My trip to the Caribbean
A travel report

British Virgin Islands

Day 11 - "It looked like the designer of the airplane noticed he had forgotten the wings when the plane was ready and, with no room left on its sides, put them on its top. "

After spending the night in Miami, where I bought a simple camera for a friend that I could use the rest of the trip, I flew early to San Juan and from there to Tortola, in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). I saw the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos from above on the way to San Juan. The day was beautiful and sunny. Beside me on the plane, an American who was going to meet her husband and friends for a week sailing, The Virgin Islands are known as being a great place for sailing, with winds and currents that make sailing easy even for beginners. She is a travel agent and started talking to me about the islands of the Caribbean she knows. The flight - in a small strange plane - is not long, but she had enough time to tell me about so many places, all of which with a special hotel that she described as a perfect place for a honeymoon. Well, I wouldn't mind eight weeks of honeymooning, but I doubt I could even afford a single night in any of those hotels!

I shared a taxi with Steven, from Australia, to go to Road Town, the main town in the islands. Winding narrow poorly-paved roads with a great view. The Virgin Islands have mountains and lots of vegetation, quite a different setting from Providenciales. We both went to the bank downtown and from there he helped me with my bag to the docks - how nice! I took the 1:30pm ferry to Virgin Gorda. The crossing takes about 20 min and I met other people who were staying at Guavaberry Spring Bay, where I would also be staying. Taxis in Virgin Gorda are converted trucks and they have more or less fixed charges.

Guavaberry is not a hotel: instead, it has vacation homes, all with an equipped kitchen. It has its own beach, Spring Bay, and it's within walking distance to the most famous beach in the islands, The Baths. The suspended hexagonal-shaped wooden houses are built among trees and shrubs, and each house has the name of a plant - mine was Frangipani. A peaceful place with the sound of birds in the background and lots of flowers everywhere. They have a commissary with a limited assortment of food items, but I found everything I needed for the three days I would be spending there.

I went to Spring Bay, a beach of golden sand with huge round granite rocks typical of the southwestern part of the island and that are not found elsewhere in the Caribbean. The sea was a bit rough, I sadly noticed, but good enough for swimming. Next to Spring Bay there is a smaller beach called The Crawl, surrounded by rocks, thus being an excellent place for snorkeling and swimming. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and swimming.

Back to my room, I loaded film into the new camera to take some pictures of the sunset from the deck, but the mosquitoes found me and I decided to go inside. One of them remained sucking my blood! I killed it mercilessly!

Dinner that night was a sandwich made of bagels and cheese - I love bagels! I never imagined frozen bagels heated in the toaster would taste so good - and these tasted perfect! A silent dinner, the only sound came from the crickets outside. Then I missed Club Med. Not for the activities, nor for the food, but I missed the company of so many people and the chat at mealtime. I slept to the sound of crickets, an owl and the wind. Nights were always fresh and I didn't even use the fans. On the contrary, I wrapped myself into the sheets.

Day 12 - "Climbing wasn't easy with the snorkeling gear inside my bag, but soon the trail became flat. I walked through shrubs and rocks, but the reward is immense: an enchanting long beach surrounded with palm trees, excellent for swimming and all this marvel almost empty!"

After breakfast I rented the snorkeling gear at the office and walked to The Baths - not more than 20 min away, first following the road, then through an easy, though a bit muddy at some points, trail. It was early - about 8am maybe - and still empty. As I had been told, later many boats come to its shore and the place gets really crowded. I chatted with the guy in charge of the beach bar, Glenroy, from Grenada, who took a picture for me.

The Baths is a small beach surrounded by huge boulders of granite. These rocks were formed millions of years ago by lava flows deep below the surface, which cooled and were eventually brought to the surface. Now they are a landmark of Virgin Gorda, part of a National Park, forming a maze of rocks washed by water.

From The Baths there is a trail going south to Devil's Bay, but the warning on the trailhead suggested that it wasn't a good idea to go alone, since the trail is not well marked, being partially among rocks. I waited until a small group arrived from a boat and I asked to join them. I really did the right thing, it is not always easy to guess the right way to follow. We had to crouch under the boulders, climb some of them (sometimes with the help of wooden stairs), wade through the water. But Devil's Bay is worth it. A beautiful crescent shaped beach, delicious water, great for swimming, a real gem - actually much more interesting than the famous The Baths. No more than a dozen tourists there, including our group.

Back to The Baths, I talked with a couple who was just returning from snorkeling and followed their hint. Visibility wasn't great, though the sea was better then the day before, but I could still see lots of big fishes, like the spotlight parrotfish, also many seargent majors and blue tangs, plus so many others I don't know. After that I had a snack by Glenroy's bar, before returning to Guavaberry under a hot midday sun. I stopped at the restaurant "Top of the Baths" only to check the view from above. There's also a snack bar called "Mad Dog", which is said to have the best piñas coladas in the island.

