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Day 7:
Today we went to Martinique, the only island we’ve seen so far that reminds us of Europe. We made it onto a ferry by shear luck when the driver of the boat turned around for us. The ferry took us across the ocean to a really cute little town where we walked to a private beach. The area itself was a little run down, but we saw more potential for future vacations in Martinique then we did with other places we visited (ahem…..Barbados). A young couple we had met on the zipline excursion who also happened to be on the ferry and the beach, lent us their snorkel gear. Not much to see but a nice gesture anyway. A lovely French woman (we love the French accents!) was modeling and selling really pretty beach wraps and matching bathing-suits. Eric got quite a show when she took off all of her clothes as I was inquiring about her wraps. As it turns out one wrap was 120 dollars…so it seems the only one that got a deal was Eric! We spent the rest of the afternoon perusing French shops and trying to be adventurous at lunch. Everything was in French, including the lunch menu where we ate. We found one English speaking cook who knew just the basics and ordered a Creole shrimp dish. It was extremely scarring when it arrived complete with all the shrimp heads intact (including eye-balls). But we were adventurous, bonus points for us.

Day 8:
Tortola, BVI--a cute and hilly island. We got off the ship and boarded an open air bus (converted pickup truck) and started heading over to a beach on the other side of the island. This beach was heavily hyped as a “really nice beach” but turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap. The bus ride to the beach had your average bumps, falling mountain rock, goats, steep inclines and high rates of speed. We were one of the first truckloads of people to arrive at the beach and were pleased with our 5$ chairs. We had a pleasant day with partial clouds and a cool breeze. There were several islands within view (including St. Thomas). We would definitely consider a longer vacation here where we could explore other islands and beaches. Tortola seems to be the hub of most of the islands within range of it. After we left the beach we hit up a really cool spice shop with local art and island inspired spices—it was highly recommended by the ship people. We got some fun things.

Look forward to talking to you soon!

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