Easy Instructions for doing Virgin Gorda on your own!

[CaribbeanBound]

If image isn't imbedded on page, click link to see easy walking route from cruise pier to ferry terminal.

 

There is no need to prearrange any excursions here. Taxis line up at the pier to take you anywhere you want to go. Several passengers hopped into taxis and got the exact same tour that other passengers paid double for through the ship. Our sights were set on visiting Virgin Gorda. We got off the ship just after 8:00 am and walked 15 minutes to the red-roofed ferry terminal off to the left of the pier.

Speedy's and Smith's both offer service to Virgin Gorda. However, only Speedy's could get us back before our 3:00pm departure. So we caught the 9:00 am Speedy's Ferry over and the 12:30 pm ferry back. Cost was $25 per person roundtrip, including roundtrip Speedy's Taxi service from the Virgin Gorda docks to The Baths. (You will not want to attempt to walk to The Baths from the dock). We brought our mask and snorkel with us. Rentals are available at The Baths for $10 plus a $30 deposit. We sat upstairs in the open air seating atop the ferry. Cool winds and great views. 30-35 minute ride each way followed by a 10-minute taxi to The Baths.

 

There is a $3.00 (adults) and $2.00 (children) entrance fee to The Baths which are part of the BVU National Parks Trust. A restaurant appropriately named “Top of the Baths” is nearby and offers incredible views of the surrounding islands. A 5-minute walk (350 yards in length) down to The Baths was rocky and uneven. At the bottom, single-use-only lockers can be rented for $2.50 each, via a token that can be purchased at the shop nearby. They are large enough to hold a beach bag or backpack. Tokens are also required if you wish to take a shower. The Baths are an incredibly fun experience. Here is a detailed map of The Baths at Virgin Gorda. The Baths were really fun to explore. Highly recommend water shoes, a water camera, and a swimsuit. A beautiful beach with crystal clear waters awaits visitors on the other side of the rock maze. While not the greatest snorkeling site for fish, the coral formations were interesting. A beautiful beach with crystal clear waters awaits visitors on the other side of the rock maze. The water was nice and clear. Visibility was easily more than 50 feet! We would have liked to stay another couple of hours, and look forward to another visit. Highly recommended!

 

On our second trip to The Baths, we opted to pay an additional $10 ($35 total) for Speedy's “Sun and Fun” package which also included lunch and rum punch at The Bath & Turtle. After visiting The Baths for four hours, our taxi driver returned for us at 1:30pm, as agreed, to take us into town to eat. The Bath and Turtle Bar and Grill, located in a small strip mall with a dive shop, bank, and a few other shops, has little atmosphere but they make it up with good food and friendly service. Our coupon indicated that we could spend up to $10/pp, but our waitress allowed $12/pp which covers most items on the menu. We enjoyed our rum punch with a lunch platter consisting of a Caribbean Jerk Chicken sandwich, coleslaw and potato salad. We shopped a little after our leisurely lunch, then headed for the pier. The pier is a short 5-minute walk across a parking lot, past a small grocery store, and beyond an old partially-fenced park. Our ferry was already at the dock when we arrived at 3:00pm. We promptly boarded and departed on time at 3:30pm, arriving back in Road Town at 4:05pm. We had no problem getting back to the ship before the 4:45pm cutoff. Highly recommended!

 

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[Pyrate13]

Cbound,

 

If you turn left immediately upon leaving the cruise pier you can save some steps & time by just walking along the waterfront. When you reach the shopping village there is a small canal but it's easy to get around that.

[zqvol]

This is great . . . but, before you start this on your own make sure that you will have at least a couple of hours at the Baths and have time to get back. If you ship gets to Tortola after noon or so, you probably need to stick to a ships excursion.

[CaribbeanBound]

Pyrate13 is absolutely correct. I was just illustrating an easy to view, unimpeded route. You get the idea.

[PaddleAddict]

I would also recommend that you bring your snorkeling equipment to the Baths and go to the small, quiet beach on the other side of the caves (Devil's Bay, I think it is called?).

