The Baths and "dumpster diving"

THE BATHS

Remember, you can click on the photos to see a larger view!

This is a view of the area at sea level, with some of the sailboats that came after we got there. These folks, obviously, knew where they were going. Our boat is off the right (North) about 1/2 mile. More about that later.

The large, pointed rock right of center rises about 30' above water. The pool depth in lower left is about 7' deep.

Karen is standing at the entrance to The Baths. We had to wait to take this picture as there were at least 30 people that came out the entrance. A lot of land-based tour groups come here from Spanish Town, many of which arrived from the different cruise ships that visit the BVI. If you visit the area with one of these tours, keep in mind that some of the tours will only be at this site for about an hour. This isn't enough time to work your way down the trail, through the maze of boulders and allow any time for snorkling or beach time.  There is a semblance of a trail that you follow to go through the boulders, sandy areas, and pools. The trail requires you to wade in water less than 2' deep and also go up/down some stairs that lead you to the next area. For the more adventurous, like me, you can climb up through the boulders and get on top...but it sure would be painful if you fell.

 The water where I'm standing is about 1' deep and the view is looking towards the ocean. Each wave flows into these little grottos that are covered in soft sand, and there are hundreds of small fish in them. Of course, the water is much warmer than you are used to...the average water temperature, even at depths of 60', is about 82.

Here's another small grotto. This is about 3' deep and the flat rock in the lower center tends to block most of the wave coming in to the point of it being really nice to float in. With all of the boulders and open spaces, there's a lot of echos of water gurgling and the waves splashing in. Some of the spaces between the rocks are tight enough that the water makes a sort of popping noise as it gushes through. Even though a lot of people visit here, it is possible to find a remote pool that is off the regular trail and somewhat private.

This is one of the areas that I explored that is off the path. It's up from the surf area and only gets water and sand during a storm. There's quite a few areas like this that are relatively unexplored by the average tourist.

Yes, I just can't help myself...I have to climb. I'm looking down about 20' to where Karen is moving down a narrow crevice. This is actually about 3/4 of the way through the maze of boulders. At the end is a small trail that you take to another beach area. We had our snorkling gear with us as we made our way through here. At the beach, we donned our gear and started to snorkle our way back along the shoreline. It is surprising how deep the boulders go below the surface. There may be about 30' or so of it showing above the surface, yet and equal or greater amount is below. And there isn't any slope to the seabed...it's almost as though the boulders were just dumped here from a huge truck.

Here's Karen, swimming in a pool area near the beach. She's in about 8' of water. Some folks never venture out of these protected areas, as there are so many fish and other things to see in just these areas alone. But not us, we were borne for adventure! We don't want to see just the measly ol fish that everybody else sees. We don't want to just play in these baby waters where even the waves don't really bother.

Do you remember, earlier, that I said we were about 1/2 mile from our boat? Ahhh, yes! You can't appreciate this view without really being there. This was taken about 150' off shore from the beach we left. The boats ahead (no, ours wasn't one of them) are actually about 400' off. Then we had to snorkle/swim/struggle past them for the next 1/2 mile to our boat. Notice the swell of the ocean. We did too. It wasn't quite this rough when we left the boat.

While moseying along  towards our boat...20 minutes later...I spied this strange long wiggly thing moving on the seabed below us. After going back and following it, I realized it was a line (rope). And the end of the line was caught on a coral head. As I moved closer overhead, I could see that there was a small anchor hung up in the coral. After being sufficiently trained by Steve Hovis on the philosophy and proper techniques of dumpster diving, I couldn't pass this up. No siree. So down I went. And down I went. And down I went.

After equalizing my ears for about the 4th time, I reached my goal (about 33' below) retrieved the anchor and line, and started back up. My 1st thought when I looked back at the surface was "Gee, this doesn't look good! That's a long way back up!" It's funny how you don't realize the gravity of a situation until already committed. Anyway, up I went and became pleasantly surprised at how easy I rose back to the surface. Hey...piece of cake. And then at the surface the weight of the anchor required me to tread the water a little more than usual. Do you remember me saying the line was still attached. As it began to entangle my legs, I decided that an anchor in hand was better than an anchor and line and me on the bottom again. So, I decided to untie the line and planned for a return trip some other day. Luckily, there happened to be one of those wonderful charter boats close by that you saw in the previous picture. I dumped off the anchor to the guy watching us from the bow, and after about 3 minutes of breathing, Karen and I were off to our boat again. It took us about another 45 minutes to get there. Just as soon as we got back, we headed back on the dinghy to get the anchor. I think I will post a picture of it on the blog side bar in a place of honor. And next time we come to The Baths, we know right where to park the boat!

Hey Steve....This definitly gives new meaning to the term dumpster "diving"!!!!!