I waited for the sun to go down a bit before returning to Spring Bay, snorkeling wasn't bad, but nothing special. The Crawl was a bit better because the water is calmer - but it's so small, I didn't even use the fins. Further north, an easy trail leads to Little Trunk Bay - great snorkeling there: wrasses, groupers, blue tangs, all sort of colourful fishes in a clear water.

I had been told there was one more beach after that, Valley Trunk Bay, but it wasn't easy to find the trail, a steep ascent of maybe 30 ft, followed by an easy trail, including a great view of Little Trunk Bay. Valley Trunk Bay is another gem, longer than the previous beaches, surrounded by trees - a portrait showing why the Virgin Islands have this name. I did some nice walks along the beach. Besides me, only a family from the United States who have a house elsewhere in the island. A perfect place to end the day.

Back to the office, I saw a couple discussing what to do the next day and I decided to invite them to go to Savannah Bay in the morning. They accepted and Tina, who runs Guavaberry, arranged a taxi for us.

My home made dinner was tuna mixed with vegetables and cheese - I love microwave ovens! -, plus one of those delicious bagels. Maybe I was too hungry, but I found my meal delicious! No need to do the dishes, this was part of the maid's duties.

Day 13 - "My eyes were closed and I felt some rain. When I looked up, there was a huge rainbow! What a wonderful way to finish my stay in Virgin Gorda!"

My alarm clock was the crying of a baby in the house next to mine. A bit early, so I did some stretching before getting out of bed, trying to remember the exercises I did at Club Med. I met Jane and Mark just before the taxi arrived punctually at 8:30. Less than 1/2 h after we were at Savannah Bay, arranging with the driver to pick us up later.

We were the first to arrive there this morning and we chose a nice spot on this long beach of shallow waters. Jane and I went swimming while Mark stayed on the sand, before going snorkeling. I think Mark mentioned seeing a barracuda. They are from Colorado and had been to the Virgin Islands before. They would be spending the next days sailing with friends.

The weather changed constantly, we had sun and rain. When I went snorkeling, it started to rain, but I went anyway. Snorkeling was so so: the biggest fishes were near the area where the waves crashed on the corals and I was afraid to approach too close to the corals. Elsewhere visibility was better, specially when the sun came out. Same kind of fishes as the day before, like the bluehead wrasses below, but it's always fun to observe them. No barracuda though.

Our taxi was there at noon and took us to an abandoned coppermine on the southeast of the island. Great view of the rocky coastline. We walked back to a restaurant called "The Mine Shaft", where we stopped for a snack. I was dying for a juice! We called a taxi to take us back to the hotel.

I had told them I planned to go to Valley Trunk Bay for the rest of the afternoon and they decided to go too. After a short rest, we went - this time without the snorkeling gear. The beach had more people this time, but was still very quiet. It rained a bit and when I looked up, there was a huge rainbow above me. I rushed for a picture. I noticed Tortola was under heavy rain...

Jane and Mark insisted that I should have dinner with them. Although I had still food left, I found it a nice idea to join them and have a chat. Mark, who owns a restaurant, was our cook and prepared a swordfish. He prepared a non-alcoholic piña colada for me and Jane named it "Virgin piña colada". I needed a flashlight to find my way back.

Day 14 - "Tortola, 12:30 pm, at the restaurant of Sebastian's on the Beach hotel. Beach? Where's the beach? I only see rocks here!"

I woke up at 6 am with the sound of heavy rain, which didn't last more than 5 min, though. I had breakfast early, but before leaving I ate the rest of the food I had in the fridge. I took the 10 am ferry to Tortola. There I met Steven and friends again. As I left the ferry, I arranged a taxi with one of the many drivers that crowded just outside the boat. Then he took another four people and I followed them to the van. My hotel was on the other side of the island and I thought we would soon be crossing the mountains, but we kept on going north. Then one of the girls there asked me "Are you going to San Juan too?". They were going to the airport, completely out of my way! When I queried the driver, he noticed his mistake. But these people were in a hurry and we were in the middle of nowhere - no use to get off there, so I went to the airport. Then the driver took me to my hotel. I think he took a very long way and not the the one that looked more direct by the map, but at least the view was great. The only problem was some works on the road, sometimes completely stopping the traffic.

The room was not ready and I had to wait at the restaurant. I decided to take a look at the beach and found out there was no beach, just rocks. But I had seen pictures of it! One of the girls at the reception said it is something that happens during the year. Very strange... My room was in the back of the hotel, in the "tropical garden units", as they call it. I had a view of houses, very quiet, and the room was small but comfortable. I'm glad I took a package with meal plan, because there are not many places to eat around there, actually I only saw a pizza house around.

Since there was no beach there, I headed to Long Bay, just south of it. My training climbing stairs back home paid off here, where I had to climb a steep slope. The view from the top of the road was nice, Long Bay is about one-mile long, almost straight, and I think the sand was finer than in Virgin Gorda. It was windy and the sea was a bit rough. It rained shortly, then it became mostly sunny, and I spent the afternoon there reading and walking.

