Breakaway Part 1–The Baths of Virgin Gorda

One of the “must-see” things to do while on vacation in St. John is to take a tour of the Baths at Virgin Gorda.  So we booked a group tour on the good ship, Breakaway, and set out for day trip to see the sights on the neighboring British Virgin Islands.  It was worth getting up at the crack of dawn to get to the boat docks on time.

Just sit right back
And you’ll hear a tale
A tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
Aboard this tiny ship.

Not sure if that would have been my first choice for boat tunes, but Captain John thought it was funny – we’d later discover he had a great sense of humor. 

While we road the waves past St. John and Tortola, first-mate Jenny gave us all the safety info about the boat and told us a little of what we could expect on our day trip. 

 

The views of the mountains and shoreline were just incredible. 

And even rainbows are more spectacular arching over the blue-green waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Finally, after about an hour and a half, we made it to Virgin Gorda where we would spend the morning touring the Baths.

The “Baths” gets it’s name from the unique batholithic rock formations created during the island’s volcanic origins.  Over millions of years, the granite boulders have eroded forming the interesting caves, pools, and grottos that you can crawl in and around.  

Jenny, our fearless leader/first mate led us through the narrow opening at the entrance.  This lovely pool was waiting for us on the other side.  It’s called the Cathedral Room and it is the most photographed location in the Caribbean.  And it’s no wonder…it’s breathtaking.  (Fun fact – Tyra Banks’ first Sports Illustrated photo shoot was shot at this very spot.)

After a brief stop for photos, the tour pushed on and we followed the “rail” up to the next area.

The massive granite boulders were beyond beautiful.

The tour continued and we walked, and climbed, and crawled from one incredible “room” to the next.

Each one just as beautiful as the last.

And once we made it through to the other side, we were greeted by still more interesting and unusual rock formations.

A lot of the formations have names, so for instance this one is called “One-eyed Jack-o-lantern.”

Finally after we made it through the rocks, we came to a spectacular white-sand beach where our group took advantage of the short break to take a dip and cool off.   “Hi Carrie!”

But it was a short dip because a rain clouds were quickly approaching.

So we made a mad dash through the nature walk while trying to not to get completely drenched.

We waited out the downpour under the protection of the little shops at the end of the trail.  Then our group loaded up in the taxi and headed back to our boat.  Next stop, snorkeling at the island of Tortola.

Peace, Kelly