Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Wednesday, 8:00 AM - It was an early wake-up call for us as the ship docked in Tortola this morning. We were scheduled to depart at five o' clock in the afternoon and we wanted to have an early head-start to fully utilize the 9 hours we had on the island.

Tortola is the largest of the more than 50 islands comprising the British Virgin Islands. Christopher Columbus discovered what are now known as the Virgin Islands during his second voyage to the New World in 1493.

Faced with the task of christening dozen's of quays and islets, he wisely named them "Las Once Mil Virgines", in honor of St. Ursula's legendary army of 1,100 martyred virgins and claimed them for Spain.

Then in 1666, English planters seized Tortola and annexed the islands in 1672.

(Aerial photo of Cane Garden Bay from: www.bareboatsbvi.com)

Our destination today was Cane Garden Bay.

Road Town retains character with pastel colored buildings. Territorial law prohibits buildings more than two stories high and residents like to boast that the tallest objects on any of the islands are coconut trees.

Just off Road Town lies Cane Garden Bay, considered as the most popular beach in Tortola. Magen's Bay may have made it on the list of the Top 10 Beaches in the world, but we found the sand in Cane Garden Bay to be much finer.

It reminded me a bit of Boracay Island back home.

My only real gripe was that at the end of the day, we couldn't find one single working shower to rinse the sand off. In fact, when S and I opened one up, we were greeted with the sight of a bone-dry, dusty floor and an antsy spider dangling from his cobweb. Unbelievable. I ended up hoisting S up on one of the sinks in the bathroom (only 2 faucets had running water, the other 2 sinks had only sand on them ) so she could rinse herself a bit. I mean, - Come on! This beach had a pretty high amount of tourist traffic. I'm sure no one would mind paying a nominal fee to use the shower/restroom facilities as long as it was kept clean and properly maintained. 

Needless to say, we all raced to the shower as soon as we got back to the ship. Itchy sand, knotted hair, sticky sweat, and all...