Thursday Means Virgin Gorda. . .

This morning after another wonderful Captain Allan breakfast (omelettes, bacon, fresh fruit, fresh-baked baguettes and, ahhhh, coffee) we were dropped off on one end of Virgin Gorda and delivered to our driver, Mel, for the day. We were scheduled to go to a place called "The Baths" for a short hike to the beach, then lunch, then a guided tour through the "real" island of Virgin Gorda and delivered back to our captain late afternoon.

Mel, as with all the islanders, speaks with a lilting Jamaican-tinged accent. All the native islanders are friendly and easy-going, and in no rush except when they’re behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Mel handed us off to another driver for the trip up a small mountain to "The Baths". The roadway took us past many real island houses, all brightly painted, with chickens and even goats wandering freely. Most windows in "real" houses here are horizontal slats of glass the tip out to open. Many homes are one or two stories, almost always with rebar sticking up through the "roof" and stairs leading up to what may or may never be the top floor of the home. So many look like they’re only partway finished, and also as if they never will be.

This part of the island looks very much like high-desert California --- lots of scrub and cactus, aloe, and other succulents, however here on this part of Virgin Gorda is dotted with huge boulders. And by huge I mean that the smallest are at least one story high. Some are leaning on others, some standing alone, some piled by the dozen, as if some giant child had dribbled them across the countryside.
The road up is very narrow, and most of the vehicles are large "taxis" --- mid-size trucks with tramlike seating where the truck bed would be. All sound as if their transmissions were nearly dead, and the shocks are ALL worn completely out. Every 100 yards or so is a large speed bump --- absolutely necessary, as without them everyone would be going 70 or so (and, as on St. Thomas, stop signs are still only a "suggestion"). Cars are darting out from side roads, with only a short horn blast to announce that, by god, they’re coming.

To make up for having to slow down for the speed bumps, every taxi guns it and goes all out in between each one. It made for quite the ride!

Our destination consisted of several brightly colored buildings: a ticket vendor, a restaurant/bar, and the requisite row of gift shops. Unfortunately, it was cruise ship day, so there were a LOT of people there. We purchased our tickets and, on the advice of our driver, headed out on a different trail than the rest of the hordes. This turned out to be the best advice of the day.

Our driver told us Mel would pick us up at 2:30p.m. and that we would settle up the bill with him, gave us a huge toothy smile and left us.

Despite having to step off the trail for oncoming hikers every once in a while, we were happy we were walking down to the beach on the trail our driver recommended, because it was quite steep at times and very rocky. Soon we reached an area full of giant boulders. As we walked through an opening between two of them, we were greeted with the sight of one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. Very soft, clean sand and some of the bluest water on earth.

We staked out a little area of shade, shooed away one of the local chickens, and headed to the water. Even with the cruise ship crowds, most had stayed at the first water they found, so this beach wasn’t nearly as crowded as it could have been. We spent the next hour floating in the water, until it was time to head back for lunch.

The trail back took us through the "caves", which were actually openings between these huge boulders. Some parts had wooden steps and walkways built through and some were just soft sand. The way back was nowhere as steep as coming down, and took us through cool caves made by the boulders and back out into the sunshine.

We ended up at a little hut of a bar that was serving a variety of cold drinks, beer and water included. After catching our breath we headed up to the restaurant, taking advantage of the fresh water pool just next to it that removed all trace of salt water from us.

After lunch, we headed past the gift shops to the "car park" to meet Mel. Very few of the parking areas are marked with spaces, but even when they are I think the lines are the same as the stop signs --- only suggestions. This parking lot was literally a jumble of these big tram taxis and the little island cars. Somehow everyone gets out when they need to without accidents.

After a few minutes of waiting for Mel, the driver that brought us up told us to jump into his taxi and he would take us to meet Mel halfway. Sure enough, partway down the hill there was Mel. We all jumped out of our taxi into his and off we went. (Reminder: the taxi is still this mid-size truck with the big tram seating where the truck bed would be).

Mel drove us up over Virgin Gorda, sort of end-to-end, through real island neighborhoods and past fabulous mansions. We stopped at a place called Little Dix Resort, which I think was orginally owned by the Rockefellers. We got out of the taxi and followed Mel down a flagstone walkway to the beach. As we stepped onto the sand, Gayle spotted a sting ray swimming along the beach just a couple of feet from shore. After showing us the rest of the resort, we piled back into the tram seats and continued on.

Mel stopped at three different vista points along our journey, so we could take pictures. At the last one, we could see several of the islands, including the one owned by Richard Branson, as well as our Friday destination, Anegada.

Mel delivered us safely to Lemerick Bay Resort where Captain Allan was waiting with the dinghy to return us to the boat. We had time for a real shower before setting off for Saba Rock for dinner --- conch fritters (not quite as good as last night’s) and a selection of deep-fried seafood along with a salad bar and baked potato.

Tomorrow is another day of snorkeling, and we’re pretty tired from the hike today, so we headed back to the boat and turned in early.

Still no internet connection.