Mooring balls get gobbled up quickly so if you want to make sure you have a place to tie up for a couple of hours while you enjoy the Baths and beach, get there plenty early or you'll be left having to anchor.
That said, the Baths is well worth the hassle to find a place to tie up. The walk through the Baths / caves that is fantastic. And aside from having to scrunch down to midget size to maneuver through some of the formations, it's a great tour to take, but take your swim shoes. You'll need them. Bring your phone / camera too. There are some great photo ops along the way.
Snorkeling is also fantastic here. There are several shallow coves in among the rock formations you can easily float around in and soak in the sights. People refer to this as "natures jacuzzi"...and they're right. The water is super warm and relaxing to swim in.
So glad we carved some time out to visit the Baths! Was definitely worth it.
We sailed in to Leverick bay and took a taxi to the Baths. We arrived around noon, and had burgers and dangled our feet in the pool at the Top of the Baths, which was a welcome refuel after beating to the wind all morning. I knew about the Baths, and had seen pictures and video, but I was expecting to be underwhelmed by a few boulders on a beach. Wow, I couldn't have been more happily surprised! The snorkeling was out-f'ing-standing, with nearly limitless coral formations and hundreds of fish species. I spoke with a woman who was snorkeling at the same time, and she had seen a large lemon shark. I swam around some more hoping to spot it, but unfortunately didn't catch a glimpse. The boulders on the beach provided great protection for my kids to snorkel around, which they did for most of two hours, after which we started to explore the caves.
We took our time splashing and exploring through all the nooks and crannies in the caves, it took us upwards of 30 minutes to get through in this fashion, the return trip through was less exploratory and took about 10 minutes. We ended up leaving around 4:30 in the afternoon. In all, it was beautiful, wondrous, and I can't wait until my next opportunity to discover more mysteries of the Baths, because surely they didn't reveal all of their secrets to us.
When visiting the BVI's, make a point of visiting the Baths at Virgin Gorda. At the most Western end of the island, The Baths is a park with amazing rock formations that allow you to snake your way through tunnels of clear water and take amazing pictures. Great for honeymoon excursions or the entire family!
We took the ferry across to Virgin Gorda from Road Town but didn't buy the taxi/tour package. Instead we found Derrick the taxi driver who took our group to the Baths for $4/person and chatted with us on the way. We paid the $3/person entry fee and walked the easy way in to the Baths. The boulders were interesting and the beach was warm, sandy, and generally empty except for a couple brief tour groups that would only stay 20-30 minutes. There were quite a few boats moored just outside the swimming area. On the way out, we took the "Caves" route which was definitely more challenging--up and down a number of ladders and over uneven ground. It was definitely a unique experience. Derrick had provided his business card and picked us up at the appointed time and gave us more background on the island and the area on the way back to the ferry dock. I'm not sure we'd all do it again but it was definitely worth doing.
Family of four had a great time exploring the baths. The path to and from the paths took about 10 minutes. The path was a little rocky but we did it barefoot without any problems.
