The Baths Virgin Gorda BVIs

Leaving Bitter End YC, looking at Prickly Pear Island

We had decided to visit The Baths, the famous rock formations on the southeast coast of Virgin Gorda, on the morning of Wednesday 11 April. Our pilot book suggests that an early arrival is key and this had been backed up by our view of a forest of masts in the vicinity of The Baths when we had sailed north the previous day. So Nicky and I had set our alarm for an early start and got going shortly after 0700.

There was little wind to start with as we motored clear of the Bitter End Yacht Club and past the yachts anchored off Prickly Pear Island. Closer to the entrance to Gorda Sound we found the wind with a vengeance and hoisted the main with 2 reefs, partly unrolled the genoa, switched off the engine and shot off! We had a great sail south – a nice broad reach, later becoming a beam reach, blue skies, turquoise seas and beautiful scenery. Early morning sails don’t get much better.

Valley Trunk Bay with The Baths moorings in the distance

All too soon we were off The Baths. We had planned to pick up one of the National Park moorings, as anchoring is not permitted directly off The Baths to protect the seabed, but you are only supposed to stay on these for 90 minutes which we thought would be a bit tight. Slightly further up the coast, however, off Valley Trunk Bay, we saw several yachts at anchor and so we decided to join them. After all, with our new outboard, taking a dinghy ride down to The Baths would be no problem.

Our dinghy moored at the swimming area buoys. We swam ashore from there

And so it proved. We left the dinghy tied to the dinghy line just outside the buoyed off swimming area and swam in to The Baths. Despite the calm waters outside, there was a surprising amount of surf on the shore and, with the uneven rock bottom just at the surfline, getting ashore was unexpectedly hard work. In retrospect, taking the dinghy to Devil’s Bay, the next bay south, and swimming ashore onto the beautiful sand there would have been the way to go – one for next time!

The narrow entrance to the trail

Our pilot book says ‘The Baths are a most unusual formation of large granite boulders. Where the sea washes in between the huge rocks, large pools have been created where shafts of light play upon the water, creating dramatic effects’. I couldn’t have put it better myself. The National Parks Authority has established an inconspicuous trail through the rocks, running from The Baths to Devil’s Bay. We found the entrance, a narrow slot in the rocks now no longer marked by palm trees, and stepped into a watery, glistening world, quite different to the brightly lit beach outside.

We were very fortunate in the timing of our visit to The Baths. Anne and Jonathon (Sophia) had said that when they visited a cruise ship had been in port and walking the trail without bumping into other people was virtually impossible. Going through some of the narrow passages required much ‘after you’, ‘no, no, after you’. We, however, almost had the place to ourselves. There were some other visitors but nowhere near enough to spoil our enjoyment of the place. Another benefit of visiting in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

Devil’s Bay

Eventually, we came out at Devil’s Bay, and what a beautiful bay it is too.

Devil’s Bay

Nicky and Charlotte were so taken by it that they insisted on swimming and, after taking some obligatory photos, I joined them. My only disappointment is that all my pictures have been taken with either my waterproof camera or our small digital camera. My ‘good’ camera, with the polarising filter, I left on BV as I was concerned about swimming it ashore in a (supposedly) waterproof bag. In retrospect, I should have put it in one of the many large waterproof food boxes we have on board as I would definitely have got even better pictures of the place with it, ones that would likely have done proper justice to the scenery – another one for next time!

Devil’s Bay

The Baths was just an amazing place to explore. The National Parks Authority have done a brilliant job in creating the trail that had us clambering over rocks, squeezing between boulders and, where necessary, using the wooden platforms and ladders to get over the otherwise impassable bits. It’s just the sort of scenery that you imagine when you think of the Caribbean and we were so lucky to visit when there were so few people there. Very much one of the top highlights of our time in the Caribbean.

Back on BV – the beach at Valley Trunk Bay was pretty idyllic too!

The Baths, Virgin Gorda, BVIs