British Virgin Islands
We island hopped across the West Indies, pausing on Antigua and Martinique before finally landing on Tortola. We had a bit of time to kill before the next ferry to Virgin Gorda. A short walk from the Beef Island airport is a little hippie art village with a couple of restaurants. A man with a British accent was welding a giant steel sculpture for their monthly "Full moon festival" as we walked by. I said, "That's wild" to which he responded, "It is indeed".
We grabbed lunch at The Loose Mongoose while we waited for our ferry over to Virgin Gorda and sipped our first Virgin Island cocktails – Rum Punch and Painkiller. The restaurant sits directly on the water, with a dock extending out into the bay for beach bums to pull ashore.
Virgin Gorda
A quick, windy ferry over to Virgin Gorda and we were met by Shorn, a big boisterous man driving the enigmatically named 'Mahogony' silver van. He took us the short ride from Spanish Town up the hill where we were staying near The Baths. We quickly stashed our things and went out for dinner, winding up at Mermaid's. This restaurant sits out on the dock and served up some delicious red snapper. We tossed food scraps into the water to feed the Tarpon that thrive there near the restaurant.
The Baths & Devil's Bay
The next morning, we biked down to The Baths National Park. The entrance fee was a nominal $3. Worth pointing out that all of the BVI is on the US dollar. We took the path to the left to descend down into Devil's Bay first, then work our way back through the Baths.
The trail there gives a few peeks at the giant monoliths that await, but is mostly a rocky dirt path covered in cacti. There is one fork in the trail - going left takes you to the furthest way around to a very rocky beach which overlooks a small granite boulder covered island. Eventually, it winds its way around to meet where the other path more quickly leads – Devil's Bay.
Devil's Bay
Devil's Bay is a small beach surrounded by enormous granite boulders that encapsulate The Baths. There is a small reef there, mostly bleached, but still fostering a vibrant fish population.
Despite how many photos we had seen of the Baths before arriving, we were blown away by their scale and the picturesque beauty of the beach.
We spent some time exploring the southern edge of the boulders, climbing and crawling through their nooks and crannies.
As the sun began to creep lower in the sky, we made our way into the maze of The Baths. We defied the yellow spray painted arrows showing the way through and carved our own path squeezing, crab-walking, and bouldering through the giant stones. All told, the area is not that large and any one path will inevitably lead to the other, but we still had fun believing we were the first to carve our new path.
Ten minutes into our walk and we stumbled upon the photo that we had seen recreated so many times.
I came back to this spot several times over the next couple of days and finally landed on the above image at around 4:00PM on this warm February day.
We emerged through the final test - a ten foot triangle shaped path that forces you to squat-walk or crawl. Having spent all day on the beach, we decided to walk up to the restaurant aptly named Top of the Baths which overlooks the entire park. The food there was surprisingly good and the views were unparalled. We hung around until about 5:00 and set back down to the beach as the clouds began to turn pink and gold.
As we reached the bottom, we realized that everyone was gone - we had the entire Baths National Park to ourselves. Most people that visit Virgin Gorda come over as a day trip and leave long before sun begins to set. Meaghan and I ran around like school kids – photographing the golden hour.
Copper Mine National Park
The next morning and my 34th birthday, we grabbed bikes provided by our AirBnb host and set out for the Copper Mine National Park. It was a short, steep, mostly uphill journey from where we were staying. As we neared, a family of goats skittishly grazed along the road and we coasted down the final hill to the park. One car passed us as we arrived and then we enjoyed the park without anyone else there.
We explored what little remains there were of this mine and stared east at the expansive roaring ocean.
After less than an hour, we set back for The Baths for a more immersive beach day. We stayed nearly all day, snorkeling in Devil's Bay, exploring the towering granite monoliths, and picnicking on the soft white sands. We stayed for sunset, then biked home.
That evening, we walked to dinner at CocoMaya, a fusion of Asian and Latin dishes. We drank delicious cocktails, swung on bar-top swings and gazed at a full moon rising over the quiet water.
Tortola
The next morning, we took the ferry back to Tortola and grabbed a cab to the north-west side of the island where our AirBnb faced out at Jost Van Dyke. The driveway leading to our AirBnb required a 4-wheel drive vehicle and the walk up and down required slow, burning steps.
We unloaded our gear and then set out on a long hilly walk to Smuggler's Cove beach. The sand was immaculate and the water was perfectly still. A small pop-up was selling some snacks and rum-infused slushies. We sat under the shade of palm trees, feeding the roosters, sipping cold drinks, and stared out at serene beauty. At one point, scores of fish began jumping from the ocean, presumably avoiding some predator. I ran into the water - hoping to see what caused this - but will ever be left wondering.
On the way back to our AirBnb, we stopped at the Tropical Fusion restaurant. We ate there several times over the course of our short stay on Tortola as the food and view were both excellent.
Anegada
Sunday morning we woke pre-dawn to catch a cab back to the Road Town ferry terminal. We then hoped on the ferry to Anegada. Anegada is a truly unique place. Only 300 residents, everyone is family, the island is basically an enlarged sandbar with one of the best coral reefs in the world. The previous day, we had booked a boat trip with "Captain Kelly" - an infamous 5-star Trip Advisor excursion. Kelly was committed to a private tour, but we met up with his cousin Kendrick who was awesome. He took us out in a small, shallow boat where the coral and fish were incredibly active. We swam in several different locations and at one point met up with Kelly's boat where he directed us to even better snorkeling locations. Meaghan was stalked by a barracuda as I dove deep to admire colorful corals.
On our way back towards shore, Kendrick asked if I'd like to go diving for conch. After a few failed attempts, I finally realized what to search for as I dove down into the ten-foot-deep teal water. Over the course of 15 minutes, I pulled out 6 conch. Kendrick told me that a good fisherman would dive and collect several hundred per day.
He then drove the boat around to Conch Island where fisherman have been discarding conch shells for so many years that it's created a man-made island. Kendrick cleaned and gutted the conch and we ceremoniously discarded their shells - making our mark on Conch Island. We ate raw conch (think tough sushi) on the boat and Kendrick bagged the rest on ice so that we could enjoy it later.
Once we returned to shore from snorkeling and diving for conch all morning, we rented scooters from Kendricks sister and took off to the other side of the island. We grabbed lunch at the Big Bamboo restaurant with our feet in the sand and ate the renowned Anegada Lobster. We've been to Boston and eaten Lobster fresh from the wholesalers, but this was something altogether different. They cut the lobster down the middle and grill it on either side. The taste and texture are out of this world. I can't recommend enough that you try Anegada Lobster.
With time to kill, we savored our last day of our trip and strolled along the white and pink sand beach of Loblolly Bay and stared out at the endless eastern ocean before catching the ferry home.
That night, back in Tortola, we descended the crazy hills and took our freshly caught conch to D'Coalpot and asked if they could serve it up. They made us a delicious conch ceviche salad along with their specialty of Roti wraps and we sipped sauvignon blanc as we relented upon returning to the Chicago tundra.