DAY 5: THURSDAY, DEC 14TH: TORTOLA  6AM-1PM

We struggled with what to do here in Tortola due to the fact that it was such an early port time with also an early departure time as well. We had really wanted to scuba dive here, but as mentioned before...no one would take us that early and have us back on time. I would have also liked to go back to the Baths to experience it without the extended family like last time, but again, with the travel time it takes to get there and back...it would leave us with very little time there and not worth it.

I scoured the internet and on the boards here and something interesting came up in my search on the boards...hiking. Because we obviously didn't get enough of it the other day in the DR. 😄 

I ask the fam if they were up to another hike and they were game so I reached out to Hike BVI about their various tours: Bamboo Meadow, Shark Bay, Sage Mountain, Coastal Kayaking, Pineapple Field, Lovers Lock, and Mount Alma. They had a lot of things to pick from. 

After reading up on them and the time frame it took with each one, we decided on the Bamboo Meadow hike (it also said it was an "easy" hike and that worked for me of course!). Sef, at Hike BVI, said the Bamboo Meadow would work perfect with our time frame and offered an 8am pick up time at port. The tour was $75/pp. After confirming and paying, he stated he would pick us up at 8:45am. Wait what? I reminded him of our all-aboard time and we had agreed on 8am, so he changed it back to 8am.

Well, at least we wouldn't have to be up at 5am today, but I set my alarm for 6:30am just to be able to have a leisurely breakfast and get ready for the day. Of course we were already docked by the time we woke up. 

We headed to to the buffet to get our protein for the day...and a few cheaters.

Back to the room to grab my equipment and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day out. 

Since today was just going to be a simple hike day, all I needed would be my GoPro and the phone for pictures. The hubby looked at me and ask about a beach bag. Wait what?!? "I don't have to carry anything today?????"  His face lit up and I think that thrilled him more than all the bacon he ate for breakfast. 😄 This has never happened in ANY port we have ever been to. We set a record today!

As we gathered our things, the ship captain came over the speaker system and mumbled something. All I can say is thank goodness another person would come on and repeat what he said in a loud voice because no matter what the circumstance during the cruise, the captain never spoke loud enough (do they realize this???). 

The dreaded announcement came that I had hoped wouldn't...."Due to high winds and sea conditions, we will not be going to Great Stirrup Cay on Saturday for the safety of our passengers. Instead, we will be staying in Tortola until 4pm". UGH!! This seems to happen A LOT with the private island (missing it due to weather) and it has happened to us multiple times. I was really looking forward to a beach and snorkeling day! This would be the very first time we did not make it to a beach to hang out at during a cruise (or even by land in the Caribbean). We are setting a record this time around!

As I had a little pout on my face, I told the family to gather...nothing...then we headed down to get off the ship. 

We make it to ding out and wait...where is Sakari's key card? She had left it in the room. We waved bye to her as she headed back up to the room to search for it. I'm saving my legs for this hike...you're on your own munchkin!

She returned and off we went.

The port here is very small. It's not like your normal ports where you have to walk around in the compound forever before getting out of the gates. This is a simple walk. You walk into a building and out the other side and you are free. Most of the shops were not open yet.

You come out of the building and onto the street, which are also lined with shops to buy things (again they weren't open this early). 

To read our adventure hike, click the following link for a full review of our day:

I did want to mention the following though... 

After we had found out that we were going to be staying in Tortola longer than what we had planned, I did inquire with both David and Sef about possibly adding on another one of his tours (Pineapple Field) because we would have a bunch of extra time. We discussed it, because he said it was also close by, but after our tour, he never mentioned it again. It would have been neat to do both of them. There is a guy they call "The Pineapple Man", who will give you his story and information about cultivating the pineapple (the only field here in Tortola) and everyone loves this tour as well. (If you check out Hike VI they have amazing reviews from everyone and everyone seems to love each and every one of the tour they offer). Well, we did run into The Pineapple Man on the road during our tour. Next time in Tortola, we may have to check this tour out as well. 

We strolled back onto the ship around 1pm and decided to head up to the buffet. I had a sandwich and some type of cauliflower mixture and I must have been so excited about it I couldn't stop long enough to focus the picture. Is that bread??? Real bread? Oops I said to the hubby. 😉 

Desert was some strawberry pastry type of thing, which I only had a little bit of.

