Day 4 - Tortola - and some very unique Baths
While I try to fight with my photo issue, I thought I'd get the text up here about day 4. In addition to photo frustration, my workplace is in the midst of a big move (it's not pretty) and we just survived the great end of season ice-show, requiring about 10,000 additional rehearsals (give or take), thus my screeching to a halt of a review. However, things have settled a bit, so let's see if I can get us onto some islands already.
DH had been delegated to "sort out Tortola" and he did a great job getting us to and from the Baths without the help of any rodents. I was happy enough to just follow instructions (mostly) for the day.
What are the Baths? From a reliable source (cough cough cough ... Wikipedia!) - it's a beach area, but with all kinds of "piles of boulders on the beach. The boulders form natural tidal pools, tunnels, arches, and scenic grottoes that are open to the sea. The largest boulders are about 40 feet (12 m) long." Yep- they're immense. And We Love Rocks in our house. Well, DH and Conor love rocks, and I go along with it.
There are
DCL Port Adventures that you can do, but we had our last Port Adventure in Alaska, we swore, so we did this one on our own. DH found lots of info on-line, including on (ahem) other boards- and it's really simple.
So- with that...
Step 1: Get up early enough to not rush - at about 7:00 a.m. in our case. We were generally ready the night before (swim gear ready to don, backpacks packed, sun screen at the ready), so it was a pretty easy morning, especially since we pre-ordered breakfast the night before and ate on the veranda (supplemented with coffee of course). I will note here I was very glad we all had our swimsuits on (in my case, under my shorts/top) for when we got to the actual Baths. We breakfasted and got ready for the day, and were ready to disembark shortly after they called all ashore. I'll note here that really good hiking sandals that can get wet are essential (we all have Keens). We got through the line up painlessly (having nabbed our beach towels first), and were on shore at 8:15 or so.
Voila how we do breakfast on these days.
Step 2: We had a short (10 minute?) walk to the pier where the ferries run- easy and straightforward. DH was on the ball- so he bought us return tickets with Speedy's (one of 2 companies, I think?) to Virgin Gorda - the island where the Baths are located, which included transportation on the other end to the Baths. We stuck our bracelets on, and waited for about 30 minutes (DH doesn't like to be late...) in the waiting area, gazing agog at the real estate magazines.
Step 3: We boarded the ferry at 9:00 a.m. - and relaxed up on the top deck- enjoying the views.
This took about 30 minutes or so.
Step 4: We disembarked at Virgin Gorda, and followed directions to a bunch of open air taxis. There was about a 15 minute wait here, due to all the traffic, but it was fine. Then it's about another 10-15 minute drive to the top of the Baths. It's not exactly picturesque so no photos.
Step 5: We paid to go to the Baths- and started hiking. Here is where Conor stopped being grumpy- he loves a good hike.
So- you start by doing down if you're doing the actual cool grottos, tidal pools, etc- which I recommend, but ONLY if you are up for some adventure and are not averse to getting wet, going down ladders, and squeezing through some small-ish spaces, in the dark. We do love this stuff, but I realize it's not for everyone- so fair warning. Basically- picture a wet, rocky play structure, with some tight squeezes, and you've got the Baths. Conor has never met a play structure he doesn't like, and if you add water, rocks, ladders, and ropes, well, it's just amaze-balls.
But first, you walk down and see some cool cacti along the path until you get to the water. Conor likes to take photos of nature, so he did. A lot. The signage isn't great, but we kept heading down to the water, and ended up, suddenly at the cool grottos.
We don't have many photos of the grottos themselves, because it was all hands on deck (and thus no hands on cell phones or cameras) in order to climb up and down rocks in the water. It's not deep at all - at most, it was up to my thighs, usually much less so, but you will be walking through water (thus the need for good sandals).
DH did go back with Conor a bit later and got a few photos...
Step 6: Collapse on beach, feeling VERY VIRTUOUS for your rather adventurous morning. At least, I collapsed. Conor was ready and raring to go, and loved playing in the waves. DH meandered a bit but did more of the collapsing for sure. It did rain ... for a whole 10 minutes, and then it passed.
Mostly, we just hung out. I admired the big rocks. The sand isn't exactly powder soft, but, hey, we're Canadian, any sand in the winter is good for us. We hung my shorts up on the trees to dry out and it was windy enough that this worked well.
Big awesome rocks.
At one point, we were invaded by the stickered folks- people from 2 different cruises (ours included) who were being herded sheep-like to their short time on the beach. They then left. I continued to ponder the rocks as they left, feeling superior, for not having to rush.
Finally- at about 11:30 or so, we decided to head back up, in order to eat lunch.
(Note- there are bathrooms, and a snack place, and you can get some souvenir t-shirts. There is a place to wash your feet - handy- and not much else, but it's fine for us. There may have been more things but I didn't notice them. DH states there are lockers- but we didn't use them.)
Step 7: What goes down, must go up, it seems, so we had to wander up to the top again ... but up is much easier than down, ironically. (No caves.) It's still up, but it's not bad at all if you take your time.
This led us to the restaurant at the top - there are also a lot of little shops and a pool, and, bizarrely, Conor wanted to swim in the pool... so we let him. It's small, but hey, much less crowded than those on the ship, so why not? (It's free.)
Lunch was pretty good- mostly seafood of the fried variety, but yummy. We perused the shops and bought a few souvenirs, and then waited for what seemed like a long time for the taxi, but I think we were all just exhausted from the morning's fun.
Finally- the taxi arrived, in plenty of time for the 3:30 p.m. ferry departure, which would get us back in plenty of time for our 5:45 all aboard.
Step 8/9/10: Basically we reversed 1, 2 and 3 (so 3, 2, and 1....!) and got back to the ship by 4:30 or so (we were slowed down by the need to buy an ice cream).
So- that's it. I forget how much it all cost, but it was WAY less than what we would have paid on DCL, and we avoided most line-ups, and hassles, and schedules.
Next post... on board, after our wild excitement on shore. And more photos. I hope. Maybe. We'll see.
for us it's a good $20 spent on a nice afternoon buzz
I'm dying to know what the secret pin is!!!