 

People often say snorkeling is only so-so here, but at this small beach I saw hundreds of fish, many of them in only 4 feet of water. Of course, we also saw beautiful coral and many sea urchins. We were SO glad we opted to bring the snorkeling equipment.

 

Taking your gear, a bottle of water, camera, etc., is much easier if you wear a backpack. This leaves your hands free as you climb throughout the caves.

[Sierra Fox]

I would also recommend that you bring your snorkeling equipment to the Baths and go to the small, quiet beach on the other side of the caves (Devil's Bay, I think it is called?).

 

People often say snorkeling is only so-so here, but at this small beach I saw hundreds of fish, many of them in only 4 feet of water. Of course, we also saw beautiful coral and many sea urchins. We were SO glad we opted to bring the snorkeling equipment.

 

Taking your gear, a bottle of water, camera, etc., is much easier if you wear a backpack. This leaves your hands free as you climb throughout the caves.

 

Is there a trick to getting to Devil's Bay? We have friends who say they were unable to find the beach on the other side. - SF

[SmokinActuary]

I would also recommend that you bring your snorkeling equipment to the Baths and go to the small, quiet beach on the other side of the caves (Devil's Bay, I think it is called?).

 

People often say snorkeling is only so-so here, but at this small beach I saw hundreds of fish, many of them in only 4 feet of water. Of course, we also saw beautiful coral and many sea urchins. We were SO glad we opted to bring the snorkeling equipment.

 

Taking your gear, a bottle of water, camera, etc., is much easier if you wear a backpack. This leaves your hands free as you climb throughout the caves.

 

 

FWIU the seas need to be rather calm for you to do this and The Bath's are subject to the whims of the weather.

[PaddleAddict]

Is there a trick to getting to Devil's Bay? We have friends who say they were unable to find the beach on the other side. - SF

 

We just had to keep going. We came to a few spots where it looked like the Baths had "ended" and walked through some trees and climbed a few large boulders, but we just kept going. We would have stopped at the tiny beach halfway through the Baths, but some nice people advised us to keep going and we are glad we did!

[meadowvalers]

Many thanks for posting this awesome information!!! :)

[btorlv]

Was it very rough ride to the baths?

[PaddleAddict]

Not the day we went, the ride was very smooth. The ferries are pretty big, not like a typical tender boat.

[CaribbeanBound]

The seas were relatively calm on both trips we made to Virgin Gorda.

[Birdnutty]

We were in Tortola on the 14th. We followed this advice and it was great! In fact, we were one of the "unlucky" ships that had to tender into shore, as all the berths were taken. Turned out that the tenders dropped us off right at the ferry pier, so we only had to walk about 40 steps and we were at Speedy's dock. We had gotten the first tender available to us, and were able to catch the 10:30 ferry, which left only a few minutes late. We purchased the round trip with taxi transfer - total of $30 pp. The ferry is beautiful - a people ferry only, brand new looking catamaran that was a high speed, very comfortable ride. Upper deck had sun, lower deck was fully enclosed, providing shade and real air conditioning. Could seat probably 100 or more on the boat. A 35 minute ride brought us to a dock in Virgin Gorda, where we were whisked onto a "taxi" - one of those open air vehicles, covered, with bench seating for maybe 30 or so? Within 10 minutes, we were at the "top of the Baths". Entry fee was $3 each.

 

The walk down the hill was easier than I thought it would be, and not as steep, altho it is not paved and could be a little rough at times. There are handrails, and I recommend using them.

 

Once at the bottom, we got a token for a locker, and since I brought far too much stuff, had to do some finagling to get it all in. Had I known what I'm about to tell you, I would not have bothered.

 

First of all, in following the path thru and over the rocks, you don't ever have to get wet over your calves. Most of the time it's dry, or you slog thru water up to your ankles. So bringing along a camera and snorkeling gear in a backpack is easy. I do recommend a backpack, tho - keepng both arms and hands free is important. Don't carry your camera in hand. Put it away when it's not in use. We saw one young lady slip down the stair and land on her hands, one of which was holding her small digital camera, which got completely buried in the sand.

