We finally made it to Virgin Gorda!

We picked up a mooring on Wednesday, April 4th in the Norman Bight at N18 18.890 W64 37.020 and we all went snorkeling at the Caves. Reinhart and I had done this before in the morning a few weeks ago, but it was much nicer in the afternoon and the fish were all sparkly in the sunlight. We originally thought The Caves were a bit overrated, but they really lived up to their reputation this time. Reinhart and I also did a little snorkel in The Bight…we were surrounded the entire time by thousands upon thousands of little bait fish; it was eerie and fun at the same time.

We weren’t quite ready to say goodbye to Jen and Sean, so we followed Dionysus over to the south side of St. John on Thursday and picked up a mooring in Salt Pond Bay at N18 18.490 W64 42.355. The snorkeling was fine, but the trail by the stinky salt pond revealed a better treat. The trail lead over to the windward side of Coral Bay where a rocky beach was covered in boulders, broken coral, and driftwood. People, many people, had erected sculptures with the broken rocks and coral…from tiny little stick figures, to large mermaids, to balancing acts. We all added our own artwork, and added a piece here and there to the tall balancing piles or wooden structures. We had one last meal together and said our goodbyes…it was time for Jen and Sean to get back to the real world and time for us to get a little east.

We sailed to Road Town, Tortola and tossed out an anchor near the customs dock at N18 25.030 W64 36.965. We didn’t realize that it was a holiday (Good Friday) until we got onto land and the whole town was locked up tight. We went back to the boat and had a rocky night, Maia bucking every time one of the many ferries came flying by. We had a nice trip into town on Saturday when everything was as lively as a capital city ought to be. We got some reasonable grocery shopping done and had a nice walk, but we really aren’t city folk, so we came back to Maia and set sail for the Virgin Gorda Baths.

We visited The Baths back in 1994, but a few years later found out that we really hadn’t “done” The Baths; we had just been around them. We were looking forward to the opportunity to finally see what all of the fuss was about. It was packed with boats when we arrived late Saturday afternoon, all of the park moorings were taken, so we decided to drop anchor a little north at N18 26.400 W64 26.660 and wait until Sunday morning to see the sights. I watched the anchor fall all the way to the bottom in 20 feet of water, something that hadn’t happened since the Bahamas; we looked around us and we were surrounded by the clearest bright turquoise water we’ve seen in the Virgins. Around 5pm all of the boats anchored around us or beached in front of us started to leave and the moorings further south were vacated; by sunset, we were left in this beautiful place with just 3 other boats. We woke up to a calm lake-like morning and dinghied over to The Baths. It is an unusual formation of large granite boulders on the edge of the water; the sea washes in through the boulders and creates beautiful little pools either in the sun or under granite cathedral ceilings. We had a wonderful little barefoot hike through The Baths and then over the beaches on the south side of Virgin Gorda. We dinghied back to the boat for lunch and prepared to leave for Gorda Sound. We were just getting ready to weigh anchor when we noticed the beautiful secluded palm lined beach in front of us, was deserted. How can you leave a deserted white sand beach in these beautiful waters? We couldn’t, so we swam in to shore and played on the beach until sunset…we can leave another day. In the morning we watched the sea life around us, went for a swim, played on the beach and planned to leave for Gorda Sound; however, we heard Dionysus was on his way north and could make it by late afternoon, and Splendido was on their way south and could be in by dinner. Spledido hosted a dinner at our little anchorage, and we’d be staying for a third night. It was only unfortunate that 7 other boats also decided to stay that night, making for a crowded spot. Reinhart and I, along with Jack, joined Micheal and the crew from Splendido, Jeremy and Ralf & Martha (excuse any misspellings). We met Michael and Jeremy in George Town, but this was the first time meeting Ralf from Germany and Martha from the Bahamas, who live in George Town and have been with Michael since leaving the Bahamas. Martha fixed a wonderful supper, we had a tour of the lovely Splendido (Beneteau 57), and we all talked into the wee hours of the night.

Overnight the weather started getting rougher and our perfect anchorage turned into a perfect rolly anchorage; both Spelendito and Dionysus teased us about encouraging them to come to such an uncomfortable anchorage, but the pristine beauty could not be denied. We headed back to The Baths on Tuesday morning with Jack. The weather really made a difference; this rough weather made for beautiful wave crashes on the boulders and the pools were filled and emptied with the active surf; it was even more beautiful than before. When we got back to the boat, the crew of Splendido came over to tour Maia and before we knew it, hours had passed and we were going to spend another night at this anchorage. We all dinghied into nearby Spanish Town for dinner and had another great night. We petered out early, separated from the gang, and headed into bed; we were disappointed to learn Splendido then went on to hit The Baths at 10pm with flashlights…oh, how would have loved that…we should know by now to leave sleep for some other time, so we don’t miss out on outings like that! We said our goodbyes to Splendido on Wednesday morning; they’ll be making their way back up to the Bahamas soon. It was great seeing Michael and Jeremy one last time; I hope we’ll bump into Jeremy again, in some distant port and I expect we’ll give Micheal a call when we are up in his home port in New York. We really enjoyed meeting Ralf and Martha, and we’ll track them down if we ever get back around to George Town.

We had an excellent sail to Gorda Sound on Wednesday and dropped anchor in Leverick Bay at N18 30.045 W64 23.310. We had drinks at the beach bar and dinner on Maia, and here we are on Thursday doing laundry in this beautiful setting with an excellent wifi signal. We’ll be heading to St. Martin early next week to meet up with the sailing gang…and we think we’ve about convinced Jack to join us for part of that trip as well. If we don’t update the blog by next Monday, then we’ll be updating you en francais from lovely St. Martin.