I only got to one of the three incredible events that took place about two weeks ago. I'll try to fit both of the other events in this post. Wednesday the 6th was the dive at Saba with the birds, cavern, and dark room. Friday the 8th was Mermaid's Chair and Sunday the 10th was Virgin Gorda.

Friday May 8th

It was a normal Friday. I woke up, ate breakfast, FaceTimed Sarah, and went to my speech class, the gym, and lunch. After lunch I had plans to go to Mermaids Chair (something I tried to do with my family a while ago but couldn't figure out) with Rachel and Nate. Rachel is practically a local and she has a car so she knew exactly where to go and how to get in. The tricky part, and what we couldn't figure out when my family while trying to find it, was that the trailhead was inside a gated community. I say trailhead, but it was actually just the sidewalk inside the neighborhood that took you to the beach. The walk was only about a mile and a half, but the midday sun was shining on our faces and the heat was bouncing right off the pavement so we still sweated our butts off. 

Mermaid's Chair is what the very tip of the western side of the island is called. St. Thomas comes to this narrow point where the Atlantic is on the northern side and the Caribbean is on the southern side. Picture what a mermaid's tail looks like; it starts very narrow and then curves to a point on in opposite directions. I'm poor at describing it, a photo will do it more justice. I don't know why it's called a chair, it looks more like a mermaid's tail to me. There were a bunch of tide pools to sit in and giant rocks to climb, so maybe that's why. **I put up a video because it would be too many pictures to upload. I'm sorry for the quality**

Atlantic on the right, Caribbean on
the left

This is from Nate's
Snapchat

The water was very rough so we didn't get in at all. We all explored the peninsula, sat in the tide pools, climbed to the tops of small cliffs, and watched the water spray into the air as it hit the boulders below. We basically walked around with our mouths open the entire time because we though it was so jaw-droppingly pretty. I honestly took around 200 photos because I thought it was so stunning. 

On the hike back I found another location where if you stop and listen all you can hear is the wind and a bird chirping every now and then; no man made noise. We were far enough away to no longer hear the roar of the sea or the rumble of plane about to land. The neighborhood was for millionaires, and everyone had ample amount of room in between their houses. On the 30 minute walk we maybe passed 10 houses. There was beautiful landscape and the sidewalks were well taken care of. It was absolutely quiet. Those are my favorite places I've decided; the ones where you can't hear anything. Complete silence. 

Sunday May 10th (pictures at the very bottom)

Our NSE coordinator charged us an NSE fee at the beginning of the semester, and it wasn't clear what it was for, but now I understand that it was for a trip to Virgin Gorda. Sunday morning I woke up at 6:20, grabbed a bag lunch, and headed to Redhook on the school's shuttle. Not all of the NSE kids went, but there was still about 20 of us crammed onto the shuttle. The ferry left at 8:00, stopped in St. John at to pick up more people, and then headed of to Virgin Gorda.

The trip took about an hour from St. John. Virgin Gorda is part of the British Virgin Islands and is one of the most eastern islands of this little crop of islands we are in. The first thing I noticed about the island was that it was extremely flat, except for one mountain on the north side. Virgin Gorda means fat virgin, and it's believed to be that the men on Columbus' boat could picture a fat lady lying on her back. The island is only 8 square miles and only 4,000 people live there. 

The first thing we did after customs was take an island tour. Since the island was so small it didn't take long at all. We basically went to the top of the mountain, did a u-turn, and came back down stopping at all the pullovers that we could. I took a million photos again because this place was prettier than any of the other places I've previous wrote about. From the mountain we drove to the baths going the the main town along the way. The island was very poor, and unfinished houses scattered the land. I did notice that more people had yards. No one is St. Thomas has a yard because they live on a side of a mountain or in the city. Here there was no city because it was super poor, and it was very flat so people at least had a nice yard. 

The mountain was on one end of the island, and the baths were on the complete opposite end. The baths are what this island is known for, being one of only two places in the world like it. The baths are probably what you are imagining them to be. Huge boulders scattered throughout the sand, the shore, and even in about 15 feet of water that made little pockets of water everywhere. These rocks were so huge and in such an abundance that you had to literally crawl underneath them, or turn your shoulders and squeeze between them. In between the boulders was these little pools of water. Some were deep, some were very shallow, and most were in the shade because the rocks cast such a huge shadow. The water wasn't like bath water, like I was hoping, but it was still very refreshing and pretty. I seemed like nature's jungle gym because everyone was climbing over the ones they could, jumping off the top, snaking in and out of crevices in the rocks, and trying to find the best pools. There was one area that was very open that was the prettiest beach (I know I say this every time) that I've seen so far. 

I got kind of lost exploring and ventured away from the water. I was still on a path, but it turned out to be a 20 minute walk in the wrong direction. I thought the path would take me to another cool location, but it basically took me to a parking lot and looped back to where I came from. On the path I found another spot where it was completely silent except for a gentle breeze and an occasional bird. No ocean, no cars, no man made sounds. I was glad I got lost.

We hung out Devil's Bay (the prettiest beach I just mentioned) for about 30 minutes and then made our way back through the rocks to get the safari by 2:45. Our ferry left at 3:00 and luckily we made it just in time.

Top of the mountain looking back on Virgin Gorda

These were some of the nicest homes on the island. I
think I saw two street lights on the entire island. Not many
paved roads either.

Hiking through the Baths. You can see
the stairs the Park Service added to make it
a little easier.

Swimming through the Baths. I wish I brought my snorkel.

If you follow the path through the Baths you end up in
 Devil's Bay. This picture is pretty and it still doesn't
do it justice.