We made to the exit/entrance around 9:40 and, after a quick bathroom break, we celebrated our success the best way we could that early in the morning…RUM PUNCH AT THE POOR MAN’S BAR!
We sat around, talked, and people-watched for about 15-20 minutes before heading down to the Baths beach.
While there, I pointed out to Sheri how far out the moorings were for this beach, and we both agreed that we all would have been able to swim in from there. Around 10:30, we made our way back up to the Top of the Baths in the hopes that we would be ahead of most of the others on the excursion. There were several taxis available, and, as we started walking towards the guides, they asked if we got our free rum punch yet?
More rum punch? FREE??
OUTTA MY WAY!!!!!!
The guide pointed us towards the location, and it was surprisingly quiet for being free alcohol. Aaron was first to the table, and I could see the guy sizing him up to guess if he was 21 or not. While I didn’t think he’d actually try to get one, I made sure the guy handing out the punch knew he was only 14 so he and his brother would get the nonalcoholic version.
We downed the drinks quickly and hopped in a taxi for the ride back to Spanish Town. On the way back, we talked with a couple of girls from central California; inevitably, the discussion turned to Wine Country, as we were interested in what they knew about (Central Coast), and they were interested in our favorite wine area (Napa/Sonoma). They were great; in fact, the entire taxi was awesome. There were a number of times where the entire taxi ended up in the same conversation or a joke.
We made it back to the ferry a little after 11:00; we had a little bit of time to just marvel at the color of the water and reflect where we were.
We again opted for the lower level inside. Though it was still before noon, the boys were wiped out, and they were snoring before we even cast off.
The ride back to Tortola seemed quite a bit smoother than the ride to Virgin Gorda, and we were walking back towards the Escape around noon. The ride back apparently made the boys starving, so we made a beeline for O’Sheehan’s as soon as we made it back on the ship.
Put...the camera...down...and let...me EAT!
While there, Michell came in and sat a couple of tables away. We talked with her for a few minutes to catch up on how things were going. I had a question or two regarding my being a travel agent and being able to post cruise reports over on Cruise Critic, and she gave some great advice.
Sheri was getting a bit tired, so she headed out to our room before dessert – the boys and I (of course) had to try out dessert (in the name of research, of course). After dessert, we made our way back up to our room, where Sheri was finishing up putting some stuff away. The boys, after eating nearly half their body weight just a few minutes earlier, decided that a siesta was in order for them. They turned the television on with low volume and found a place to crash. Sheri and I headed out to the balcony to just sit, watch, and talk for a little bit. As much as we loved St. Thomas and St. John, I think we both agreed that Tortola was even more beautiful. We spent around 20-30 minutes out there, watching the watercraft arriving/leaving the area. We also watched the crowds returning to the ship.
I'm going to preface this post by mentioning that I am writing this only a few days after Hurricane Irma devastated many of the islands that we visited on this cruise; in particular, the British Virgin Islands, along with the U.S. Virgin Islands, received extensive damage. While I write this day's events with the same style that I have thus far done so with the rest of the report, you may notice that there is a significant increase in the pictures included. This is intentional: while these islands begin the rebuilding process, I want people to remember the way it was prior to the damage rather than remembering the impact that Irma had. That being said, please keep in mind that it will take time and money for the residents of these islands to attain some semblance of normalcy. I do not want to include any one particular organization; if you feel so inclined, I'm sure that any donation will help the people of the islands that so many love.
I set my Garmin Watch to start vibrating around 5:45, and I quietly got out of bed soon after. Following the same protocol as the previous day, I grabbed the GoPro and mounted it outside on the left balcony divider. I started the time lapse just in time, because the pilot’s boat was heading towards us. The other three were stirring, so I got ready first while they worked on waking up. I think it was around this time that both Sheri and I realized that today was our 20-year Anniversary. We exchanged cards and read them for a couple of moments…quick kiss, and then back to the grindstone, as we had a tight schedule in the morning.
Don’t worry…that wasn’t the extent of our anniversary celebration. More to come later on that.
