Top of the Baths and The Most Beautiful View in the World - Part Two of Day Six in the British Virgin Islands

Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:

This is part eight in a 9,200,345 part series on my vacation to the British Virgin Islands.  It is also Part Two of my blog post about Day Six of the trip.  Eight, two, six - it's like the magic numbers on the TV show "Lost" but with significantly less viewers.

A note to those who haven't seen my previous posts - having some issues loading my pictures via my iPad so check back in a couple weeks to see the glorious photos that accompany these posts.

So where did we leave off from yesterday's post?  Asian-French fusion lunch and a near miss death by raging caterpillar ... ah yes, it's all coming back to me.  On this particular sailing charter of the Yacht Promenade, my sister Squidge is the only guest who has never been to the BVI and the only guest who had never previously before been on the sailboat.  As such, there are a couple "must see" places that I wanted to make sure Squidge saw (whether she wanted to or not).  One of those places was "The Baths" - an area on Virgin Gorda where there are large boulders and a cave.  If my limited knowledge of history is correct, the reason it is called "The Baths" is because the slave traders would take their "goods" (a.k.a. human beings) to the baths to have them washed up before sale.  Today, "The Baths" is a chain of large boulders where you walk, crawl and climb through to get to Devil's Bay beach.  (FYI, my knowledge of the BVI history is second or thirdhand, so I make no guarantees on its accuracy.  Hopefully the BVI stories I hear are NOT like my telling Squidge that the tallest building in the Middle East is called the Wiz Khalifa.)  

Felix and Jessica took Squidge and I to the beach on the "starting end" of The Baths by dinghy.  We got out of the dinghy and trudged through the soft white sand to the entrance of The Baths.  Squidge looked at me puzzled and I said "Crawl through those rocks" but she did it.  Then we walked further and spotted a wooden structure between the rocks.  To help the tourists, the BVI tourism board or whomever - added ropes and stairs and ladder-type structures to help the less than agile climbers get through the boulders with minimal scrapes and damage.  I was very glad that I was wearing my rash guard because at almost 5'9" I cannot make myself as compact as the shorties when climbing through tiny holes between boulders.  At one point I felt a sharp scrape across the top of my back when hunched over.  Without my rashguard, I am quite sure I would have been bloody.      

We climbed up and down the giant boulders.  Inbetween the climbs were shallow tide pools.  On one large boulder there was a rope attached to help you gently climb down without slipping down and turning your buttocks into a gory mess.  Tourists with cocktails in hand were utterly confused at this somewhat physical tour site.  One woman looked at us and said "Is this The Baths?"  I looked at her, somewhat cockeyed and said "Yep, you're in The Baths. You're right in the middle of it."  Other tourists gathered around me - evidently I was the only person who had ever been to The Baths before.  More cocktail-holding tourists asked if there were short cuts - did they have to climb through all the rocks.  I pointed out the swimming short cut that went around The Baths instead of through.  I received many a welcome thank you - evidently the cocktail-swigging tourists had had enough of geology and history.

Squidge and I finished our trek through the boulders and ended up on the other side of the beach next to the "Poor Man's Bar."  I showed Squidge Devil's Bay before we started the on land climb to "The Top of the Baths."  The walkway up to the top of the hill is a series of wood-braced dirt steps with a couple pathways through rock formations.  Your reward for this climb is a beautifully landscaped area with a freshwater pool, a restaurant and bar, several shops and a salon - in case you want a post-climb pedicure.  There is a foot bath before you reach the freshwater pool so you can leave the sand from Devil's Bay behind and not drag it into the pool.

It was quite hot - you forget how much cooler the weather is when you live on a sailboat.    We decided that a drink was in order first.  Squidge ordered a frozen mango daiquiri.  She opted for a non-alcoholic virgin variety due to the heat.  I was not as smart and ordered a Strawberry Shortcake drink - amaretto, strawberries and ice cream blended.  Even though I also ordered a bottle of water to help with hydration, I drank the frozen alcoholic drink much too fast.  Then I ordered a BBC - a frozen drink with banana, Bailey's Irish Cream and Coconut Cream.  Delicious, but again alcohol plus heat is not a good combination.  

We decided to order an appetizer so I could have some carbs to cushion the alcohol.  We ordered the combo fritters platter - conch, crab and spinach fritters.  Out from the kitchen came a plate with six mini donuts.  The spinach ones were a lush green.  The world's tiniest lime wedge accompanied the platter as well as some unknown flavor dipping sauce.  The crab ones were our 2nd favorite and the conch ones were just OK.  The only conch fritters I like in the entire world are Captain Kerry's vegetable and conch fritters.  She pulverizes the conch in a blender so that you have the wonderful briny flavor without the rubbery chewiness.

