The Baths, Virgin Gorda
The Baths
Interesting facts
- Christopher Columbus is said to have named the island Virgin Gorda, the fat virgin, because its profile resembled a woman lying on her side.
- The boulders are granite on an island built largely from volcanic rock: the granite cooled underground and appeared only after the rock above eroded away.
- They belong to a large granite body beneath the Virgin Islands that solidified tens of millions of years ago, though age estimates differ.
- Cooling and shrinking cracked the granite into blocks, and weathering attacked their corners and edges fastest, slowly rounding them into today's smooth shapes.
- The national park around the boulders is tiny, covering only a little more than seven acres.
- The BVI National Parks Trust, which looks after The Baths, was founded in 1961 and now manages around 28 national parks.
Why it is worth it
At the southern tip of Virgin Gorda the shoreline breaks up into a jumble of enormous granite boulders, some of them about 40 feet long, piled on the sand and in the shallows as if dropped by a careless giant. The Baths is the name for this stretch of coast between Spring Bay and Devil's Bay, where the gaps beneath and between the rocks form tidal pools, tunnels, arches and grottoes open to the sea. The water inside is clear and still, and the light falls through the cracks in shafts.
The geology is the key to the place. The granite formed from magma cooling slowly deep underground, far from any surface volcano; only much later was it exposed, and weathering along its joints turned solid rock into rounded blocks. Seen from the beach they are smooth grey masses, softened almost to the look of sculpture; inside the labyrinth they become walls and roofs, framing sudden views of turquoise water. The most celebrated chamber, known as the Cathedral Room, is a triangular space formed by two leaning boulders, lit through the gaps above.
The route through the boulders to Devil's Bay is the best way to understand it: you crouch, wade and climb, with ropes, ladders and steps set into the rock to help, emerging into a small white beach on the far side. The area was declared a national park in 1990, together with the neighbouring bays, and is cared for by the BVI National Parks Trust. Swimming and snorkelling among the boulders are the main pleasures.
Getting there
The Baths lie about 1.2 miles (2 km) south of Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda's main settlement. Virgin Gorda Airport (VIJ) is only about 3 km away, and Road Town on neighbouring Tortola is about 18 km across the water; many visitors come over from Tortola by boat.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Baths is a beach area on the island of Virgin Gorda among the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
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