Tuesday 27th December
Nowcrew
Fri 30 Dec 2005 22:02
The Baths -
Virgin Gorda
We had planned to
get up very early this morning and sail over to The Baths on Virgin Gorda. Ian
and Ron were the usual early birds and they had the boat ready to up anchor at
7.00am. Everyone else was still in bed when we started the engine the skipper
awoke and joined them.
It was only an hour
across the bay from Marina Cay to The Baths and we arrived early
enough to get the prime mooring next to the little beach at the entrance to the
caves. This was a good move as within the hour the entire bay and all of the
moorings filled up very quickly.
The rest of the crew
awoke to the sound of the waves crashing over the rocks. 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 a dramatic effect. The beach adjacent to the Baths is
white and sandy and the snorkelling excellent.
There is a trail
through the rocks that you can follow through the rocks so Rory, Frazer, Andy
and Ian went exploring.
Once we had
navigated the way through the rocks and passages we found ourselves on a larger
sandy cove from which we decided to swim back to the boat. We saw a group school
of Barracuda on the way back and a lot of very colourful
fish.
After a few hours at
The Baths we went on to a new snorkelling site at The Wreck of the Rhone, Salt
Island.
This was a short
sail away where there is a ship wreck that we snorkelled over just before lunch.
Nicky (as Nico is now known!) made pasta solo that we were all ready for after
so much activity and an early start today.
After lunch we moved
on to Cooper Island Beach Club for the afternoon and inevitably sundowners. The
boys had been learning to row the dingy and were now experts so they spent the
afternoon rowing around the bay.
The rest sat in the
Beach club downing one cocktail after another!
Then the sun went
down and there was a great view of NOW3 just as the sun went
down.
We had a festival of
curry for our dinner cooked up by the skipper as he wanted all of the
tinned food used up before we left Tortola. It was pitch black by 6.30pm and we
set off for Nanny Cay in the dark.
Nowcrew
out.