I wondered if there was another way back. Like a chicken trail or a toddler trail or something, but decided to suck it up and make the trip. I’d done it once… I could do it again. It wasn’t quite as bad the second time around. So I made it back up to the top, and the taxi picked us up, took us to the ferry, and after a bit of a wait for the ferry, we were back on Totola. We headed back to the Magic by way of an area of shops along the side of the main street there called Crafts Alive.

By 2:00 pm we were back on the ship and we were dead tired!

(We took 200+ pictures at The Baths alone!)

Up Next: Midnight Gorging

 

[Narnia_girl]

thank you for the great info on this location and the beautiful pictures. I told my husband about this and declared that on our next cruise, we're "taking a bath"!