Tortola Baths - share tips and good info

[caughtabug]

Heading to Tortola on the Disney Fantasy in August. I booked the full day at the baths excursion through Disney. I can't seem to find much info on this excursion. One of the questions I have is what people do as far as their camera. I feel a DSLR would capture it best but don't know if there is water risk. Especially since we are going over on a boat. I just don't know what to expect.

Thinking I might need to get a waterproof case for my phone. We also have a GoPro we are taking.

If anyone has been here, I was just looking for insight so we know what to expect when we go. Any info or tips you have is very much appreciated.

 

[darwinsrule]

Wear good shoes since the path down and back can be uneven and rocky. Bring water. Sounds silly but there were a bunch of people who didn't. Bring sunscreen. That is more of a duh thing. Bring money. There is a gift shop at the top of the Baths. Assuming you are on one of the larger tours (from Speedy's) and not a private CAT excursion, there is a snack bar (and yes they had a selection of beer). After being out in the heat and sun a cold drink is wonderful.

Saw a bunch of people with DSLR's. DW had her iPhone, I used our Nikon S9600 (compact with really good zoom). With the uneven ground and tight spaces, and yes water, you could bring it but one slip and you may be shopping for a new camera (not that I would ever do that myself of course ).

If you are larger the Caves will be more of a challenge. I'm 6'4" and was on hands and knees and one point going through the caves.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

Wear good shoes since the path down and back can be uneven and rocky. Bring water. Sounds silly but there were a bunch of people who didn't. Bring sunscreen. That is more of a duh thing. Bring money. There is a gift shop at the top of the Baths. Assuming you are on one of the larger tours (from Speedy's) and not a private CAT excursion, there is a snack bar (and yes they had a selection of beer). After being out in the heat and sun a cold drink is wonderful.

Saw a bunch of people with DSLR's. DW had her iPhone, I used our Nikon S9600 (compact with really good zoom). With the uneven ground and tight spaces, and yes water, you could bring it but one slip and you may be shopping for a new camera (not that I would ever do that myself of course ).

If you are larger the Caves will be more of a challenge. I'm 6'4" and was on hands and knees and one point going through the caves.

Do they take debit card at the shops/snack bar, or only cash?

 

[caughtabug]

Incredibly helpful! I would have definitely forgot the water. Yikes! Thanks so much for all the good info. Yeah that's my thing about wanting to bring my DSLR - having a great zoom. We are going through Disney. I heard some people said they had to swim from the boat so I was like how the hell do I bring a camera. Doesn't sound like that's the case if you saw people there with DSLRs. Do you have any pics that you can share?

 

[darwinsrule]

I posted this one on another thread a while back. It shows one of a CAT's offshore. Give you an idea as to what you would have to deal with.


Honestly great experience. Probably second favourite beach after Horseshoe Bay in Bermuda. Quite similar geologically.

 

[darwinsrule]

Do they take debit card at the shops/snack bar, or only cash?

We had cash but I believe they also took credit cards. Just a personal perference since we know cash is always good, and well I am not sure I would trust some of the vendors in some of the tourist areas you visit.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We had cash but I believe they also took credit cards. Just a personal perference since we know cash is always good, and well I am not sure I would trust some of the vendors in some of the tourist areas you visit.

Thank you!

 

[DCLSailing]

Recently returned from the Fantasy and did the baths in Tortola. While I booked too late, the Disney excursion was full. Ironically, we did the same excursion on our own and spent about 1/4th of the price. Same ferry, same bus to the baths. We even saw the Disney excursion folks and they seemed to be on a schedule while I spent the day at the baths without schedule. It worked out very well in the end.

They have lockers at the beach area for $2.00. Bring cash would be my recommendation. Definitely recommend cash. In fact I forgot my card on the boat but fortunately brought cash. There is a nice little shack at the beach that has drinks and such should you need anything. I had my passports with me which was a pain but did not bring the fancy cameras.

The caves are amazing and pretty wild. Expect some serious climbing and crawling. It was absolutely beautiful.

 

[seacruise]

We did the Disney Bath's tour in April when we were on the Magic. There are two walking paths down to the Baths so you can either do a loop or come back on the same path you entered on. We choose to come back the same way we went down so that we could go through the rock formations twice. This was the best choice we made as the Baths were empty coming back out as almost everybody else was doing the loop.

The paths down the beach are a bit rough, but nothing major if you do any sort of hiking. My 70+ year old mother and our 5yr old daughter did it with no problem. I carried a phone and a camera through with no issues, but if you were to fall in the wrong place electronics could definitely get ruined. There are a couple tight squeezes going through, but it's really nothing overly difficult. Biggest pain going through was that it was crowded so had to do a lot of waiting for other people.

We did the shorter of the two Disney tours and felt like we had plenty of time. The Baths are really not very big so it doesn't take long to get through them. We had maybe on hour or so at Devils Bay beach which ended up being plenty of time as they had red flags up warning people not to swim because of the waves.

I'm glad we did it and it was certainly beautiful, but with how long it took to get there and back I don't know that it is something we would choose to do again.

 

[WDWChloe]

Recently returned from the Fantasy and did the baths in Tortola. While I booked too late, the Disney excursion was full. Ironically, we did the same excursion on our own and spent about 1/4th of the price. Same ferry, same bus to the baths. We even saw the Disney excursion folks and they seemed to be on a schedule while I spent the day at the baths without schedule. It worked out very well in the end.

They have lockers at the beach area for $2.00. Bring cash would be my recommendation. Definitely recommend cash. In fact I forgot my card on the boat but fortunately brought cash. There is a nice little shack at the beach that has drinks and such should you need anything. I had my passports with me which was a pain but did not bring the fancy cameras.

