We started slow this morning, no one wanting the trip to end. By late morning we had run out of excuses for delay, so we reluctantly set sail for Road Town Harbor on Tortola. “Road Town” is named for the large harbor area around which the town is situated. Nautically, it is a “roadsted’, which is an area not as sheltered as a harbor, but which provides moderate protection for boats riding at anchor. Road Town citizens actually built an inner harbor area by filling in harbor walls with debris.
It’s a beautiful day for sailing, with typical perfect wind, warm sun, and that caribbean blue water. I imagine a ship full of pirates sailing under these same conditions 250 years ago. Speaking of pirates, I’m sure they would have been proud of our wives, who went and had skull and crossbones painted on their toes before the trip.
We debated staying out in the Gangway to sail all day, but decided to head in to Conch Charters to pick up a mooring and spend a couple hours looking around the shops in Road Town. There are two large cruise ships in the roadsted, so all the shops and vendor stalls along the shore were full of merchants. We found that the cheapest prices were at the stores away from shore, although it was fun to walk around the merchant tents along the docks.
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My favorite restaurant to wrap up a sailing trip in the British Virgin Islands is the Drake Restaurant, in the Fort Burt Hotel. The restaurant overlooks Road Town harbor, and its easy to spend several hours here enjoying the lights across the harbor and stars in the sky.