Day 2: One Fat Virgin

Saturday, March 26

At 6:00 am our ship docked at Road Town in Tortula, the largest of the British Virgin Islands. On of the smaller islands, Norman Island was the inspiration for Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Both of us woke easily, but I was still pretty nervous about the snorkeling trip and couldn't really eat very much at breakfast. (Of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing.) After changing into our bathing suits and carefully checking our "carry-on" bag (towels, check; sunscreen, check) we headed out to the dock to meet our group at 8:15.

Getting off the boat we found ourselves following a group of athletic 20-somethings, and I got more and more apprehensive. Once we found our group, though, I was really relieved; at least half of them were approaching my age, so I was pretty sure everything would be fine.

We loaded onto a wide, flat-bottomed boat with a canopy and headed out to Virgin Gorda (named by Christopher Columbus because he though the island looked like a pregnant woman lying on her back. Of course if she was pregnant, she wouldn't be a virgin, so I guess it is supposed to refer to the virgin Mary.)

It took about a half hour to cross the Sir Francis Drake channel. During that time the crew walked around distributing dive vests, masks and fins to all of the passengers. Some of the group already had their own equipment, but most didn't.

When we got to Virgin Gorda, the portion of the coast we approached had these large round boulders lining the shore, with small sandy coves lying between the outcroppings. Our boat's crew picked up a buoy that couldn't have been more than a hundred feet from shore. Then, we all suited up, jumped of the back of the boat and swam to shore.

On shore our guide (one of the crew members) told us a little bit about our hike. We were going to walk through the boulders up to the next bay, (Devil's Bay), and then snorkel back along the outside of the bay.

It was really an amazing walk. There were ropes and some small stairs built to keep everything safe. (This is one of the British Virgin Island's national parks). You scrunched down to fit through these narrow crevices and then came out in the cavern-like areas that fill with water as the tides change. These miniature swimming holes in the center of the huge boulder piles are what gave the "Baths" their name.

Kathy and I had a great time snorkeling back to the boat. It took us about an hour. There didn't seem to be as many fish as in Hawaii, but the water is much clearer. We did see a lot of fish though, some pretty good sized.

I originally tried to wear my classes inside my mask. When I did that, though, the mask filled up pretty quickly because it couldn't seal at my temples. Once I took my glasses off, I could actually see a little better. Not as good as Kathy, though, who said there were really a lot of fish.

It was really a great excursion. I recommend it.

After we got back to the ship and had some lunch, we took off to do some shopping in Tortola. We walked through the entire town and couldn't find any of the stores listed in my Frommer's or Lonely Planet guide. Finally we saw a building with pallets of soda and such stacked outside. No sign on the building. We watched if for a while until we saw a lady coming out of a door. Sure enough, when we went in the door, it was a supermarket. We got some Coke, batteries, sunscreen and hairspray.

On our way back to the ship, we stopped into several clothing stores to see if I could find a hat and some flip-flops. We found both in a small store, but the flip-flops were almost $60. The big straw hat was only $12, though and I'm really happy I found it.

At dinner I vowed to be a little bit more adventurous and not just eat the things I'm used to. I had mushroom cappuccino and some kind of lamb which I really didn't care for. I think I'll be more adventurous for the rest of the trip and a little more "vacationous".