Good news – my honeymoon recaps are almost over! Is anyone still out there? If so, thanks for staying with me…

Day Six: Tortola!

When we first booked our cruise and picked out our shore excursions, we couldn’t find anything we wanted to do in Tortola. Everything was either expensive or repetitive, so we decided not to book anything and just play it by ear once we were on board. This turned out to be a great decision – due to overbooking of other tours, they ended up adding some last minute additional tour excursions, including their most popular one (which for some reason was previously listed as “unavailable”) – the Baths at Virgin Gorda. This tour excursion was the number one recommended activity in Tortola, but since it was a late addition, and most passengers had already selected their excursions prior to the cruise, there were spots available when we checked with the desk and we were able to grab two for the early group – score!

We met up with our tour group and boarded a large double-decker ferry – we grabbed a seat up top to enjoy the lovely views as we sailed out of Tortola across the bay to Virgin Gorda. It was an eventful ferry-ride to say the least. Being non-drinkers since December, it’s amazing how quickly you forget life on the other side. I don’t know what was on the party agenda the night before (because I was snug in my bed by 10pm), but let me tell you – this group was hungover. It ranged from amusing (disheveled appearances) to slightly unsettling (thought we might get puked on). I couldn’t imagine how miserable they must have been – hungover as hell and on a 45 minute rocky boat ride in full sun – and it really made me grateful to be well-rested and able to enjoy my morning.

Once we got to Virgin Gorda, we boarded open air safari buses and rode to the top of the island. From there, we were given instructions to do a ten minute hike down the mountain, where we would find the mysterious “baths” which, according to Trip Advisor, are the most well-known attraction on the island, these giant boulders or batholiths, brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions, are scattered about forming a beautiful grotto and tranquil pools. We hiked down the path, which eventually led us to what was quite possibly the most beautiful view I’ve ever seen. No point in describing with words, so I will let the pictures do the talking…

Our guides explained that there were two beaches, separated by a cave of “baths” and little hide-aways. We hung out on the first beach for a bit, before venturing into the cave.

To get into the cave, you had to start by crawling into a very narrow tunnel. I think they put this at the beginning to discourage larger or more timid people from venturing inside, because there were definitely some tight spaces in there! It was awesome. We took our time and explored every hole, climbed up into walls and into spaces off the path, and found all sorts of hideaways and treasures.

We spent about 45 minutes exploring the cave, and eventually made our way out to the other side on Devil’s Bay Beach. We got in the water to cool off for a few minutes, but I was nervous about swimming due to threats of sea urchins by our tour guides. Rather than lay out on the beach for an hour (due to the sunburn I acquired in Antigua), we opted to spend the rest of our time going back through the cave, and then hike back up the hill to where we started. On our return trip through the cave, I had one of those definite double-take moments when we saw Ami, from Survivor Vanuatu! Casey forced me to keep moving and not harass her, so there is no picture, but it was still an unexpected and a fun memory of the day.

We hung out at the first beach a little longer before heading back to meet our group for the trip back, just as it started to pour rain.

We were lucky enough to get a covered seat for the ferry-ride back, as it continued to rain and pour. I fe
lt bad for the afternoon Baths tour group, waiting in the rain on the dock when we returned to the ship. Having been to the Baths and seen how amazing it was, I can’t imagine how bummed they must have been to be rained out. It rained the rest of the time we were in Tortola, so we felt very lucky to get squeezed in for such a great, last-minute tour, and to get to be there for the few hours of sunshine we had that day! The rain was fine though because there really wasn’t much else to do in Tortola, and it gave us a nice excuse to visit the fitness center, hang out in our cabin, read our books, and take looooong naps.

That night was our second formal night, so we got all fancied up and enjoyed our second-to-last meal aboard the Caribbean Princess. Casey rocked his wedding suit…

…and I managed to squeeze back into my Rehearsal Dinner dress, despite a week of buffets and desserts…

After dinner and some on-board shopping, went to bed pretty early so that we’d be well-rested for our last day aboard the ship (sniff!)…