 

It is slippery on the stairs provided. There is only minimal "climbing" over the rocks - there are handrails and stairs and in one place, a rope, to help you maneuver. WEAR WATER SHOES. They were better that Tevas or other sandals at gripping the stairs, which sometimes are quite shallow. The rocks are limestone and are very rough on bare feet.

 

There is some squeezing between rocks, some ducking under them, etc. It adds to the fun. I suggest bringing antiseptic and bandaids - if you do scrape yourself on the rocks, the scrapes can bleed like crazy. (Limestone is nasty stuff to scrape yourself on. My husband and I have each done it once. At least the second time it happened I was prepared with hand sanitizer, paper napkins from lunch and bandaids to hold the napkins in place.)

 

Bring snorkeling gear. The water in Devil's Bay was so unbelievably clear and gorgeous, and those around us said the snorkeling, altho not out of this world, was very good. We didn't have our stuff with us, unfortunately.

 

The walk thru the rocks didn't take any more than 15 minutes - I was expecting a longer, more arduous journey.

 

We did the trek back, and hung out for awhile. Had we not hung out, we could have easily made the 12 PM taxi back to pick up the 12:30 ferry, but we opted for the 3:30 ferry instead. Our ship didn't leave until 6:30, so if there was a problem with the 3:30, we still had an option to get the next one and still make it back tot he ship in time. The taxi's leave fromthe top of the baths ever 15 minutes or so. We got one that dropped us off a little too early. There is NOTHING at the pier on the Virgin Gorda side. No services, no shops, little shade, so getting htere early was not the best idea. It's a typical working pier, not a tourist attraction. In fact, while we there waiting, a BARGE full of trailers docked there and unloaded a bunch of trucks.

 

On the ferry back, they played a movie for us, but I slept thru it.

 

All in all, it was a great trip, and cost us $66 total. The ship wanted $73 pp, and there was no flexibility in timing. I would do this again in a heartbeat.

[CaribbeanBound]

Birdnutty... glad you made the effort. Nice followup review. Thanks.

[LandLockedInAZ]

CaribbeanBound-

I can't thank you enough for the detailed info! I was just setting out to find all of the information you provided in one post.

Now I feel ready!

[CaribbeanBound]

You are welcome. We're just returning the favor on this board that other cruise critics had done for us. :)

 

Here are more of our Secrets of the Caribbean!

http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/caribbean-secrets.html

These are our very detailed personal reviews, hints, and tips for ports of call that you will be visiting.

[82dawgs]

All,

 

Thanks for all the info posted in this thread! My family will be on Tortola on 25 Feb and I was starting to work the logistics of getting to the Baths on our own. This was great one stop shopping.

Again, thanks for taking the time to post. :)

 

chuck

[megsterl]

we will be in Tortola on the 28th of February, my question is our time in port is from 7am -3pm do you fell this would be enough time to this on our own or should we just deal with it and book through the ship. Any suggestions would be great.. MEG

[mrmj]

I'm in the same situation as the previous reply so i'm curious as well on whether we can do the baths while in Tortola from 7am - 3pm.

 

Any chance that the 12:30pm return ferry with Speedy's would be full?

 

I think there are only 2 ships at dock on the same day.

 

Thanks!

[CaribbeanBound]

The two of you can easily do this on your own. Grab the first possible ferry over and take the 12:30pm back. I can't say with any certainty that it will not be 100% full, but I can tell you that the 4 trips we have taken (2 each way), the ferry was 5% to 50% filled.

 

I would not have any worries about making this work. Enjoy Virgin Gorda.

 

Ferry Schedules: http://www.bviwelcome.com/ferries.html

 

Assuming you are there Monday to Saturday...

Smith's: take the 8:50 am ferry over and the 2:15 pm ferry back

Speedy's: take the 9:00am ferry over and the 12:30 pm ferry back

Under these scenarios, I'd shoot for Smith's Ferry.

