Travelogue -Virgin Gorda

Tortola

Ferry to Tortola

Adventures on Tortola

Today, we decided to take the Ferry over to Tortola, and do some sight-seeing there. Drove out to the Ferry Dock, and bought a couple of tickets. Speedy's Ferry runs to two destinations on Tortola from Virgin Gorda: Beef Island near the airport where I arrived, and Road Town, where it's all happenin', Baby. That was our destination for this morning. Speedy operates mostly passenger ferries, but they also have at least one that takes vehicles. A lot slower, and a lot more expensive.)

Ferry to Tortola

64, Speedy's Ferry	65. On the top deck	66. Star Flyer
67. Fancy house	68. A blot on the landscape	69. Parallel parking

We headed out to the Ferry Dock to catch the 10:30 boat to Road Town (Photo #64). Unlike on my trip from Beef Island when I arrived, this voyage was well-populated. We opted for the top deck, and found a pair of canvas seats at the very front (Photo #65). It was a very pleasant ride, although the engine noise made conversation difficult. The boat zipped along at a brisk pace, the water was smooth, and the breeze was lovely, and served to keep us from overheating in the warm sun. As we left dock, we spied a beautiful 4-masted sailing ship, with "Star Flyer" painted on her bow (Photo #66). I wondered if it was a very rich man's toy, or perhaps a resurrection of the late lamented Windjammer cruise ship outfit, with which we had sailed twice before. We crossed the waters between Virgin Gorda and Tortola, and followed Tortola's shore west-southwest towards Road Town, a voyage of about 40 minutes.

Perched on a high bluff was what could only be described as a mansion (Photo #67). Very fancy . And as we approached the ferry dock, we spied what could only be described (by Jenny and me, at least) as a blot on the landscape: a couple of cruise ships looking as appropriate to their surroundings as a rhinoceros at a cat show (Photo #68). I looked it up on Wikipedia. The Arvia carries a complement of 5,200 passengers and 1,800 crew. What must it be like when two such monstrosities disgorge over 10,000 tourists on a burb like Road Town, probably doubling the town's population for an afternoon? As my friend, Kenny Rolston might say, I'd sooner be in a dragon's colon. And something else struck me. If you look at the full-page version of photo #68, you can count eight lifeboats. Presumably there are eight more on the other side. Do the math, and it tells you that if the ship is sinking, you would need to squeeze 438 people onto each lifeboat. Does that seem possible?

The ferry pulled into dock with a display of masterful parallel parking by her skipper (Video #69).

No sooner had I gotten off the boat when I heard a voice calling, "Did anyone lose a wallet on the ferry?" It was one of the ferry crew. I immediately felt for my back pocket, and it was empty. The wallet must have been squeezed out of my back pocket by the canvas chair. "Me! Me! It was me!" I cried. I thanked the man profusely. Good grief! First the passport. Now the wallet. This was only the beginning of what would become a whole series of breadcrumbs I was to leave behind me during the trip.

OK, now that we're on Tortola, what are we going to do here? Well, it would be nice to get some lunch. There was a taxi stand adjacent to the ferry dock, and we asked for some recommendations. But every place we tried was either too noisy, too expensive, or had too long a wait before being served. So we decided to postpone lunch and see what there was to see within walking distance. Jenny spotted something in a brochure called "The Old Government House Museum" that looked interesting. It was maybe a half mile from the ferry dock, so we took a hike.

Old Government House Museum

70. Building*	71. Dining Room*	72. Drawing Room? (Sitting Room? Sun Room?)	73. Garden entrance
74. Garden	75. Garden	76. Garden	77. Garden
78. Garden	79. Garden	80. Veranda	81. Cannon

* Photos marked with an asterisk were not taken by me, but rather ripped off from Google Images.

The Old Government House Museum was the home of the British-appointed Governor of Tortola. Wikipedia says, "The original structure, dating back to 1899, was destroyed by a hurricane in 1924. The present structure was built on the same site in 1925-26 and was the home of commissioners, presidents, administrators and governors until 1999, when it was deemed unsuitable for occupation, and scheduled for demolition. The Island Sun published an editorial against the demolition of the historic building and members of the public expressed their disagreement with the official decision. In 2003, a new Government House was built on adjacent land while the old structure has been transformed into a museum."

