Virgin Gorda 2012
Introduction
In June of 2012 we made a scuba diving trip to Virgin Gorda
in the British
Virgin Islands. We went with the folks from Blue Meridian Dive Center
in Owensboro, Kentucky. They made all the arrangements and
their
planning was terrific. We have dived with this group numerous
times and always have a great time. This is our second trip
to
Virgin Gorda, we came here 16 years ago on one of first trips and their
first trip outside of the US. We were
there for 8 days and the weather was
excellent. The temperatures were generally in the low 90s during the
day and mid 80s during the evenings.
Land
We stayed at the Guavaberry
Springs Bay Resort
which is located about a mile south of Spanish Town and the ferry dock
which is how you get to Virgin Gorda after flying into St. Thomas.
We had our own private villa with a king size bed, full
kitchen,
and air conditioning. We also had a deck which had a great
view
of the water. The resort was very clean and well
maintained and all of the villas were arranged to provide privacy from
other villas. The resort had a small commissary with lots of
food, liquor, and other necessities. They also had Internet
access but only at the office complex. Everything was done on
the
honor system - you just wrote down what you took on a sheet of paper
and settled up when you checked out. There was also access to
a
beautiful white sand beach which was only a short walk from the office.
From the resort it was about a mile walk into town but it was
only about a 5 minute walk to Mad Dog
and The Baths
which were just up the road.
Mad Dog was a great little restaurant with sandwiches, wraps,
and
salads besides claiming to have the best pina coladas on the island.
We actually had the use of a local vehicle so we were able to
travel to several restaurants during the week including The Rock
Cafe, The
Mine Shaft Cafe, Island
Pot, The
Bath and Turtle, and Mermaids
Dockside Bar and Grill.
With the exception of the Island Pot, which left a little to
be
desired, all of the restaurants were great. The Mine Shaft
and
Mermaids had the best views and Mad Dog was just a great place to hang
out and relax.
Sea
We dove with Dive BVI
and they were great. We had 11 divers and we had our own boat
all
week which included 5 days of two tank dives and one night dive.
We also had the same 2 dive masters all week which proved to
be a
great experience. Lance
and Laura,
a young married couple, took great care of us the whole week.
The
boat was well equipped with plenty of water, soft drinks and Powerade,
tons of snacks, and even rum punch on a few days - for after our dives
of course. They also had fresh towels every day and plenty of
spare equipment in case of problems. We always had full tanks
with > 3000 psi. Dive BVI picked up our equipment the
first
day and took care of it all week. They set up our gear every
morning, if we wanted them to, and rinsed and put it away at the end of
each day. At the end of the week they cleaned and disinfected
our
gear and returned it back to the resort. They were awesome.
Since we were all new to Lance and Laura, they made an effort to
assess our skills early in the week and make sure we were doing well in
regards to our air usage but were not intrusive. They also
did a
good job of pointing out things that we might have missed.
They
were obviously both incredibly excited about diving and I would not
hesitate to go out with them any time.
We found the diving to be excellent. The visibility was good
and
there was an amazing
array of corals and - to our untrained eyes - they appeared to be in
great shape. There was
also a wide variety of marine life including shark, barracuda, tarpon,
eels, turtles, eagle rays, and many other varieties of sea life.
Our favorite dive was The RMS
Rhone
which is a very popular wreck dive. We saw large schools of
snappers, a large moray, 3 eagle rays, and several turtles.
One
of the turtles was feeding and we were able to watch it for 5 or 10
minutes.
Pictures
I took pictures on land and on the boat and have a link below.
Lance and Laura took pictures on the boat and underwater and
I
have a link below to their pictures as well. Blue Meridian
also
has pictures on their Face book page.
My Pictures
Lance and Laura's Pictures
Blue
Meridian Face book Albums
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