Today was day four of our cruise and the ship pulled into Tortola just as we woke up.  We had an early excursion for this port, so we had ordered room service for breakfast.  Normally we forget to use room service, but we had discussed it a bit the night before our arrival in Tortola.  We took our breakfast out onto the veranda to enjoy it and look at the harbor.

After our breakfast, we got ready for our excursion.  We were going to do the Island Drive and Fusion Beach with Lunch tour.  Our thought for doing this was so our younger daughter could enjoy the beach on at least one day other than Castaway Cay.  This tour allowed us to see a bit of the island of Tortola as well as have lunch.  We were supposed to meet in the D Lounge on Deck 4, so off we went.

We checked in and got our stickers that indicated which tour we were on. There were probably a total of 36 people in the Lounge, including us, waiting for the excursion.   As we got ready to leave, the Cast Members made sure to remind people to get towels from a nearby cart and to return them after the excursion was over.  Once everyone was there, we were led off the boat and to a series of open air taxis.  The loading of the taxis was a bit awkward, as we initially got left without a seat.  It got sorted out, but it was left up to us to figure it out instead of the tour guide.

Once we were all settled into the taxi, we headed out through the town and into the hills.  The tour guide explained the history of the island as well as some of the landmarks we were passing.  We also got a fantastic view as we headed towards the Beach.  The tour said Fusion Beach, but everything else I saw said it was Long Bay Beach (Google Maps confirmed this).

We had a few stops along the way where we could get out and take pictures.  This was my favorite picture that we took on this tour!   The “stops” were really just the taxi stopping on the side of the road in a place that wasn’t really meant as a stop.  Luckily there isn’t a lot of traffic on the island, so it never ended up being a problem. 

As we continued along, the guide mentioned a wall that the people of the island painted murals on and it came into view.  There were a lot of scenes painted onto the wall.

We arrived at the beach and proceeded into a small restaurant to get a free beverage.  The restaurant was called Tropical Fusion Beach Bar And Grill.  I believe you had the choice of soda or an alcoholic beverage.  The restaurant had restrooms that we could use as well.  We then headed out onto the beach as an attendant handed out chairs for everyone to use.

The shoreline was a bit odd.  It was sand until you got about 15-20 feet into the water, then there were rocks.  The waves were fairly rough as you got farther out and the attendant warned of a rip current as well.  There was no danger for us, I thought the water was a bit too cold to swim very much.  We all went in, but didn’t stay in for too long before getting out to warm up.

Once the sun came out, the temperature was perfect.  We mainly enjoyed sitting in the lounge chairs and reading.  Our youngest daughter spent her time playing in the sand for hours.

We also decide to walk down to the far end of the beach, which was really relaxing.  All of the visitors to the beach were at the other end.

We managed to get some nice pictures of some pelicans diving into the water for their lunch.  Which reminded us that we hadn’t eaten yet. 

We headed back up towards the restaurant with perfect timing.  A buffet had been prepared, so we got in line and had lunch.  The lunch was actually pretty good and even the vegetarian in our family found plenty to eat. 

We enjoyed the beach for about an hour or so after the lunch, then it was time to head back to the taxis to return to the ship.  I think the tour was about the perfect amount of time.  If the sun had been stronger, it is possible that we might have gotten burned.  There was plenty of shade to put the chairs in, so you could easily stay out of the sun.  There isn’t much else at this beach to do other than swim or stay in the chairs.  If I remember correctly, the restaurant had boogie boards as well as lounge chairs that you could use while there.   I would recommend bringing some water to drink unless you’d like to purchase it at the restaurant.

Once we got back to the port, we headed right back onto the ship.  Normally we would have looked around the port entrance a bit, but we were sandy and wanted to shower off.  We took turns taking showers and sitting on the veranda.

We went up to Deck 12 and grabbed a snack.  We then decided to walk around the ship and took pictures as the sun started to go down.  The ship’s lighting was fantastic when combined with the sky in the Caribbean. 

Dinner tonight was back in Animator’s Palate, but with the Pirates in the Caribbean menu.  We would also get the Animator’s Palate show!  You get a template to draw a character.  After you have completed your drawing, you give it to your wait staff.  They digitize them and it will become part of the show later in the evening!  Here is my awesome art work!

Here is Nancy’s artwork!

My older daughter ordered the Cesaer Salad as well as the Roasted Portobello Mushroom Triangoli Pasta.  She said the pasta was good, as was the salad.

I went boring and ordered the Oven-roasted Tom Turkey Breast.  I wasn’t in the mood for the anything else on the menu.  The turkey was ok, but nothing special.  It was a nice change of pace from the beef I had been ordering most nights.

For dessert, I got the Sweet Temptations.   It was actually pretty good!

Tonight was Pirate Night, which is usually a big hit with the family.  Nobody was really feeling it.  The kids went off to their clubs and I went up on Deck 12 to get a soda.  As I was leaving with the soda, the fireworks had started, so of course I had to stop to watch them. 

We had this little guy waiting in our room for us.  Nancy and I started talking about how tired everyone was after our day at the beach.  We had to get up super early for our excursion the next day.  We were supposed to do St. John on your own, which would have had us getting up really early to make the excursion.  We had planned to take the ferry over to St. John and walk around for a bit and maybe visit the beach there.  Since we had just done a whole day at the beach, and we didn’t have detailed plans for St. John, we decided to just not do the excursion.  We went to Guest Services and told them we weren’t going to do the excursion.  They informed us that it was too late to receive a refund, but we didn’t really care.  We just didn’t want them calling the room or waiting on us.

With that we decided to call it a night.  Overall, we had a great day on Tortola.  We got to see some of the island and enjoy a great day at the beach, with lunch. 

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