Obviously the hubby felt he needed a nap after lunch. 

We got the pleasure of watching them set up the Christmas display in the buffet area. It was so pretty and so much goes into it. It had a real train that moved as well.

We decided to head back to the room and hang out until sail away. At this port, we would have the water side from our balcony. So, no watching pier runners or seeing what was going on over there. However, we had quite the view!

After sail away, the dailies said there was a dance class in the atrium. Well, you all know Sakari definitely wanted to go to that and off we went. 

I decided to bring some of my ducks with me to hide. I didn't go out and buy a bunch like I did last time. I had a few left over from the last cruise, and by a few I mean like maybe 10? Then I also brought along the ducks that we had found on the last cruise to "repurpose" them as well. 

This picture made a nice placement to hold one of them!

Miss Columbia had everyone out there and Sakari ran out and left me behind. She wasn't missing out on this.

I eventually went out and joined Sakari and we were shown several different dances and we had a lot of fun learning them. 

Right after dance class was Balloon Twisting! Yep, Sakari wanted to stay for that as well so stay we did. 

I ran to the bathroom during this busting of balloons, which is what it should be called, and hid another duck.

When I returned, Sakari had made a sword that would fight off any pirates that may try to take over the ship.

I was lucky enough to arrive just in time to watch her attempt to make a dog. Oh Em Gee! It was hilarious to watch. They make it look so easy and easy it was not. She was on the struggle bus for sure and gave up multiple times. 

Well that was a bit of a flop and she gave up as we walked away and outside to see the sunset. 

We would also discover they had another Christmas display in the "other" atrium (678).

Tonight we were able to catch the comedian, Jon Stringer, at the 6pm show. Now this guy was funny! THIS is what I came for. We laughed and laughed.  

Before the show started, I managed to show off my balloon twisting skills to Sakari and made her dog for her as she looked on at me in disbelief. 

After the show, I had another few ducks to get rid of and what better place than a menu right?

Now the other night, when we went to see The Mentalist, they had mentioned at the end of the show that they would have another show later in the week that would have a few different "tricks". So, we decided we wanted to go to it again so that Sakari could...once again...sit on the end of the isle seat and this time sit down even further...in the second row. She was bound and determined to get picked for this show. 

The show was different with a few things still the same. Either way, even with the same tricks, they would end up being somewhat different depending on what the audience picked. 

THEN IT CAME...HAND RAISED HIGH IN THE AIR....SHE WAS PICKED!!!

Now this particular trick they had done the other night, so she knew what was going to happen. The last show the person had a regular dice and picked a number on it and had their hands covering it. This dice was colors. 

In the end, her mind was BLOWN!!! She couldn't believe it. So, if this isn't proof that these shows are real and they really do pick people from the audience that are not part of the scheme, I don't know what is. They are not rigged in any way. It was simply amazing and I have a feeling that she will drag us to the front seats every cruise from here on out. 

After the show, we headed upstairs for some dinner. They had ribs tonight and they were pretty good. We really weren't too hungry so ribs and desert would have to do for now. 

I decided to hide another duck as I waited for the fam to use the bathroom and along came some of the staff and one of the girls squealed with excitement "Oh my gosh, there's a duck!" She ran over to get it and jumped up and down like an excited little kid. I was so happy to see how happy she was to find a duck. I had heard that the staff love collecting them but had never really witnessed it before. 

Tonight was the GLOW party and we knew we would be heading to that. So, for now it was adult time and we headed to the casino for a bit while Sakari headed to the room to get ready. 

On the way back to the room I hid my last duck for the night:

Then it was time for the Glow party. We put on our brightly colored glow shirts and headed out to the pool deck where the party was hopping with Tiera. 

We had a great time dancing and singing...but the party never lasts long enough. 

I would find some pictures of me and the hubby at the party looping on the tv screens in the room afterwards. 

Having this party on the pool deck didn't really provide the same experience as we have had on the other ships...even the ships that have them on the back of the ship in H20 was better as far as lighting. There really wasn't many black lights to make everyone glow the way they usually do. I would learn that most people dressed in white...as in the old White Hot party NCL used to have. I was now wishing I had white on instead. They glowed a little better. 

After the party we returned to our room where we would now have to set our clocks back 1 hour as we were now heading back home.