Tinbergs on Tour

March 14, 2026 – Tortola, BVI – Partly Cloudy – 79F

Port Information.  Tortola is the largest and most populated island in the British Virgin Islands (24,000 people).  The name Tortola is Spanish for “Turtle Dove”.  It is the center of government activities and is the business center of the Islands.  The capital, Road Town, is located on the southern end of the island.  It is a volcanic island with mountain peaks and lush vegetation.  Tortola is a favorite destination for sailing and water sports.  The USD is the currency on the island.  The airport is on nearby Beef Island, connected to Tortola by a bridge. We have been here several times.

It's a nice early morning in the Caribbean.

The ship arrived an hour early – I thought I had missed a time change. 

I checked the phone and reread Currents – no time change.  I rode up to the Terrace Café in the elevator with a ship’s officer and he said we were on time – we were supposed to be here at 8 AM and it was 6:45 AM.  I checked out the early breakfast at Waves for the first time; there were some pastries, bagels, fruit, and cry cereal.  I did grab some raisins in case there were none in the big buffet. 

I was on the veranda to watch the Enchanted Princess arrrive and back in.

I had another nice breakfast of oatmeal (tiny portion), my pancake combo, and constant coffee (did I mention that they serve Illy on this ship).  Ellen had room service, which has been working out well for her.  The meals come on time and then you call and they pick up the trays.  Good system. Breakfast came with a nice view of the Enchanted Princess

and Tortola.

We are not getting off the ship today.  We have been to Road Town several times and there is not that much to see or do.  

I went to Baristas to work on tomorrow talk – it was relatively quiet up there as a lot of people were off ship on excursions.  The IMD was perfectly prepared.  I made some changes to the talk and added some more prompts. 

Lunch was in the Terrace Café –

I had the pasta of the day (veggies, orecchiette pasta, with a white sauce.  The pasta was good – Ellen had some poached salmon and I added that to the pasta.  The pizza which was pretty good at the beginning of the cruise has gotten very thin (new chef maybe).

While we were at lunch, a local speedboat whizzed by and soon after, we heard a siren that sounded just like a police siren.  Actually it WAS a police siren but coming from a marine police boat.  The police unit PAd something to the speeder and he stopped and for a few minutes the two boats were sitting there going over something.  Perhaps, the offender was too close to both us and the Princess ship or maybe he was speeding.  This is the first time we have seen someone get pulled over.  Fun times.

The afternoon was spent on the open Deck 5, where I finished “Pendergast – The Beginning”.  A very good book which ended Pendergast’s first case with a passage from “The Relic”, the first in the series – clever.

Back to the Terrace Café for dinner (the weather continues to be perfect). Tonight we ordered hot dogs for me and ribeye steak for Ellen.  They were both very good - my only complaint is that the buns are getting pretty big compared to the dogs - I have been tearing off the ends of the buns.  

Showtime tonight was “Rock Yacht” – the performance was supposed to have something to do with sailing but it was actually an entertaining show featuring rock songs from the 70s and 80s. Not super loud and entertaining.

NOTE: Time changes.  There will be no time change on the trip back to Tampa.  Most of the Caribbean did not move their clocks forward for DST.  That means that AST and EDT are the same. No need to change the clocks.  A bonus since I really do not like time changes.

So far, the ride is smooth.

Lights out at 10:30 PM.