 

If you are there on a Sunday...

Smith's: won't work for your schedule on Sunday.

Speedy's: take the 8:00am ferry over and the 1:00 pm ferry back

[Birdnutty]

The two of you can easily do this on your own. Grab the first possible ferry over and take the 12:30pm back. I can't say with any certainty that it will not be 100% full, but I can tell you that the 4 trips we have taken (2 each way), the ferry was 5% to 50% filled.

 

I would not have any worries about making this work. Enjoy Virgin Gorda.

 

Ferry Schedules: http://www.bviwelcome.com/ferries.html

 

Assuming you are there Monday to Saturday...

Smith's: take the 8:50 am ferry over and the 2:15 pm ferry back

Speedy's: take the 9:00am ferry over and the 12:30 pm ferry back

Under these scenarios, I'd shoot for Smith's Ferry.

 

If you are there on a Sunday...

Smith's: won't work for your schedule on Sunday.

Speedy's: take the 8:00am ferry over and the 1:00 pm ferry back

 

Are you sure you didn't mean Speedy's as your recommendation? I'd be leary of the 2:15 Smith's ferry coming back. If your ship is LEAVING at 3, there is not enough time, especially as "all aboard" time is usually a half hour prior to sailing, and the ferry ride takes about a half hour plus change. Then you need to get back to the ship's pier. The 12:30 is a pretty safe bet.

I can't imagine it being full - it was less than half full when we were on it. It holds ALOT of people! I'd hazard a very rough guess at about 200 people or so. Don't hold me to that one, tho. My estimating skills and aging memory don't hold onto that kind of data. :)

 

I do agree that's it's possible to do this on your own. Just make sure your timing is good and that your watch works well! Have fun!

[Birdnutty]

The two of you can easily do this on your own. Grab the first possible ferry over and take the 12:30pm back. I can't say with any certainty that it will not be 100% full, but I can tell you that the 4 trips we have taken (2 each way), the ferry was 5% to 50% filled.

 

I would not have any worries about making this work. Enjoy Virgin Gorda.

 

Ferry Schedules: http://www.bviwelcome.com/ferries.html

 

Assuming you are there Monday to Saturday...

Smith's: take the 8:50 am ferry over and the 2:15 pm ferry back

Speedy's: take the 9:00am ferry over and the 12:30 pm ferry back

Under these scenarios, I'd shoot for Smith's Ferry.

 

If you are there on a Sunday...

Smith's: won't work for your schedule on Sunday.

Speedy's: take the 8:00am ferry over and the 1:00 pm ferry back

 

Are you sure you didn't mean Speedy's as your recommendation? I'd be leary of the 2:15 Smith's ferry coming back. If your ship is LEAVING at 3, there is not enough time, especially as "all aboard" time is usually a half hour prior to sailing, and the ferry ride takes about a half hour plus change. Then you need to get back tot he ship's pier. The 12:30 is a pretty safe bet.

I can't imagine it being full - it was less than half full when we were on it. It holds ALOT of people! I'd hazard a very rough guess at about 200 people or so. Don't hold me to that one, tho. My estimating skills and aging memory don't hold onto that kind of data. :)

 

I do agree that's it's possible to do this on your own. Just make sure your timing is good and that your watch works well! Have fun!

 

 

If this is a double post, please excuse. The website is not responding well at the moment.

[CaribbeanBound]

Ageed. 2:15 is cutting it too close.

A 12:30 return would make more sense.

[mrmj]

Thanks - you've made us much more comfortable about doing this on our own and for a family of 6, we are going to save a lot compared to the cruise excursion.

 

Thanks for replying back.:)

[megsterl]

Can anyone tell me if it would be really difficult to MISS the ferry back. I have booked many excursions on my own and never really had any regrets but most of the time we had a guide. So my question is if we were to miss the 1230 would their be any other way to get back other than the two ferrys you mentioned? Thanks MEG