This region of the island of Tortola has a narrow border of flat land around its border only a couple of hundred yards wide before the terrain slopes upward abruptly into the remains of an extinct volcano. As you can see in Photo #70, the building is built into the base of that mountain, and one needs to climb 30 or 40 feet of stairs and steeply-sloping paths to get to the entrance. A docent took our small admission fee, and left us free to explore. There really wasn't all that much to explore. There were a few ground-floor rooms at which we could view across ropes stretched across their doorways (Photos # 71 - 72. and what the heck is a "drawing room", anyway?), a lovely garden that wound up and down along the face of the mountain (Photos #73 - 79), and a veranda that bordered the downslope side of the building (Photos #80 & 81), complete with vestigial cannon to repel invading cruise ships.

It was pleasant, but I was feeling rather hot, sweaty, and tired, and particularly hungry. So after about 45 minutes or so, we walked back to the ferry dock in Road Town to find someplace to eat.

Adjacent to the dock was a little concession stand that doubled as a taxi dispatcher. Jenny had heard about a restaurant called "The Garden", where they sold foods grown on the premises. We asked the stand to call us a taxi to take us there. The taxi arrived shortly, driven by a friendly and helpful driver named Eugene. (He was soon to prove his helpfulness beyond the call of duty.) He drove us westward along the Sir Francis Drake Highway, a "highway" by only the most generous stretch of the imagination, to The Garden. However, the place seemed to be closed. No cars in the lot. We got out and looked around. The door was unlocked, but there was no one about, and no indications of any public place to eat. I called, and a woman came out, and said that it was indeed a vegetable garden, but it was no longer a restaurant.

Eugene then suggested a restaurant we had passed on the way to The Garden, Peg-Leg's in Nanny Cay. Nanny Cay is a resort hotel and marina. We entered the resort, and passed dozens of boats of all types and sizes up on supports in the yards of the marina. Eugene said that these were all out of the water for winter maintenance, and would be on the water again in a few weeks' time. He left us there, promising to come pick us up at 3:30. He gave me his card, and told me to call him in case we wanted to change our plans.

Peg Leg's (Photos # 82 & 83) is an outdoor eatery covered by a large tent roof with open sides, equipped with side curtains that could be deployed in inclement weather. The shade and chairs to sit on were a welcome relief for me. In addition to being hot and tired, I had been dealing with crowds, noise, and frustration of trying to communicate with the local folks whose patois, combined with my diminished hearing acuity, made it difficult for me to understand them. So the opportunity to just be off my feet and in the shade was most welcome. We were served by an enthusiastic waiter ("What would you like to drink? Lemonade? We have The Best Lemonade On The Island!") Best, maybe, but not the fastest. That was OK. I was in no hurry.

We still had some time after we finished eating before Eugene came to pick us up, so we took a stroll around the marina yard, ogling all the fancy watercraft (Photos #84 & 85). There were boats of all sizes and types, both sail and powered, single-hulled and catamaran, and they were fun to look at without a trace of envy of their owners on my part. I was particularly amused by one mooring strip occupied by about 8 or 10 identical craft (Photo # 86), apparently available for rent.

Eugene appeared to pick us up right on time, and took us back to the dock in time for our ferry ride back to Virgin Gorda. We got back to Palm Cottage, and I reached into my back pocket for the little notebook I had been using to record our adventures, and jot down the highlights of our trip to use later as a reference for this Blog post. Uh-oh. No notebook. I knew I still had it as recently as Peg Leg's, because I had made some notations in it there. I called the restaurant, and wonder of wonders, they had found it in the restroom, where it had evidently fallen out of my pocket while I was otherwise engaged. Crap! (Pun intended.) Yet another breadcrumb to be retrieved. But how?

I still had Eugene's card. I called him, explained the situation, and engaged him to drive back to Peg Leg's, pick up the notebook, and give it to the ferry Captain the following day. The Captain would then take it back to Virgin Gorda for my pickup, and I, in turn, would give the Captain Eugene's fare for his service, to be given to Eugene on the return trip. Amazingly, this all worked out with no paperwork, and no agreements other than the virtual handshake between all concerned parties. I betcha you couldn't do that with Uber.

82. Peg-Leg's	84. Boats in the Marina	85. Boats in the Marina
83. Peg-Leg's	84. Boats in the Marina	86. Oh, lovely! I'll take a half dozen in light blue.