Spanish Town and The Baths, part one

Spanish Town, on Virgin Gorda, used to be the capitol of the BVI. It has a small harbor and a lot of historical significance. It was one of the 1st settlements in Virgin Gorda and BVI. Near here are ruins of mining activities from the 1700's. We stopped here after leaving the North Sound, sailing Southwest along the island. Many areas of these islands have claimed ships on their reefs. The island of Anegada, especially. While up in the North Sound area, we saw one sailboat that got too close to the reef at the entrance to the Sound. It appeared that the charter couple tried to take a 6' draft boat through a 4' deep area of the reef. This was not a good day for them, and it sure was not a pretty sight for the rest of us. We had heard of two other instances of the same during the week while we were there. Did you notice the coconut palms in the top picture...I sure did. It appears the natives pick up any that drop; I can't find them very often. The "palm tree thingy" in the lower picture is actually a cycad, and not related. They are cone-bearing, and resemble an overgrown fern.

After leaving Spanish Town, we motored the boat South to The Baths, one of the most popular places in the BVI. The Baths are located on the Southern tip of Virgin Gorda and are made huge boulders of granite tumbled and exposed on the island and into the sea. The areas where the boulders are stacked in and near the water have created grottos of sand and pools of water. I would definately put this on anyone's agenda visiting the area. This picture is taken from the restaurant above the area. We walked up a neat trail created through the boulders to get to the restaurant.

One of the views of the restaurant..."The Top of The Baths" that we ate at...and the use of the pool was complimentary for the restaurant guests. We were Legal!!

Normal brunch attire isn't always this casual at the restaurants. We had been in the water and planned on more of same after eating. We are living proof that you won't get cramps from swimming right after you eat. The Baths are a National Park area and dinghys are not allowed on the shorelines, so we had to swim the 100+ yards to shore...well, not actually...we used our fins and snorkle gear.

 Just off the balcony of the restaurant was this planting area. We find it so unusual to see cactus and palm trees growing in the same climate. We were told the Virgin Islands are actually more desert than tropical, due to the rainfall amount. I will finish the rest of this story later...I'm getting tired of all the stress of fun, so it's to bed for me. The next blog posting will be more about The Baths and a water version of "dumpster diving"!