My friend and our new friend wanted another beach day, but we also wanted to see a bit of the island, so we all agreed to just find a tour when we got off. We were approached by a man as soon as we got off. And both my friends clearly communicated that they wanted lots of beach time. He said that we would have 2 hours on the beach. Well, then we had to wait for him to fill the tour up and we even got 2 of our tablemates to join. So, off we go. Tortola is beautiful. However, not my favorite place. I would describe it as the Ghetto of the Islands. The “city” area has nothing of value to see. Just a bunch of shops with “Many things” as our terrible tour guide said a lot. He even went so far as to point out the gas stations to us. The ride up on the mountain to get to the beaches was a beautiful scenic ride, but scary. A little bit narrow in places and the tour buses like to just stop on the side of the road to give photo ops. They def. have a “business” going here for tourism. Our tour guide wasn’t the best. It was all “No problem” and “Many things” all the way over to the beach, which you have to go to the other side of the island for. Like I said, beautiful photos can be had and they will stop for them. We had some funny people on the tour and I think we laughed the whole way there. It’s terrible, but mainly making fun of the tour guide. At the top of the mountain he stopped, at what I’m sure is a business partnership with all the taxis, at a little hole in the wall bar/restaurant for 10 mins for drinks and etc. This is where he almost drove us off the side of the hill backing up to park to which he replies, “No Problem.”
We finally got to the beach and it was beautiful. This is where we have an issue. We wanted beach time and we were told we would get it. Then we get off the bus and he says, “45 mins.” My friend Shatha nicely reminds him what he promised, but he insisted “45 mins.” So, by the time we get settled, take a dip, the 45 mins is up. We wanted to stay a little longer and the guys we had met at the dance club were there and offered us a ride back with their taxi guy, so we figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. We were about to go give the taxi guy $10 out of the $20 we were suppose to pay him (mainly b/c he didn’t deliver what he promised and we knew the time cut was b/c he just wanted to get back and pick up more passengers and get more money) when he and this “boss guy” came over to us and started pointing. At this point we were probably about 10 mins late getting back, but we didn’t think it would be a big deal. You are suppose to pay these guys until you get back anyway, so you make sure you get what you paid for.
Well, he starts in on us, “Get on the bus, you are late, where is my money?” My friend, who is from Boston and doesn’t deal with that kind of attitude problem well offered him as politely as she could, even calling him “sir” the $10. He said he would only take the full fare. He didn’t even bother Shatha, he said he didn’t think she was on the bus (damn being fat, ppl always remember me.). Anyway, the guys we were with started taking up for us, but one of the guys dad didn’t want his son in a fight, so I just relented and gave him the $20 and told him to please now, just leave us alone. If he needed the money that bad as to harass people, then far be it from me. My friend still tried to be firm, but polite, but he just kept saying, “Do you know who I am!” No, we didn’t, were we suppose to? Are you the king of tour taxi guys? Anyway, he finally took the $10 she gave him and walked off. My friend was so frazzled we walked to the bar to get her a drink. By the time she calmed down, our friends taxi was there to pick them up. One of the bar tender guys told us that our “King of taxis guy” had been walking around telling other drivers not to take us back. Lucky, our driver didn’t know there was a king of taxis and decided that 3 extra fares were golden. Off we went, in an air conditioned van back to the ship.
I look back on it now and laugh, but if you think about how serious that situation could have been, you might think twice about doing your “own” trip and not booking through the ship.
Lessoned learned.
It didn’t ruin our trip though, we had a few drinks and made jokes about the “No Problem”, “Many things”, “King of Taxis” guy.
We did apologize to our dinner mates for the whole deal. We felt so guilty about dragging them onto that tour, but they laughed it off too.
I think this is the night we went to another show. It was dance. But I can’t review it. Simply b/c we choose to sit on the upper level and let me tell you those chairs are not Fat Friendly. Half my butt fit. I was switching back and forth between one hip and the other, which was hard b/c there is NO leg room. I didn’t pay attention to the show. Sit in on the couch like seats if you are a big person, trust me.
Dancing it was, lol.
Next up: Nassau
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