Nestled between vacation villas on Virgin Gorda’s southwestern tip, Spring Bay National Park is a more accessible beach experience for people unable to circumnavigate The Baths less than a kilometre away.
Since last June, however, prospective visitors have been prohibited from visiting Spring Bay because of ongoing construction designed to mitigate runoff that officials said had been eroding the beach during heavy rainfall.
Now those works are nearing completion and the park is likely to reopen soon, according to National Parks Trust Director Cassander Titley-O’Neal.
Ms. Titley-O’Neal, who invited the Beacon to Spring Bay Saturday to provide a project update, wouldn’t give an exact reopening date, but she said that it will likely come before the end of the year.
Water diversion
Atop a freshly painted wooden walkway near the parking lot, the NPT director looked out over the trees, where Guavaberry Spring Bay Vacation Homes and The Baths were visible.
“One of the greatest challenges for doing the work at Spring Bay [was] we know we have to put in some type of water diversion and retention measures,” the director said. “But every effort was made and none spared to ensure that the landscape that you see around was visible for everyone to see.”
Lining the path from the parking lot to the beach entrance, gabion baskets — wireframe boxes filled with stones — have been installed to manage runoff that previously eroded the beach during times of heavy rainfall, she explained.
“Every time we would have strong intermittent rainfall events, the water would come down through the path and from the adjacent property development on this side,” the NPT director said, pointing towards the parking lot before moving her arm down toward the beach. “And the water would come all the way down this way. It would burst through close to where we are at here.”
To hide the gabion baskets from view, the NPT planted various native plants that do not have to be watered or receive other special care, according to the parks director.
Reopening
Visitors, she added, will have a tough time recognising the park after all the work that has been carried out.
“It’s not the same park,” she said.
Until it reopens, tourists and residents alike will have to kick back and relax at nearby Devils Bay or The Baths if they want some sun time in the sand.
Otherwise, people who decide to ignore the yellow warning sign in the Spring Bay parking lot could be hit with fines, Ms. Titley-O’Neal said.
“If we close a park and you decide to go into it on your own, the [NPT] is within its right to charge you a $10,000 fine and/or jail for one year,” she said. “That’s what the regulations say.”
The park is one of six on Virgin Gorda owned and managed by the NPT.
British Caribbean News
