You know the format by now…….before our next adventure let’s check in with the night before. Remember , it was St Valentine’s Day so tonight we decided we’d go to the Italian at Gallery 47. We had a lovely meal but then decided to forego all the entertainment as we were exhausted after our day of socialising in St Kitts.
This was a good plan as it meant the next day we woke up raring to go. So much so that I decided to get up and check out the sunrise from Deck 10 at 6-45am. We were approaching Tortola and sailing through the British Virgin Islands which was pretty special.
Our trip today was in the afternoon which was unusual and meant we could have a much more relaxed start to the day. The main town where we docked here in Tortola is called Road Town. Our ship had a fantastic view into the colourful port and we found a new part of the ship ‘The Veranda’ which is adults only and we were able to sit whilst I sketched and Jane read her book. As we sat there we listened to the sound of the gospel singers celebrating Sunday. When we got off we found the gathering – the band, the local attendees and the tourists, all of whom were swaying and dancing and generally having a happy time. Splendid.
Around midday we met outside the ship ready for our trip….the name of which was the same as the title of this post. It did exactly what it said on the tin. We boarded a little boat and decided to sit up front as this was the best spot for photos. Our guide today was a Rasta with dreadlocks and had banter all day with the guy next to us who was celebrating his 60th birthday. As we sailed along past various islands, beaches and bays he told us about the history of each. This seemed to involve a lot of pirates, rum, salt and death. The tiny islands had names like Deadman’s Chest Island, Salt Island, Ginger Island, Peter Island and finally Norman Island which is famously the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’. It was all very pretty and undeveloped with just the odd luxury resort hidden away. There were, however, lots of sailing boats and catamarans moored up and plenty of money on show. Talking of expensive places to stay, Richard Branson’s Necker Island is part of the BVI just beyond Virgin Gorda (coincidence) and you can stay there for just US $80k per night!
There was no swimming today but there was a bar and the run punch was flowing nicely. As we were sailing back there was a sudden massive downpour and we all retreated undercover…well except the guy celebrating his birthday and a pirate Greybeard in his tropical shirt! our destination was the lovely harbour at Soper’s Hole which was really pretty and where we all went into the supermarket to buy crisps. All that talk had made us crave salt!
To get back from this trip you come by road. I’d assumed that this was just to get you back quicker but it seemed odd that we still had a couple of hours to go. That’s because we now boarded small open sided trucks which wound their way up and down the ridiculous inland roads of Tortola. To be fair, there had been a health warning about the roads when we signed up for it but nothing had prepared us for this. At times the truck could hardly make it, the suspension sounded awful, the gears made a loud grinding noise every time he changed up or down and we could only pray that the brakes had been checked recently! At one point our driver forgot to bip his horn at a blind bend and we met a van head on. He had to break on such a steep hill and try to change gears. The smell of clutch burning was toxic. Up and down and up again we went until we got to a viewpoint at Stouts Lookout where we all stopped and got out and had our photo opportunity. Some people also enjoyed the $2 fish cakes and a beer before we set off again.
What a relief to get back to the port at 4-30pm and back on board we enjoyed the sunset back up on deck 10. In the evening, we went Mexican at Islands and then stuck our noses in to see the stand up Comedian, Steve Terry and then a bit of reggae with Rhythm and Breeze in the Live lounge.
I hope you’re keeping up with us? Tomorrow is another day and another boat trip! ⛵️⚓️
Where shall we go to next? 