Thanksgiving dinner that night and the special menu, of course, had turkey, which was my choice - too much food, there was turkey enough to feed me for maybe three days... Before that, a salad that Jane calls "honeymoon salad": lettuce alone (Got it? "let us alone"). Though I had eaten a lot, I couldn't resist the dessert: strawberry cheesecake (pity the chocolate one was already over...).

Day 15 - "There's a wedding party going on at the restaurant. Live music at dinner, mainly reggae. 'Unchained melody' in reggae rhythm, very interesting!"

I had a light breakfast that morning. Since taxis are not cheap, I tried to find people there who would like to share one to Cane Garden or Brewer's Bay, no luck though. But following the suggestion of the receptionist, it wasn't difficult to get a taxi already on its way to Cane Garden Bay, instead of calling one, and thus I saved a lot (with four people in the taxi, I paid US$4 instead of maybe US$15).

The hotel rents snorkeling gear, but it was a deception. Three racks of fins and I couldn't find two of my size that made a pair, so I ended up using one fin longer than the other. The masks weren't good either and later, when in water, mine started to leak.

Cane Garden Bay is a nice beach, with hotels and restaurants. As I got there, about 9:30, I tried snorkeling at the south end of it, but with the equipment described, it isn't hard to imagine what happened. I could still see a lot, but I had to stop too often to clean the mask. Some people had seen a barracuda, others saw a stingray, so I was very disappointed. But I was committed not to let anything spoil my fun, so I gave up snorkeling and simply enjoyed the beach. I even gave up going to Brewer's Bay - considered the best place there for snorkeling - since it is expensive to get there by taxi and snorkeling would be awful with that lousy equipment.

I chose a very quiet spot. On the other side of the wall, a cemetery. As I said, a quiet spot. Swimming is great at Cane Garden Bay. The weather changed constantly, but was mostly sunny. I spent my time there with a new book, when not swimming or people-watching. My peace was interrupted by the arrival of a noisy group and their loud stereo. When they started playing "Macarena", I knew it was time to go swimming... At 3 pm people started leaving and the beach became peaceful again. I left at about 4 pm, when the sun was already going down, and had a delicious icecream near the taxi stop. The driver, Walla, was very talkative and charged less than the others, even with his small new van. He said that a taxi ride to Brewer's Bay or Smuggler's Cove - another good snorkeling site - is expensive because the roads are in very bad condition, besides being even more winding than the one we were driving.

At night I received the kit that was part of my package: a bottle of rum, a guide to British Virgin Islands and a dozen postcards. The restaurant was full and I had to wait a while. I had chicken wings to start, but found them too greasy, then a delicious steak. No dessert this time. Friday and Saturday nights there's live music at the restaurant, but this night was special because of a wedding that took place there in the afternoon. Mainly reggae was played, even some songs that weren't originally reggae. The party was still on when I went to bed.

Day 16 - "1:30 pm. It rains. And still rains. The full day tour didn't last half of the day..."

Rain had started in the middle of the night and the day was looking very grey when I took my breakfast - I had a waffle this time. Anyway, the taxi came and took me to the docks - transportation was included in Captain Paul's full day tour to Peter Island, Norman Island and The Indians. Besides me, a family from Oklahoma and a couple from Germany, all staying at Long Bay. Captain Paul didn't seem very optimistic about the weather, although it wasn't raining then, but he said we would try anyway.

We departed a bit late - the trip was supposed to start at 9:30 am. Soon the rain was back and I went inside the boat together with most of the family. In about 1/2 h we arrived at a small bay of Peter Island. We waited for the rain to stop and went snorkeling. Visibility wasn't bad, considering the weather. Lots of fish and corals. I enjoyed the snorkeling this time - they had good equipment. It rained again and Captain said we should go back to Tortola. What a deception! The caves of Norman Island and The Indians are said to be great snorkeling and diving spots and I would miss that! Captain Paul himself took us back in his van and wanted to charge only US$10 for the incomplete tour - the tour would have cost US$70 - and I considered it more fair to give US$20.

Bored with the rain, I stayed at the restaurant solving puzzles from a magazine. Slowly the weather got better and I went walking to Carrot Bay, then back. A bit more rain and I had a snack. Finally some sun and I went to Long Bay for some excercise: walking up and down the slope and then along the beach. The sky was showing signs that rain was really over.

At dinner I had Jamaican jerk chicken, good but very spicy. I'm glad the sauce came separately, otherwise I don't think I would be able to have much of it. For dessert I had a home specialty, rum pie: good. Live music again, though not with a singer this time. My watch stopped working at night, hopefully only a discharged battery.

My trip to the Caribbean
The report Turks & Caicos British Virgin Islands U.S. Virgin Islands	The info Snorkeling Geography Related sites

text and photos by Maria Adelaide Silva - no reproduction is allowed without the author's agreement

If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an e-mail!