Day 12 Panama & Carribean Cruise

Day 12 Tortola

This morning at about 6AM the QM2 anchored off Road Town the capitol of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.

We tendered to shore and procured a taxi; once again $20 / head for 2 ½ hrs. Note that many of the taxis here are actually open bus-type wagons seating about 20, in fact this is what the QM2 official excursion used. We got a 15 seater Toyota van with air conditioning for just the 4 of us.

Our driver, Dennis, was competent though a lot less chatty than any of the others we’ve had – to be fair there was also a lot less to see on this island. The island is very small and hilly; the road around the island was extremely steep in parts – but the views were magnificent.

With a distinct lack of topsoil, Tortola has no agriculture; it appears that its one and only industry is tourism. We saw many small hotels and lodgings but no big resorts; the island is well developed but, like most of the other islands, we saw lots of construction. Tortola is still a British dependency and the UK sends a new governor every two years (what a job that must be!). There are all the usual signs of a home away from home; like driving on the left, UK road signs and a certain politeness. Though the traffic drives on the left, it was interesting to observe that all of the cars had the steering wheel on the left – not the safest of situations, but they get all there cars from the US.

Leaving Road Town the road climbed steeply and we soon were rewarded with a brilliant view of the harbor and the QM2 sitting majestically at anchor. We soon crossed the ridge that divides the island and could now see the Atlantic side, again breath-taking. As we climbed further we began to get a feel for the general area; there are many islands within a short distance of Tortola – St. John, St Thomas, Peter Island, Beef Island…

At the very top of the road we came across a small restaurant / bar with a viewing platform on top. We picked up refreshments and headed for the roof where we got a great 360 degree view around the whole of Tortola. If you happen to visit this spot, watch out for the rather rude Scottish bartender.

Suitably refreshed we headed back down the mountain to Cane Garden Bay, a small town on the northern coast. Our first stop here was at the tiny little 400 year old Callwood rum distillery. The distillery didn’t look a day over 350, it was really dilapidated – but in a very quaint way. A complete contrast to the Mount Gay distillery we visited on Barbados. On walking through a very low doorway we entered the heart of the enterprise; the tasting room, bottling line and aging room – all in one. The space we were in had standing room for about 6 people. A young guy, possibly the company president, was lounging on a barrel and reluctantly got up and wandered to the other side of the tasting counter. After hearing a very brief history of the distillery and a description of the 3 grades of rum, we paid our $2 and had a taste – it was pretty forgettable. A second employee, possibly the company vice president, was sitting behind the counter sticking labels on bottles – this was the bottling line; I asked how many employees worked at the distillery and the young guy just shrugged and waived at himself and his label-sticking colleague. In some ways I enjoyed this distillery more than the much-polished Mount Gay version.

We jumped back into the van and took a short ride to the middle of Cane Garden Bay where we stopped for about 10 minutes. There were several larger market stalls some restrooms and access to a fantastic beach. I took a few minutes to go down to the beach; the sand was white and clean and the beach was well populated with sun worshippers. This would be a great place to stay if you just wanted to lie on the beach for a week.

On the way out of Cane Garden Bay Dennis pulled over by a funky looking shack called the Bomba Bar. Apparently the entire bar is constructed from things that had washed up on the shore; I saw plenty of drift wood as you might expect, but also a computer monitor propping up a bench and strangely, an assortment of ladies knickers hanging on a line! Many signs nailed to the bar announced various events, but the biggest event was the Full Moon Party which happens once per month (funny that); Dennis informed us that the full moon party was famous throughout the island for serving a special mushroom tea that would “put a sparkle in your eye”.

Our final stop was at the very southern point of the island where we drove over a tiny bridge to get to Frenchman’s Cay – actually a tiny island. Dennis took us to Soper’s Hole Wharf, a small marina filled with sailing boats and surrounded by tourist shops, restaurant and bars. We sat at the bar and I had a drink of Nelson’s Blood, a local rum punch, in a tin cup (available for an extra charge). This area is nice and worth a quick stop.

Soon we were back at the cruise pier, having successfully circumnavigated another Caribbean island (maybe there’s an award for this!). We paid the driver (yes you always pay after the tour), hopped on a tender and returned to the ship. The Golden Lion pub beckoned so we headed to deck two and I had a pint of Boddingtons and Bangers ‘n Mash.

This afternoon I did something unusual – I had a nap! All this vacationing is hard work and my cold was starting to get the better of me, so I lay out on the balcony of our cabin and dosed off. I was rudely awakened by the ships horn, this is a very big ship – so it needs a very loud horn. I was startled because so far the ship has only sounded its horn when it was pulling out of port – and I did not think I’d been asleep that long. The horn was sounded about a dozen times, then it stopped and I dozed off again. Later in the afternoon Sandra told me she had been sitting in the library, at the very front of the ship, when this horn blowing event had occurred. She looked up to see another cruise ship, the Pacific Dream, cutting dangerously close to the QM2’s bow (that’s the front of the ship – I’m such a nautical wiz these days) as it pulled out of Road Town. Our working theory is that the captain of the QM2 must have been pissed off at the other captain – just like when you honk your horn at some reckless driver on the freeway.

Dress code tonight was semi-formal, so just the regular black suit and tie for me. We had made reservations at the Piazza, one of the four deck 7 restaurants I have previously mentioned. The dinner was excellent, Italian as you might have guessed – again way better then the food in our assigned Britannia Restaurant. Dessert was so good Sandra had to play her imaginary friend trick, so she could sample 2 items!

We decided to skip the show tonight, as we ate late and I’m still feeling a bit under the weather (which is strange because we’ve had great weather). Anyway the show tonight was an Irish Flautist; neither of us was desperate to see it.

We are looking forward to a nice relaxing sea day tomorrow as we start our journey north back to New York.