I've seen lots of discussion about the different charters from St. John to the Baths, but not much about taking the ferry, which our family (Mom, Dad, two girls) did last Thursday. It worked out great. The ferry leaves St. John on Sundays and Thursdays at 8:30am, from the dock by the car ferry. We were advised to get there at 8, which was good because there was a bit of a line to get tickets and customs forms to fill out and such. We don't have passports, but birth certificates worked out fine. And we were happy that they took credit cards for the ferry tickets, so we could hang on to our precious cash...

The ferry ride was very pleasant, not too rough. I enjoyed seeing all the north shore beaches of St. John from the water. We made one unscheduled stop at Tortola to let off a few passengers (it was such a quick stop that my husband did not even know anyone left the ferry!) I thought it was neat to make the stop because I got to see the little town (can't remember the name, but it's where the Jolly Roger is...) There was a lot to look at from the ferry, so I never even opened my book.

We got to Virgin Gorda a little bit after 10, went quickly through customs and then jumped in a taxi for the Baths. There are all sorts of taxis waiting at the ferry dock and you are kind of assigned to a taxi. Our driver was Jeremy, very nice, and a careful driver. I think some of the other taxis went a bit faster over those speed bumps! Jeremy dropped us off at the Baths, and then told us that he would be back to pick us up at 2:15, and would not take any money until then. He kept telling us how crowded it would be at the Baths, because there were a couple of cruise ships in.

We decided to start at the restaurant at the top of the Baths and have a meal before heading down. The restaurant is so cool and reasonable. There is a swimming pool right in the middle, and the view is spectacular. They were still serving breakfast and it was yummy.

With full stomachs, we headed down to the Baths. And Jeremy was right - it was crowded! We had to pause several times on the stairs down, and even more when we tried to get from the beach at the bottom to Devil's Rock beach. It was crazy trying to get though the path in the rocks. There were streams of people coming down the ladders that we wanted to go up! And I think they were on a schedule to get back to their cruise ship, so they weren't stopping to let anyone through. Oh well, I just stopped to catch my breath and enjoy the caves and such. (Did I mention that I was the one stuck with the huge backpack? There are lockers at the beach, but we wanted all the cameras and such with us.)

The Baths are just beautiful, and it ended up not so crowded after those groups left. The girls found a little cave to swim in and some big boulders to jump off. And our hike back was simple and not too crowded. We even had time to enjoy a nice cold Red Stripe at the beach before hiking back to the top of the Baths. Jeremy was in the parking lot right at 2:15 and we made it back with time to snap a couple of photos before getting on the ferry. The ride home was just as pretty, but I saw a lot of people snoozing...

I'm glad we went with the ferry option because it gave us more time to spend playing around at the Baths. I think with the charters you are a little more pampered, and you see a few more islands, but I don't think we would have had time to find our own little cave...