June 9, 2022 Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Today we arrived at the Road Town cruise port in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, before 7 a.m. Already in port was the Norwegian Breakaway, which holds almost 4,000 passengers at full capacity compared to Equinox’s 2,850. There were a few clouds, a gentle breeze and 26°C. Location was 18°25.26N; 64°36.65W. There is a location clothing company named Latitude 18. Before breakfast we walked up on Deck 14 for 45 minutes. Arnie joined us for the last 30 minutes before we went to breakfast in the Tuscan Grill. There were less than a dozen guests there when we finished.

Today’s excursion was “Town and Country Drive” to see the island driving on the twisty hilly narrow main road in a minibus that could hold 24. We were in the first group of seven or eight and were led to a true air conditioned vehicle, the only one. We were in the same group as Arnie and Sue. There were a few pauses along the way to photograph the views of the Road Bay. The nautical term “the roads” means a less sheltered place than a harbour, but a place to lie anchor. Tortola has a population of about 20,000 and is 24 square miles in area. They use the American dollar as their currency, even though they are a British protectorate.

The drive followed the main road, where hotels and houses are perched on the side of the hills up steep lanes. We saw chickens and goats in some yards. It was a 45 minute drive to Cane Garden Bay, where we were scheduled for a 90 minute stay. The people in the bus voted for a 60 minute or shorter stay. We were on our way at one hour. There is a nice beach that we walked, then stopped for a cool Piña Colada and were joined by Ann and John whose bus had just arrived and was staying the prescribed 90 minutes. We returned to the bus for the hour long drive back to the ship. At Carrot Bay the driver, Ishmael, pointed to the gas station. The posted price of gas was $5.77US per gallon. The winding road descended to be closer to the waterfront, we followed the shore into Road Town. Temperature was 31°C.

As we were walking to the pier, we watched the Breakaway sailing away. So far today we had logged 12,013 steps. Back on the ship, we went to Café al Bacio for dessert and coffee. Everyone was aboard by 2:30 p.m. and the ship was pushing away from the pier before 3 p.m.

We danced before dinner to the band D’Coolers to a rumba. For dinner this evening there was a full table - Arnie & Sue, Ann & John and Deana & Adam were back. Angela and Susan sat with a couple at the next table. We asked our waitress, Ni Made, if she could speed up our order a bit since we had the 7:45 p.m. Senior Officers’ Cocktail Party. She did a great job, we had ordered our dessert before the rest of the table had been served their entrée. Dessert was Tiramisu. We were finished before 7:30 p.m. On our way to the Sky Lounge on deck 14, we stopped at the balcony level of the theatre to listen to the Bailamos! Group sing Mambo Number 5, then continued our climb. There were fewer Elite and up guests at this party than at the same gathering on the Summit, probably since there are fewer older guests on this shorter cruise. We stayed and chatted with John and Ann for another hour before leaving and going down to deck 5 for coffee at Café al Bacio. As we finished our coffee, the band D’Coolers started their 10 p.m. set themed Twist ‘n’ Shout. The played swing and mambo. There was just one other couple dancing to one of the tunes.

Our of the day steps were 16,264.