Road Town, Tortola
Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Tue 17 Jan 2012 23:51
Having left Trellis Bay we set off 'down island'. On the way we stopped of at Penn's Landing, a small marina, to stock up on fish. From where we anchored to the marina we had to go by dinghy across a small sand bar which meant we had to lift the engine, drag the dinghy across, and relaunch on the other side - although that might sound like a bit of a chore, it is still much easier than the trip out to sea and around the island to avoid the sandbar. Isn't this the most gorgeous beach side house? Even better it has it's own boat slip and is for sale for the bargain price of about $6million!! The sandbar can be clearly seen in this photo - on the way back we saw a huge stingray while waiting for the dinghy to drift across with the tide Dragging the dinghy across on the way there - I had the important responsibility of taking photos - no heavy work for me!! Road Town was almost a culture shock - when we left the marina there were roads full of cars and noise, also as there are shops in the town, being here is expensive! The town itself is quite nice as, although it is a big part of lots of cruise liner itineraries, the cruise dock here is very small, not like the huge duty free malls on other islands which are basically fairly awful and only to be visited if necessary. There is a waterfront street which is all new buildings and shops, but the old charm of the town can be seen just by walking one street back, onto Main Street, where you can see the old style buildings with their multi-coloured paintwork. There is also a quaint little museum showing the history of the island but unfortunately it suffers from the same problem as a lot os the museums here - far too much writing! Although the subject is interesting and life here can be traced back many centuries, Christopher Columbus certainly was not the first to discover the islands, the information could be presented in a more user friendly format. Typical architecture on the back street of Road Town. |