Sunday, January 8, 2012, enroute to Road Town, British Virgin Islands.
A sea day on board the M/V Silver Whisper is a day which largely consists of eating. This morning we had breakfast late, because we are not yet off Kona time, and, in a moment of what can only be considered a lapse into bazaar behavior, skipped lunch. However, by tea time, all signs of this psycho-break had vanished, and we conducted a serious attack on the tea cart after playing bridge. Then, it was on to dinner and the evening's entertainment: two extremely fit young dancers doing acrobatic things. We were absolutely exhausted and hungry again!
One of the more interesting aspects of most days on this cruise is the 30 to 45 minutes spent playing Trivial Pursuit. The game is made extremely unpredictable by the passenger demographics. At the first game of each cruise segment, we are divided into teams of approximately 8 persons. The cruise director asks the questions, and one of the attractive young, dog's bodies who are always part of the ship's company (International Cruise Hostess) keeps score. Approximately 30 trivia questions are asked, and a consensus answer is selected by each team, usually with some coaching from the cruise director. Since the questions are drawn from both the American and British versions of the game, if the team is to win, you must have both Yanks and Brits (Canadians, Skippies or Kiwis in a pinch) to have any hope of winning. Also, age balance is important, because if a team is all drawn from one generation, they are hopeless with either the current popular culture questions, or things like history and geography (which none under sixty seems to know anything about). There is great rivalry between the teams, and usually, at least one American lawyer who wants to argue about the correctness of the answers. All of this leads to a sort of organized chaos, with the winner usually determined by the knowledge of some archane factoid (What is a group of crows called?) The reward for winning is prize points for the winning team. These prize points can be traded in for Silversea promotional items, such as coasters. What home could be complete without Silversea coasters? And, if you think Trivial Pursuit is too intellectually strenuous, there is also Bingo. But, J&E are saving Bingo for the Sunny Valley Home.
Monday, January 9, 2012, anchored off Road Town, British Virgin Islands
We achored about 8:00am in Road Town harbor and used the ship's tenders to disembark at the Road Town pier. Normally, we would have tied up alongside the pier, but two monstrous Princess cruise ships about the size of aircraft carriers were docked there.
Two Very Large Twins
The consequence of the presence of these two behemouths was the release of about 7,000 wild eyed and overweight American and British tourists onto a very small Caribbean island. However, this did not keep J and E from their predetermined mission to visit the The Joseph Reynold O'Neal Botanic Gardens National Park. After walking about 30 minutes in the hot sun from the pier, we found (stumbled upon) the Gardens and paid Adult (Foreign) $3.00 for an Entry Ticket. This may be the best tourist buy in the Caribbean. The garden of 2.89 acres is divided into four sections with a fountain at the intersection.
JRO Botanic Garden Fountain
Most of the plants are tropical species familiar to Hawaiians, because they were transported to both the BVI and Hawaii. So, the landscaping of the Garden reminds one of many small, well-maintained tropical gardens -- think Kona Outdoor Circle garden.
Views in the Botanic Garden
There are some interesting asides, such as the enclosure for the indigenous red-footed tortoise.
Red-Footed Tortoise at Lunch
"Manners My Man, Manners"
After visiting the plants and the tortoises, we began our walk back to the pier. On the return walk, one interesting building was the remaining structure from an early sugar cane central and rum distilling plant. Maybe this is where the rum, Nelson's Blood, that was issued to British tars was made. It is now part of a youth center complex. Things change!
From Demon Rum to Education!
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