One Night in Tortola

A lot of cruises stop in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Spirit flies there, too. We booked a trip using miles and, when looking at Google Maps, we noticed something pretty interesting:  an international border!

Many Americans have been to St. Thomas but if you mention “Tortola” few make the connection to the British Virgin Islands. We figured taking one of those ferries depicted by the dotted lines would be an adventure we’d remember. And we could fit it in a weekend like most of our trips.

Here are a few photos of our trip.

After a cab ride to the ferry port we grabbed a beer (of course) and waited for departure.

Sea plane would have been fun.

Most of the other passengers were stopping on the USVI sister island of St. John but we crossed the border and, after a short interview with British customs and immigration, we found ourselves in Roadtown, West End, Tortola, BVI. Very cool.

We arrived late enough that we didn’t get to do much sight seeing, but we did have a traditional fish and chips dinner in a pub before going to bed.

The sunrise was gorgeous.

We had fulfilled our mission, spent the night on Tortola, and were heading home. We had to pay an exit fee, strangely enough they only took USD.

Back on the island of St. Thomas we went to the tourist area for lunch. It was hot as can be so we took shelter in an air-conditioned restaurant.

My obsession with doors is evident:

I noticed every single one of those had a shiny pad lock on them. Then I saw this:

I love finding stuff like that. And this tour bus of sorts.

That’s way better than sitting on the bed rails in the hot sun.

Anyway, it was a short trip but fun nonetheless. While in the hotel on Tortola Bella’s son mentioned that he had told his class that he wouldn’t be in school that Monday because he was going to St. Thomas. Well, we returned home on Sunday and he wasn’t going to miss any school. She feared no one would believe he really did go someplace so she sent the teacher an email explaining the confusion. His life is a little hard to believe sometimes.

~ Freddy