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VIRGIN GORDA , twelve miles east of Tortola, might just be the perfect Virgin Island - peaceful, blessed with abundant natural assets, and sometimes gloriously deserted. Ten miles long and two miles wide (at its widest), the island got its name - "fat virgin" - from Columbus in 1493 during his second voyage through the area. The name refers to the landscape - mountainous in the middle and thin at each end. Most visitors to the island stay on the luxury resorts (some accessible only by water) at North Sound . Skirted on one side by Virgin Gorda and on the other by several major reefs and a series of small islands - Mosquito, Prickly Pear, Saba Rock, Eustacia and Necker - the North Sound provides excellent watersports, hiking trails, deserted beaches and some of the best diving and snorkelling in the BVI. The tourist dollar has yet to make much of an impact on SPANISH TOWN , Virgin Gorda's main settlement located at its southern end and home to most of the 2500-plus islanders. Unprepossessing and very poor, it consists mainly of a jumble of run-down, windowless houses with chickens running through the yards. The town's only nod to tourism is Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbour , the island's main marina, where you'll find most of the handful of restaurants and shops, as well as the banks and tourist information centre. The North Sound Road leading from Spanish Town to the small village of Gun Creek is the starting-point (well signposted or look for the stairs leading into the trees) for two short trails into the Virgin Gorda Peak National Park , a 260-acre area that rises to the island's highest point, Gorda Peak, at 1359ft. South of Spanish Town, The Valley is an area of even smaller settlements at whose southern tip lies Virgin Gorda's biggest and most photographed tourist attraction - The Baths . This bizarre landscape of volcanic boulders the size of houses stretches from the wooded slopes behind the beach to the sand and on into the clear aquamarine sea, forming a natural seaside playground of grottoes, caves and pools. The snorkelling here is excellent and, not surprisingly, it can get very crowded in high season, so come early or late in the day. There are also lots of restaurants, bars and shops both on the beach and in the hills above, connected via trails.
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