After our drink and snack, Squidge headed to the freshwater pool at the Top of the Baths, while I took pictures.  I love the wide variety of colors of flowers.  The Top of the Baths wins my "Best Landscaping" award.  It really does feel like paradise as you sit on top of a mountain looking down on The Baths and the Bay - and watching the sailboats going to and fro.  

If you tire of the billion dollar view, there is a shop that sells gorgeous resort wear, an art gallery, a spa and then of course a souvenir shop that sells t-shirts, Sunny Caribee spices and hot sauce, sunscreen and other BVI touristy items.  The souvenir shop also has a massive boulder on the inside of the shop - they basically built the store around the rock.  Never forget you are at The Baths!

I eventually persuaded Squidge to leave the beautiful freshwater pool so that we could catch a cab to head over to Leverick Bay to meet the Yacht Promenade.  We walked to the parking lot next to the Top of the Baths.  A cab driver was flirting with a woman who worked at the National Parks visitor desk.  We paid $30 to take the scenic route over the mountain to Leverick Bay.  I have no idea if this is cheap or expensive.  Everything here seems to be $30.  The taxi driver called out to the lady that he would be coming back for her after he dropped us off.  She asked him what his name was and he said "You'll have to wait to find out when I come back."  Evidently this is some sort of Virgin Gorda flirting technique.

Captain Chad had told us that the taxi ride from The Baths to Leverick Bay would have incredible views.  We had given him a skeptical look, as if he were trying to oversell that we should take a cab to meet them instead of having the boat wait for us.  But what do you know, the fluffy-haired, good-looking Charter Captain was absolutely correct.  This taxi ride was one of the most scenic I had ever taken.  

We started off on the taxi ride and after about 2 blocks, the taxi driver said he should probably stop for gas.  I agreed that that was a good thing.  He passed a sweets shop called "Lily's Sweet Retreat."  I was happy to see such a well-named site - AND selling sugary products.  Win-win.  Squidge said I should jump out and take a picture - but I was content sitting in the taxi as the driver pumped gas.  Squidge asked me if I had ever been in a cab that had to stop for gas - I said "sadly yes, I have taken taxis in many a third world nation."  Squidge said this was a first for her.  I told her if she continued to travel, it would not be the last time.  

The ride was filled with rises and climbs on narrow roads.  We were at the top of Virgin Gorda and it felt like the whole world was laid out before us.  This was probably as close to majestic as I would ever feel - the panorama ahead of us felt like our whole lives were ahead of us, brimming with possibility and promise.  I felt like anything could happen when you were this high up gazing across the beautiful, sparkling masses of land and water.

Not everything was smooth sailing on the taxi drive, our driver took the small bending roads a little too fast for my tastes at times and the seat belts quickly went on.  On a couple of the very tight roads, I grabbed Squidge's hand as if I could save her if her door swung open over a cliff.  

I can't even describe how beautiful this ride was.  An avid fan of Greek Mythology, I felt like we were riding along the narrow spine of a giant green beast and gazing upon a sea kingdom on both sides.  Perhaps we were Sea Princesses and the island of Virgin Gorda was our mythical sailing beast.  When Squidge and I stayed at the Village Cay hotel, there was a boat named Kraken in the adjacent marina.  As a consequence, I had been yelling "RELEASE THE KRAKEN!" at inappropriate times and with annoying frequency.  It was my own version of Kraken-Tourette's.  

Our taxi driver was very nice and pointed out various landmarks.  At one of the higher points, we could see Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island.  Must be nice to own your own island in the BVI.  This is my third trip to the British Virgin Islands - each time I have the goal to somehow meet Sir Richard Branson and he would be so enthralled by meeting me, that he would hire me to be his house manager and would build me a separate guesthouse for myself and the cats - and I would spend the rest of my life on Necker Island.  So far this has not yet happened, but I stay optimistic.

Eventually we arrived at Leverick Bay.  There is a small resort hotel near the beach where "The Legendary Michael Beans" plays for Happy Hour.  Except Michael Beans is a Pirate and so it's actually called "Happy Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."  We were early to meet the boat by almost an hour and a half.  We went to the resort's spa to see if they had any open pedicure appointments.  In typical Murphy's nail law, the ruby red nail polish on my big toe had a big chip in it about one hour after I boarded the boat.  Like "The Princess and the Pea," the bare spot on my big toe was causing me considerable bother.  The resort spa was completely empty, but the woman behind the desk said they had no open appointments - but to come back at maybe 5 or maybe 5:30 or maybe 6 and check again then.  Squidge and I shot each other a look and left the spa.  Squidge whispered "Island Time" as we were leaving.  So true!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part Three of Day Six!