Woke up this morning at 7.30 feeling quite sad, as this would be our last port of call this cruise, and we would then have two days at sea before returning to Miami.
Going out on the balcony, we could see that we were already docked in Road Town, on the island of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. This was our fourth visit here, and we were excited to be back in this charming and colourful little town.
After breakfast in the Lido self-service, we decided to go up on deck and take in our surroundings. The day was already bright and warm, with a blue sky interspersed with fluffy cumulus clouds. We could expect another scorcher today. 🙂
Even from here, we could see that Road Town had changed considerably since our last visit here in 2016 on the Adonia. At the time there were signs that a lot of commercial development was going on, and we worried lest Tortola ended up like Antigua, with the big brash touristy shops and casinos and tourist traps.
Whilst it wasn’t quite like that, it was certainly different from the quaint little island we had first visited over 20 years ago.
We decided to go ashore and have a look around, so around nine o’clock we disembarked Queen Elizabeth and took a slow stroll into town. I had to take some bow photos of the ship; she looked great with the reflection of the water rippling on her shiny black hull.
We walked around the marina, where we could see the pleasure boats at anchor, their masts clinking gently in the sea breeze. From here, we could see the big “BVI” sign; this seems to be a trend these days, where towns and cities build a massive sign of the placename for people to pose in front of. Regular readers of this blog will have noticed I’ve amassed a fair number of photos of this type of sign now, so here’s another one for the collection. 🙂
As we walked into town, we passed a pub that was advertising beer at $3.00 a bottle – a bargain if ever there was one. We decided we’d pop in later on; it was our last port of call after all. 🙂
Soon we came to a part of Road Town that we recognised, that had a few more shops. I had bought a fabulous pair of green wedge shoes here in 2005, so we had a perfunctory look around to see if the shop was still here but alas, it had disappeared to make way for a more modern row of shops.
We passed a British-style pub called Pussers which we remembered from last time we were here. The pub is full of nautical and Royal Navy memorabilia and sells, of course, the famous Pusser’s Rum. At the back of the pub was a shop selling Tortola and Pusser’s branded clothing; t-shirts, shorts, trousers, shirts, jackets etc. but these were remarkably expensive, so we didn’t buy anything.
As we strolled around, we came to a shop called “Bobby’s Supermarket”. We decided to go in and buy a couple of bottles of fizz to drink on our balcony – we did have another couple of sea days coming up! 🙂
We purchased what we wanted in the shop and put the bottles into the rucksack. It was very hot as we walked along, so we didn’t want to go too far or do anything too strenuous. So we decided to go back to the pub where the three-dollar beers were and indulge. Appropriately, I was wearing a t-shirt with Shaboozey’s catchy lyrics emblazoned on the front: “Everybody in the bar gettin’ tipsy”. 🙂
As we walked into the pub which contained some locals sitting on bar stools, a lady nearby asked me to stay still so she could read my t-shirt, and she laughed. The barman also laughed, and asked us what we would like. “Two beers, please” we said, as we took our places on a bar stool. A large TV screen on the wall behind us played videos of popular music from the 1980s, until someone behind the bar changed the channel to show a cricket match instead. 🙂
We really enjoyed our freezing cold beers as well as the ambience in the pub. Once again, ours were the only white faces in the place, but we love to mix with the locals no matter where we go; not only do they tend to appreciate it, but we also get a more authentic experience. We decided to have another beer each. 🙂
The time passed pleasantly and, after one more beer, we decided to have a rum punch – it would be our last one for this cruise. 🙁 The smiling barman asked if we would like the punch “strong” or “very strong”. We decided on the latter. 🙂
The rum punch was delicious. Cold, fruity, rummy with the ice cubes chinking gently against the glass.
Afterwards, we reluctantly called for the bill, which came to $34.00. Three bucks each for the beer, so it must have been eight bucks each for the rum punch. They were good ones though!
We thanked the barman and made our way out of the cool bar and into the hot sunshine. It was lunchtime now, so we decided to take a slow stroll back to the Queen Elizabeth. On the way, I had to take another photo of her; I can never resist a good bow shot, the same way as I can never resist photographing the wake of a ship. 🙂
Back on board, we enjoyed a light lunch in the Lido; I had a plate of mixed, fresh salad with a selection of charcuteries and cheeses. Afterwards, we returned to 8025 and enjoyed an hour’s rum punch-induced power nap. 🙂
There was nothing on the programme we fancied doing, so we just pottered around in our cabin. Trevor put the TV on so he could check on the football scores (Sunderland would play tomorrow) and I sat and did some of this blog, then read my book. Then we sat out on the balcony for a while, where I could look over at the lush verdant hills of Tortola and the turquoise water. Fantastic!
Soon dinner time rolled around again, so we made our way along to table #503 where Mervyn and Alice were already seated. By now, Queen Elizabeth was underway once again; the next time we would see terra firma would be in three days’ time, when we arrived back in Miami. 🙁
We enjoyed the dinner, the service and the company on table #503 once again; the food really has been superb this cruise; we couldn’t fault it.
Afterwards, we went along to the Queen’s Room to listen to the superb orchestra and watch the dancing. Then it was along to the Royal Court Theatre for tonight’s show, featuring a Motown group called “Queens of Rhythm”; three ladies who clearly modelled themselves on famous soul/Motown groups such as the Supremes or the Three Degrees. We thought they were OK, certainly not all they were hyped up to be.
At nine o’clock we went along to the Golden Lion for the quiz, and it turned out to be the most boring (for us) quiz ever. It was all about the Olivier Awards, which I believe were being held tomorrow night. As Trevor and I are not really into West End musicals (although we do enjoy the theatre for other types of performances) there were hardly any questions to which we knew the answers, or in some cases had even heard of the musical. We therefore abandoned the quiz after only five or six questions. It seemed as if other teams were finding it difficult too. So we just sat and enjoyed our pints of Guinness instead.
After the quiz finished (it seemed to go on forever!) we stayed in the pub for a short while before returning to 8025, where Trevor cracked open one of the bottles of cold cava we had bought in Bobby’s Supermarket, and we each took a glass out onto the balcony. Putting my feet up, I listened to the sounds of the sea, breathed in great lungfuls of the fresh salty air, and gazed at the starry sky as the Queen Elizabeth glided along. In the distance we could see the lights of other passing ships and we wondered where they were going and where they had come from. “Ships that pass in the night…“
As ever, we had had a lovely day. It was the end of our time in the Caribbea, but not yet the end of our fabulous cruise – we now had a couple more days at sea to look forward to. As ever, we slept very well, the gentle motion of the Queen Elizabeth lulling us to sleep.