Cruise Trip Day 5 Tortola

Tortola is the largest of the British Virgin Islands. It is a very simple island. There are no chain stores of any kind and the people seem to be very easy going(every island the people were easy going though). We got on a 50 ft. catamaran(quaint compared to the other catamaran we went on). It was so nice that Rhett made all our own arrangements so we weren't crammed into excursions with hundreds of other tourists. It was just our little group the boat captain and his one lady crew and his dog. It was very personal-- I like that. Everything was so beautiful that we saw while we were sailing around on the catamaran. It rained(aka downpoured) a couple times and was windy. This is very typical for the islands. It's always about 80 deg. which surprised me. If found myself thinking it was chilly a few times. Before going there I thought the islands were very hot all the time-- like 105 deg or something but that is not so. We went past some amazing tiny islands that are what you think of when you think of paradise-- uninhabited island with palm trees and white sandy beaches. The one we stopped at was called Sandy Spit. We snorkeled for a while, saw some amazing fish(the parrot fish looked like it was made of playdough). Then we played in the waves on the beach filling our swimming suits full of sand. :) It was heaven to just sit in the sand and let the waves carry you. I couldn't believe how strong the waves were. They could pull you off shore into the ocean so quickly. We reboarded the catamaran and enjoyed a tasty lunch of quiches, cheeses, and salads. We then went rode over to another island called Jose Van Dyke with the Soggy Dollar hut. As you can see in Paul's picture it is fabulous! It was more like what I expected all the islands to look like, huts along the water selling food and drinks but not many well built homes. I didn't think about the islands being like cities where many people live and work and such. It's more of a hang out island than an inhabited industrial driven island. It was beautiful there. We headed back to the ship. I guess it had to end some time. :)