The caves are amazing and pretty wild. Expect some serious climbing and crawling. It was absolutely beautiful.

I'm wanting to do this! Did you reserve anything in advance or arrange transportation once you arrived at the port? Curious as I'm having trouble finding accurate pricing/mapping on finding your way to the baths from Tortola port without an excursion. Thanks! ^_^

 

[bgula]

I guess I'm going to be the one downer here. We did the Baths in March. Booked thru Disney, which uses Speedy's. Trip there and back was fine. Walk to and from the Baths beaches were OK - a little long for my Dad who's in his 70's, but he was OK. I think the walk back is more arduous for people. The management of the tours left something to be desired. I don't know if we were just unlucky or whether this is a common occurrence, but as we were trying to head thru the caves, another tour was heading in the opposite direction. This had us waiting, and waiting, and waiting. People were getting annoyed, us included. This, of course, didn't leave much time at the beach once we got thru the caves.
While I found the tour and the "caves" interesting, I wouldn't do it again. The beaches aren't really anything to write home about. I'll take Magen's Bay over either beach on the tour any day. Again, I'm not trying to discourage anyone from doing this tour. I'm glad I did it, but after reading and reading about it for months prior to the cruise, I think all the glowing praise over the beaches and the "caves" made it seem like it was going to be spectacular. I found it OK... interesting - just wouldn't do it again. So my suggestion for those who haven't done it - don't build up your expectations as you might come away disappointed like me and my family.

 

[DCLSailing]

I'm wanting to do this! Did you reserve anything in advance or arrange transportation once you arrived at the port? Curious as I'm having trouble finding accurate pricing/mapping on finding your way to the baths from Tortola port without an excursion. Thanks! ^_^

Only looked online in advance to understand how we might get to the Baths on our own. From there we knew we had to take Speedy's and folks were very friendly and pointed the way to the dock. Bought tickets at the walk-up counter which included a ticket for the bus ride to the Baths. Once there you buy tickets to get down the beach. Very simple process and glad I was not on a schedule as we spent the day on the beach. There were several other Disney families that were doing the same thing as us and all as delighted with the money saved.

 

[caughtabug]

We did the Disney Bath's tour in April when we were on the Magic. There are two walking paths down to the Baths so you can either do a loop or come back on the same path you entered on. We choose to come back the same way we went down so that we could go through the rock formations twice. This was the best choice we made as the Baths were empty coming back out as almost everybody else was doing the loop.

The paths down the beach are a bit rough, but nothing major if you do any sort of hiking. My 70+ year old mother and our 5yr old daughter did it with no problem. I carried a phone and a camera through with no issues, but if you were to fall in the wrong place electronics could definitely get ruined. There are a couple tight squeezes going through, but it's really nothing overly difficult. Biggest pain going through was that it was crowded so had to do a lot of waiting for other people.

We did the shorter of the two Disney tours and felt like we had plenty of time. The Baths are really not very big so it doesn't take long to get through them. We had maybe on hour or so at Devils Bay beach which ended up being plenty of time as they had red flags up warning people not to swim because of the waves.

I'm glad we did it and it was certainly beautiful, but with how long it took to get there and back I don't know that it is something we would choose to do again.

Thanks for your feedback. I'm debating whether to take my DSLR or not. It sounds like I should stick to bringing only my cell phone.

 

[pfp258]

I'm with bgula here....we did the baths a few weeks ago on our Disney Cruise. We booked through Disney and expected an awesome experience. Instead we found the boat ride over was long, the crew on the boat non existent, the boat was dirty etc. There was no water available on the boat before or after the excursion. Took a taxi/bus up to top and they simply dropped us off. There was no direction given. We wandered for a bit and after a bit (we soon realized the same taxi/busses were doing several back and forth trips) they gathered and a woman began shouting about the beaches and how we could go to the Baths if we wanted or stay at the beach. We walked down to the beach and swam for a bit. Suddenly we saw people leaving the beach....guest were asking what was going on. Apparently they were ready to head to the Baths. I think we had two guide which I saw once at the top of the hill and once inside the Baths. Had no idea how to get back....through the Baths? Nobody around to ask. Finally an elderly couple showed us the path back. Waited for lunch buffet (had to try and keep track of two paper "carnival ride" type tickets) to make sure we were part of the Disney cruise. Meal was fine. There was a pool at the top to swim in. No real shopping, an over priced "art" gallery. We were ready to back and the taxis weren't coming for another 45 minutes. Too much effort to get back down to the beach and back. There was also much confusion when taxis came back....were they for our Disney excursion or someone else. Again didn't seem to be any tour guide around. Finally made it back to the boat....it was hot and we had to wait 15-20 minutes for the taxis to make their trips back and forth. No water, no explaining anything, we left after everyone (or presumably everyone) was back on the boat. My husband was not happy. This was our eleventh cruise and one of the worst run excursions we have ever experienced. There was one Disney employee on the excursion and he said he was just gathering information about the excursion. He was absolutely no help, couldn't answer any questions and seemed just as confused as the rest of us. Don't know if it was his responsibility or not. So save your money and either do this excursion on your own or skip it all together!

 

[mmouse37]

That you for the honest reviews. I know where to set my expectations!

MJ

 

[WDWChloe]

Only looked online in advance to understand how we might get to the Baths on our own. From there we knew we had to take Speedy's and folks were very friendly and pointed the way to the dock. Bought tickets at the walk-up counter which included a ticket for the bus ride to the Baths. Once there you buy tickets to get down the beach. Very simple process and glad I was not on a schedule as we spent the day on the beach. There were several other Disney families that were doing the same thing as us and all as delighted with the money saved.

Awesome! Thanks so much! What was the total per person round trip?