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Published: December 23rd 2014
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Saturday 20th December, 2014. Tortola, BVI, Leeward Islands, West Indies
The British Virgin Islands (BVI) are a group of about 50 Islands only 4 of which are of any size. Their total land area is less than half that of the Isle of Wight. All but about 12 are uninhabited. The BVIs are generally volcanic and hilly except for Anegada (the 2nd largest) which is coral and flat.
The first human inhabitants were the Siboney Indians who wandered nomadically from island to island picking up whatever they could to eat in the way of indigenous plants and fish. CC named them "the Virgins" because he thought them so beautiful and numerous that he compared them to St ursula and her 11,000 virgins martyred in Cologne during the early days of Christianity. St Ursula's Day coinciding with Trafalgar Day, is a public holiday in the Virgin islands. The British took over government in 1672. The colony of the Leeward Islands was broken up in 1956 but the BVI went it alone as a separate colony and today remains a British Overseas Territory.
We had arranged to meet Donna (one of M's friends from L'Escala) for a coffee in Road
Town at 9.30 am. This was a tender stop which meant that the ship did not actually dock but anchored offshore and ferried the passengers to the quay using the tenders (the covered lifeboats). As there were a lot of ship's tours scheduled to leave between 8.30 and 10.30 we knew it could be a problem to obtain a tender ticket to go ashore. To avoid this we skipped breakfast and queued for the 1st tender which was due to leave at 8.00 am. Remarkably we got tickets numbered 1 and 2 - a first for us!!! We were in Road Town by 8.20. After a visit to the Information desk we found out where we could buy ferry tickets to Virgin Gorda and also that there was an Internet Cafe opposite serving breakfast. D purchased the tickets and M ordered breakfast and went online to post some blogs and check the emails. It was at this point that M received an email from Donna informing her that Donna's car had broken down and that she was going to pick up a hire car from the other side of the island and might not make it by 9.30. We went
to the meeting place outside a jewellers called Mi Amor and waited in case she made it. At 10.20 we gave up as we had a ferry to catch at 10.30. What a shame - it would have been lovely to see her again.
We caught the 10.30 ferry to Virgin Gorda (the third largest in the BVI group) which has a population of 3,280. This 'fat virgin' has two thin ends and a substantial waistline has the only other 'town' outside of Tortola called Spanish Town. There used to be a copper mine here which was worked by the Caribs but this was abandoned when more precious metals began to flow from South America. Our ticket included a bus ride to the Baths which is the major attraction on the south of the island. We had a snazzy orange wristband each to indicate that we had paid for the bus as part of our ferry ticket. The Baths are a complex maze of channels, rock basins and sea caves.
We caught the bus and were bounced and bumped along at breakneck speed by our driver who was called Simon. We investigated some of the cafes where we
were dropped off and took some photographs. We gave to restaurants a miss as we only wanted a snack - not a 3 course meal. We paid our entrance fee to the Baths National Park which was $3 US each and followed the Baths Trail down to the shoreline. At the bottom of the trail was a beach bar called the Poor Man's Bar. We sat in the shade with a drink and chatted to some of the cruise ship passengers who had come on an organised tour. They were getting ready to leave after only 45 minutes here. We intended to stay a bit longer than that.
When we had finished our drinks we decided to follow the Devil's Bay Trail. It was described by the sign as a challenging 20 minute trail. The trail wound over, under and through huge granite boulders which were once embedded in volcanic lava. The weathering process which has worn away the softer lava rock has also carved huge dishes and holes in the remaining hard granite boulders. The scenery reminded us very much of La Digue in the Seychelles. As we picked our way through the boulders, scrabbled under rock ledges,
waded through pools and caves we passsed salt water grotos and ponds and mangrove trees. Some of the more challenging boulders had wooden steps built over them to help with their negotiation. The trail was marked with signs and cairns (small piles of rocks). In places we had to crawl on all fours. It was great fun though and when we reached the end of the trail Devil's Bay was absolutely stunning. D went for a dip while M looked after the stuff. She was still too full of cold to entertain the idea of swimming in his idealic local. There were a few chickens wandering around on the beach which was a little odd. We had to return by the same trail which was equally challenging going in the other direction. We had a glass of wine at the Poor Man's Bar before climbing back up the trail to wait for the bus. We returned to Tortola without a hitch and M purchased a FM on the way back to the ship.
Once back on board we just made it for afternoon tea. As a result we went for a very late dinner. Dress code was Casual/Tropical. M
put on a flowery number but D didn't have anything 'tropical'. We went to bed straight after dinner as we were absolutely exhausted having risen at 6.30 am.
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