Trip to Tortola

Our trip to Tortola was great. It was only held back a little by Sarah's broken foot limited her mobility. However, when you're relaxing you don't need much mobility. The relaxing break is exactly what we needed, especially in light of all the choas we'll being going through soon.

First a little about the house where we stayed. It's called the Tortola Adventure and getting there is an adventure. The house has a surround porch with views of Apple Bay and Long Beach Bay. The house is the shoebox looking one on top in this picture:


Getting to the house is similar to a carnival ride. The literature said that a 4-wheel drive car is recommended, we'd say necessary. The dirt road up the hill to the house is treaterous and we never got up it wihout engaging our 4WD. Here's a picture of the trip back down the hill. At one point the downhill slope drop so aggressively that the road and the hill its on disappear from view.


Sarah said that at the end of the ay she was always just glad that we made it back up the hill for the night. The benefit is the views of the ocean, islands, and sunsets. With views like these, we didn't feel the need to test Sarah's foot too often.


We did leave once a day. We'd go out after a leisurely breakfast to sit on the beach or go snorkeling. While out, we'd eat our lunch out at a restaurant where'd I'd more often than not get a roti. It's curry wrapped in a flatbread served with chutney.

The beaches were beautiful and almost completely empty. July and August are the low season and we were sometimes the only people on the beach, even Long Beach.


The snorkeling is fantastic and Sarah even got to do a little. She lean over a floatie while I pushed us around the reef. There are such large numbers of parrot fish. I saw a cople of unusual creatures like a sea turtle, cuttle fish and a cow fish like this one


Snorkeling wasn't our only adventure. Getting onto a boat was always an adventure. Sarah was skilled wih the crutches, but hopping from the dock to the bouncing boat was always frought with danger. One time she stmbled and dropped the crutch, which sank to the bottom of the ocean. Without a moment's hesitation, I ripped off my shirt and hat and dove after it. I snatched it off of the rocks, shook off an urchin, and brought it back to the surface. The water was clear and the sunlight easily made it down the 15 feet to its resting place on the bottom of the ocean.

Not ever day was that exciting. Most days were spent laying around doing logic puzzles. Not very adventurous at all, but relaxing.

All the pictures are here.