Caribbean Chronicles - Part 2: Tortola/Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

TORTOLA - the biggest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands.

VIRGIN GORDA - third largest and second most populated of the BVIs.

At this port, our cruise ship docked at Tortola. The island is visually known for its lush green mountains. Although it only takes about 45 min to sail from St. Thomas to Tortola, our ship took a much longer detour, so it became an overnight trip. We suspect that they did this to avoid having to pay hefty docking fees.

We signed up for a shore excursion to visit the Baths on Virgin Gorda. The first leg of the excursion involved a 40 min boat rid  through the Sir Francis Drake Channel to the island of Virgin Gorda. 

Sad story: Laurie got food poisoning the night before and was too sick to join us on the excursion. Needless to say, she really missed out. SORRY LAURIE.

6 am is too early for a proper face.

Something you may not know - Haily and I are actually really prone to getting sea sick. This may seem ironic since we go on so many cruises, but it's true! This boat ride in particular was pretty brutal. Every wave that hit the boat brought on a new wave of nausea. We saw many people rush outside to the upper decks to get fresh air. Haily took a Gravol in anticipation, which knocked her out pretty quickly. I was knocked out pretty quickly too, sans Gravol (seeing that we woke up so early that morning). Thank goodness.

The next leg of the excursion involved a 20 min open-air shuttle ride through the island's Spanish Town to the beach. Still a bumpy ride, but much more enjoyable that the boat ride.

The Baths on Virgin Gorda are well-known for its unique geological formations, consisting of over-sized granite boulders and naturally-formed cave systems that feature picturesque grottoes and isolated pools. Although the formation of the Virgin Islands was largely due to volcanic activity, the piles of granite boulders that are situated along the beach area were not. Geologists seem to believe that large slabs of granite were formed around 50 million years ago, as a product of solidified, slow-cooling molten rock (aka magma) that was pushing its way upwards to the Earth's surface. As the magma hardened and cooled, it caused the slabs to shrink and crack, which in turn led to the creation of boulders. Although the granite was formed below the surface, geological processes, weathering, erosion, and uplifting of the sea floor has allowed the boulders to be exposed. Voila!!!

Skull Rock - some say this rock was the artwork of pirates. I like to believe that it's true.

Granite is made up of four main minerals: hornblende, biotite, feldspar, and quartz. The quartz in the granite makes up the majority of the beach sand, as quartz is the only mineral out of the four that is not susceptible to chemical decay. Many of the boulders along the beach have large pitted pockets and sizeable indents. The indented areas were likely made up of different materials that weathered more quickly than the other parts of the rock.

From the shuttle drop-off point, there are two ways to get to the Baths. One route involves a hiking trail that passes through Devil's Bay, while the other route takes you straight to the Baths. We decided to take the hiking trail.

There were lots of cacti (I love cacti!), like these ones ...

And these ones ...

The trail was fairly short, so we got to Devil's Bay in about 15 min.

We made it!

My parents are cute.

WE ROCK CLIMBED! (As in we climbed some rocks.)
I swear this is actually a lot higher than it seems in the picture.

After snapping a bunch of pictures at Devil's Bay, we moved onto to explore the Baths.

We totally stylin'.

Since the pathways through the Baths involved trekking through water, stepping over rocks, going up and down wooden steps, and manoeuvring through narrow tunnels ... good grip was key! The water shoes that we bought in St. Thomas came in super handy. Even though Haily still managed to slip and fall. Luckily, she only came out with some scratches. The water inside the cave systems were crystal clear! In many areas, we could see tiny little fish swimming around our feet as we walked by.

The Baths were really cool. I don't always think shore excursions are worth it, but this one definitely was. It's amazing how big some of the boulders are. The most amazing part of this place is that it's a masterpiece of natural geological processes.