Day 14 - Exploring Tortola

I couldn't sleep and rose early in the morning.  We were just approaching Tortola.  It was a lush island and lightly populated; only 25,000 people versus the 100,000 in Madeira.  There didn't seem to be a level spot on the whole island.  Mountains and rolling hills rose straight up from the sea.  The colorful homes peppered the hills side cantilevering out like they were trying to get a better view of the bay.  

It is fascinating to watch as the ship arrives at a new port.  Such a large vessels glides into place snuggled up to the dock.  I was excited we did not have to tender into Tortola.  It's always nice to get on and off the ship right on the dock.  Makes it easier to make more than one trip.

We hadn't be able to reserve an excursion, but we wanted to do some snorkeling.  After another lovely buffet breakfast at Parrot Cay (Peter was consuming a massive amount of Mickey pancakes with whipped cream every morning), we disembarked to see what adventure we could find.

[5741]Ken went to the tourist desk and we found a taxi that took us to a quiet beach for the day.  We were blessed to be with Ducky Williams (a famous Disney animator) and his family.   We did our best to let them enjoy their family time.     When we arrived, we realized we'd forgotten to bring towels from the ship.  Nice thing about the Caribbean, you really don't have to have a towel!    We swam and snorkeled (there weren't many fish close to shore) and generally enjoyed the day at Garden Bay [5708]  It was a relaxing day at the beach.  Ken enjoyed a special lunch of conk fritters and I managed to purchase the last beach towel available.

[5781]The ride to and from the beach was breathtaking and hair raising.  Our driver explained the road used to be a donkey trail!  It would have been tough even on the donkeys.  We basically drove straight up and the drove straight down including a few hairpin turns requiring honking to make sure no one was coming around the bend.  Did I mention they drive on the LEFT side of the rode (Tortola is part of the British Virgin Islands)?  I didn't realize how ingrained the directions we drive is in our psyche.  I hung on to the hand grip tightly and tried not to call out when we were swerving into the wrong lane. We found it amusing that most of the taxis were stick shifts, too.  

As we were driving through town, our driver was explaining about the protests going on.  The folks were protesting a conglomerate taking over the water distribution on the island.  Local folks want to keep the contact with a local company instead.  Amazing to find peaceful protests in such a small place as Tortola.

When we made it back to the ship, we were ready for showers and some time to relax before dinner.  Next we had our last day at sea.