Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI to The Baths, Virgin Gorda to Norman’s Island, BVI

March 25, 2014

We left Savannah Bay and headed straight to The Baths on Virgin Gorda.  This is the top thing to see in the British Virgin Islands and we weren’t going to miss it.  We arrived by 9 a.m. and easily found a day-use mooring ball to connect to and we set out in D-Time to see The Baths.  Since there are so many people, you have to dock your dinghy 100 yards off the coast on a line and swim in.  Not a big deal, but I wanted to carry my iPhone so I could take pictures, so I put it in a water proof case and just to be safe, held it above the water as we swam in.  The Baths were amazing, so glad we stopped to see them!  They are huge boulders, with smaller ones, that form small swim areas with waves coming over some.  There is a trail that takes you up, over and squeezing sideways through the rocks to get to the other side.  They’ve built some ladders and installed some ropes to help you get through.  It was really neat.  We timed it well going early because when we were leaving the buses were arriving with lots of people.  We started heading back to D-Time and realized we had left the ladder for me to climb aboard D-Time back on C-Time.  There is no way I can get in D-Time without some help or a ladder.  There was a beach on the otherside of some huge boulders (the boulders were about 200 yards long) and I know Daniel could drive D-Time up there to pick me up so I said I would climb the boulders (how hard could it be?) and meet him on the beach, 200 yards away.  From here on out, I blame the cell phones.  If we had cell phones, the following events would have turned out differently. 

I headed for the boulders and Daniel headed for D-Time.  I got about 20 yards into the boulders and decided this wasn’t going to work, so I turned around and headed after Daniel.  By the time I saw him, he was climbing into D-Time.  I started swimming as hard as I could (and hold up my stupid iPhone) and made it about halfway and he never saw me, he drove off.  Crap!  I turned around and swam back to shore and headed back to the boulders.  I figured Daniel had headed to the beach and was waiting on me, so I better hurry.  (See how a working cell phone would have been beneficial here?)  I make it back to the boulders and make it about 40 yards, climbing like our boys did in the Smokey Mountains years ago.  Jumping from rock to rock, in my swimsuit, holding my iPhone – just a regular mountain climber.  I make it to a point that I just can’t go any further when a man shows up behind me and offers to help.  So he grabs my hand and pulls me to one big boulder, then the next and he said “you’ve got it now?”  and I said, “sure, no problem, thanks for the help”.  He goes on and is quickly out of sight.  I continue my little jumps and climbs, feeling very proud of myself until I get to a spot, I can’t go anymore again.  I realize, I can’t even turn back – I had climbed up and set myself on a big rock and literally, couldn’t go anywhere.  By this time, I turn to look at the water, desperate for some help, when I see Daniel back out where the dinghies tie up, holding the ladder I need to get into D-Time with.  (Stupid cell phones!  I could have waited on the beach while he got the ladder.)  He is way too far for me to holler for help – what do I do?  I start crying…and crying.  I must have stood there for 5 minutes trying to figure a way out of the mess I had gotten myself into and was crying.  Finally, a sweet young couple came around a big boulder and I was like, would you please help me get down from here?  I know they thought I was nuts.  The guy was so sweet, I was balling and he was helping me down.  I finally dried up, thanked my new friends, and made my way back to the beach.  Then I had to swim the 100 yards to D-Time, again, holding my stupid iPhone above the water.  I made it back, finally, exhausted and scrapped up, but I made it.

Once we got back on C-Time we headed for Norman’s Island.  It was a 3 hour sail, really nice sail. It was probably the nicest sail we have had on the trip.  The wind was coming from the right direction and steady about 10-15 knots.  Blue skies and not a cloud in the sky.  We put the sails up and didn’t have to touch them for 3 hours.  Amazing!

 Norman’s Island has “the Caves” and some excellent snorkeling, the guide book says, so we hop in D-Time to check it out.  We found the caves, they didn’t go far into the mountain side, just far enough to be neat.  We enjoyed snorkeling there.  We tied D-Time up to a line the National Park has out for you to tie up to, no place to land.  Daniel brought the ladder.  All was good.  We snorkeled and headed back to D-Time and came upon a man, woman and child who had parked their dinghy next to D-Time.  They were all 3 circling the dinghy.  They said, we didn’t think when we got out, how we were going to get back in our dinghy.  The guy was probably 300 pounds, his wife, 350 pounds and the son, very chunky.  The guy finally made it into the dingy, with Daniel helping to push him up.  The wife tried and tried and couldn’t get in.  Daniel was again, pushing, I was pushing, their son was pushing - she was not getting in.  D-Time kept running into them, so we climbed aboard D-Time and moved it out of the way.  We turned around and the man was pulling and the son was pushing and somehow the woman made it into the dinghy.  It wasn’t pretty.