A visit to the famous Baths

Breakfast at 8 with Richard to say our goodbyes. He is off to New Mexico today to watch the next launch of his spaceship.

We were happy to be back on PolePole all safe and sound, but it was like an oven inside. We headed straight over to the island Virgin Gorda where we were booked in for yet another PCR test. We anchored out in the bay and dinghy-ed in, only to discover I hadn’t brought shoes, what a pain and we didn’t want to miss our appointment, luckily there was one shop, which happened to be a dive shop that sold flops! What a relief. Our taxi driver told us horror stories about the long queues, so we were overjoyed to only have one person ahead of us. It was all extremely efficient and gentle for a change. Still baffling why we need an exit PCR! Martinique does not require us to have one if we’re fully vaccinated.

Leaving Necker

Back at PolePole we decided to head to the famous BVI Baths. We had been before but must be over 20 years ago now. They are an extraordinary collection of enormous granite boulders, created from a bathysphere. We anchored at a long beach and swam in with flippers as there did not seem to be anywhere obvious to put JeldiJeldi. We found a path around the boulders and got to a point we could go no further without swimming. It looked a tricky slide down to me. I chickened out, and turned back and luckily found the continuation of the path to the next little beach where I found Rowan. Lots of private houses along the way preventing us going inland. We were thwarted once again and I knew that we were still a distance from the main area. I didn’t think I could swim that distance around without flippers so we went back and got JeldiJeldi as we had seen some mooring balls in the main area we could tie up to. It still required another swim to shore, so we are getting our fair share of exercise. I was very pleased to have taken flippers again and sailed past Rowan!

We finally got to the main area, the path leads you under tunnels of enormous boulders with gorgeous white sand and aquamarine water. It is like a jungle gym with ropes and steps up and down the boulders. The shafts of lights coming through the gaps of the boulders make it an impressive sight. We were amazed to catch up with 8 large and slightly older than us (we thought and hoped!) Americans. We were amazed to see them crawling under a rock on all fours, a few let us pass as they were going to take a while. We landed in turbulent water, Rowan found a way through on some very rough submerged rocks, which was tricky when a big wave came through. It definitely was not the right route - as Rowan got back to the beach he saw the correct route, I persuaded the Americans to turn back to find the path. So funny we had all missed it, we had just blindly followed them! There were little arrows directing you occasionally but it could have been better sign posted. We got all the way to Devil’s Beach, which was very steep and obviously has a strong current judging from the amount of caution signs. It’s a very impressive walk and very glad to have done it without the crowds. Apparently on Cruise ship days, it is very frustrating as in the narrow places you spend ages waiting for people to pass coming the other way and it all gets a bit log jammed.

The Baths on Virgin Gorda

Swimming in meant I had no sunglasses or hat which was tough going, luckily it was a cloudy day, but I was still squinting in the glare.

Amazing rock formations, luckily Rowan had brought his Gopro.

PolePole in the distance.

We set off in PolePole mid afternoon to the marina on Scrub Island to meet another of my nephew Lovat’s friends, who have been looking after our brand new outboard motor that Rowan had bought in November 2019 when PolePole was being shipped to the BVI. Richard and his wife Adele are both SAfricans and have lived in the BVI for nearly 10 years, currently they are managing a resort that has had to be rebuilt from the last hurricane, before that they ran charter boats. They had hilarious stories of winging it, she couldn’t cook but was main chef! He had barely sailed big boats before, growing up as a surfer at the sea he was able to bluff his way along. They’ve bought a house on Camanou Island next door to where we are. Their daily work commute from their house is a golf buggy ride to the dock, then a boat ride across to the main island Tortola, then a 40 minute drive in their car to the resort on the apposite end of Tortola. What a mission! They are a lovely couple, we were alarmed when they arrived in their boat with a gigantic box. We can’t fit it inside as we had planned and it has now taken up residence on my bench. Poor Adele is heavily pregnant and still has 6 weeks to go. Poor thing she leaves in a couple of weeks to go and have the baby in Peurto Rico. The BVI will not register babies born here to people who are not ‘belongers’! Which means having to wait until the baby is 10 years old to get a passport. Poor thing will be on her own and chances are Richard might miss the birth. So tough, but they seem to be taking it in their stride. Just so thrilled to be having a baby at 35. He had testicular cancer and loads of chemo, so they were unsure they would ever have kids.

Richard and Adele having drinks in amongst our wet laundry!

We had drinks on board and then we took them to the marina restaurant for supper. Not the greatest food, but good wine and a very obliging, jolly Indian waiter, who made a table up at the pool for us, as the restaurant was full. We had lots of laughs and good stories, which made a very enjoyable evening.

The fish all gathering around the blue light from the boat next door.