We flew up to Garden Café around 6:30 and found it to be eerily quiet. We felt like we could have run around the entire buffet area naked without anyone seeing us. Still, we opted for a quick grab-and-go with some fruit and headed back to our stateroom for final prep for our excursion to Virgin Gorda and the Baths. Sheri was bust getting a day bag prepped, while I worked on getting everyone’s waterproof phone cases set up for the day.
Coming into Tortola:
At 7:00, we were at our meeting point for the excursion…the Escape Theater. We received a few quick instructions and were soon following an escort off the ship. It was a short 5- to 7-minute walk from the gangway to the area where our ferry was waiting for us. I contemplated sitting up on the open-air top of the ferry, but I had previously read about how rough this passage could be; 30-40 minutes of constant slamming into the swells might have done Sheri and Aaron in, so I suggested we headed to the lower level indoors.
Yeah…that was a good decision.
Once we were full, we left the dock and floated slowly by the Escape, which made for a good photo opportunity. Once we cleared the primary waters of Road Town, they opened up the throttle, and the sea started throwing her swells at us. Immediately, Sheri looked for the nearest life saver and contemplated putting it on. Aaron did his best to not turn green.
Eric and I put our hands in the air and treated it like a roller coaster ride (complete with an occasional, “WHEEEEEE….GO FASTER!!! LET’S GO UPSIDE DOWN!!!”).
One of the employees handed out wrist bands for all of those on the excursion as well as liability waivers. We received some more guidance on what to expect once we got to Spanish Town, which was where the ferry was to dock on Virgin Gorda.
After about 25-30 minutes (to Sheri and Aaron, it probably seemed more like 2-3 hours), we felt the engines slowing down, and we started catching glimpses of the Union Jack flying over the island we were approaching. We all thought that was pretty cool – though none of us thought about looking for it at Tortola LOL. We docked, and the two motion-sickness-prone members of the Mushfam kissed the ground soon after we hopped off.
There were members of the excursion team guiding us to open-air taxis. As one filled up, it headed out. We were fortunate enough to be the second or third taxi out, and, about ten minutes later, we entered The Baths National Park and hopped off the taxi a few steps away from the Top of the Baths Restaurant. There, we sought out our “contact” for what to expect next. We were to first head down to Devil’s Bay and enjoy the beach there for a little while; then, guides would gather us together, and we would all head into the maze. The guy giving us the instructions also pointed out the flags flying nearby: Yellow and Bluish-Purple. Yellow meant that the waters were a little choppy and that boats mooring should not leave their boats unattended. Blue/Purple? Well, that meant that jellyfish were present in the water.
Grreeeaaaattttt!!!!!! Oh, and, yes, there was at least one Spongebob Squarepants joke mentioned when the guide told us the reason for the flags.
Sheri and Aaron, having been jostled around for the better part of an hour, made their ways to the restrooms. I grabbed Eric, and we headed into the restaurant and got 4 waters (yes, they took U.S. Dollars). Sheri met us as we were heading out, and we started our way down the path to Devil’s Bay.
Inside Top of the Baths
Slightly backed up here
It was a longer walk than I had anticipated, but there were excursion guides along the way to help make sure we were headed into the right direction. When we arrived to Devil’s Bay, I think all of us took a look at others’ wrists to make sure that we didn’t miss the entrance into the rock maze.
Despite it being the longest day of the year in the middle of summer, the water was surprisingly cool! We walked around and people-watched for about 15 minutes before starting to get a little nervous about the tour.
The color of that water...WOW!
Luckily, we overheard another couple talking about it, too, and they were heading to the maze. We quickly decided to follow them.
About 50 feet into the path back towards the Top of the Baths, a sign pointed us to The Baths. We jogged left past one of the guides stationed on the path, who didn’t object to the direction we were going, and we soon found ourselves at the exit of the maze. Yeah, yeah…we were going to do the Maze backwards, even though hours of research assumed we were entering from the North side.
This ended up being an amazing decision – we honestly were not sure when (or even if) the tour group was going to start going through, but we knew that we wanted to catch an earlier ferry back to Tortola and also knew that the Baths crowds increased as the morning progressed. We had minimal waits for pretty much the entire walk through, and, other than the Cathedral (which was expected), there weren’t too many people at all in there!
Obligatory Picture in the Cathedral
I made sure to include several clips in the video from this day.
