Tortola and Nassau

Day 5—Tortola

A pretty cove on the west side of the island.

This was the first day we really had to get up early.  So, at the "crack of dawn", we got up and headed to breakfast, then off to the car rental place which opens at 8AM.  We, of course, reserved the cheapest thing possible, so were rented a Toyota Yaris.  Actually, it was much larger than the cars we had in French Polynesia, and mercifully, it was a plain white.  On the other hand, as we circled the car with the renter, it was quite obvious that not one body panel (except the roof and hood) was undamaged, and some in many places.  This car was beat to heck and back!!  We set out confident any damage was apt to blend in. 

In Tortola, they drive mostly left hand cars (drivers sit on the left, as in the US), but they drive (mostly) on the left side of the road (as in the UK).  So, it was going to be unique!  Actually, it did not turn out too bad, since the traffic makes it clear!  But, they pull over on any side they feel like, so that becomes interesting!  Also, the roads up the hills have a lot of turns and switch backs, but they don’t give too much room to them!  It is up is like a circular stairs, so an inside turn can be well over 45 degrees.  Many times you could not even see the road; and the car, foot to the floor, was chugging at 18 mph steady!

As we drove around the island, we stumbled upon Long Bay.  It was beautiful, sandy, open…and EMPTY!!!  We pulled over and spent a bit of time there.  In the spot we were, one woman walked by (twice), and no one else was within 200-300 feet of us (and that was a single family).  It seemed like we had our own private beach!

Long Bay Beach...all to ourselves!

 

Anyone want a boat?  As is!!

400 year old still...and still in use!!

A little further, we found Callwood Distillery, where they had been distilling rum with the same still for over 400 years!  We then wound our way to the top of the island in a national park. 

Ever know one of those people that always seem to have a cloud over them?  They live here!

Finally, we headed along the ridge road across the island (along the ridges of the "mountains" to the “East End” and across the bridge to Beef Island.  Ohhh…if there were any burger joint to be found easily, I’d have had to stop for some Beef on Beef Island!!!  (We once stopped for coffee in Coffeyville, KS…not the same, but, well…)  Anyway, the airport for Tortola is on Beef Island.  We watched a plane take off, and drove by the tower, before heading back to the ship.

DAY 6 and 7 – At Sea and Nassau, Bahamas

Actually, the highlight to Day 6 was a Trivia quiz on Airline Tails.  I felt sure this was finally one I could win!!  Out of twenty pictures of various tail liveries, I was able to identify 18.  There was one I recognized, but could not place (Gulf Air), one I neither recognized nor could place (Solomon Islands), and one I did not recognized, but made an educated guess based on the registration number (CU—Cubana).  However, I was only second, to a flight attendant from Delta!  Oh, well.  We ended the night with a really good comedy show.

View from our room after docking (Nassau).

After a final day at sea, we arrived in Nassau, and took it fairly easy.  We did not arrive until about noon, so had lunch before we got off the ship.  Then we went for a short walk around the pier area, looking at a few shops to see if there was anything we wanted to buy.  Not so much!  Getting back to the ship was a zoo, since there were four huge ships docked!!  I doubt any of them were less than 3000 passengers, but ours at 4500 or so, was a close call for largest.

On your mark!  Get set!!

Back onboard, I decided to try to ropes course on the ship.  It was a variety of ropes, rope bridges, narrow planks, etc, with a few zip lines in places.  I didn’t quite get how to start the first zip line, so sort of walked off the end, and crawled more than zipped to the other end.  But, I rotated on the way, ending up backwards, feet dragging and bottom a few inches off the landing (kind of hard to stand up).  The second one was a bit longer, and actually curved over the edge of the ship.  So, I got more of a moving start.  It was fun!

That's the problem with fancy art on the side of a boat...

We had our last dinner in a “Supper Club”, which was supposed to be dinner and a show.  The show was a comedic magician.  He was entertaining.  Then we ended the night going to a “game show” where they had couples compete with each other in some humorous ways.  It was a good way to end the trip!