[12/30/2015 Wednesday]
Today is the first of us booked excursion from the AIDA, we make a 35 kilometer bike tour with pedelecs over the island of Tortola with bathing stop on the beach. We have decided when booking two months ago for Pedelacs, because it was not to estimate how my back and Harry’s joints after a good 3 weeks Caribbean stay.
At 8 o’clock we get up, pack our backpacks and go for breakfast. Shore leave is from 12- 19:30. Since two giant cruise ships, namely the imposing and classic-looking “Queen Mary 2” and the “Norwegean Escape” are already docked at the pier, we have to be brought ashore by so-called tender boats. At 12 o’clock we meet with our group and board the tender boat together. The swell is very rough, but we have no problems with it.
The organization is good, our group of almost 20 people gets a short briefing on how the engine works, there are 5 levels from no support at all to turbo mode, which really “pushes” hard;-)
Fortunately, we already knew from Jamaica the somewhat chaotic road conditions, we have here again left-hand traffic, the road quality is poor and in the city is a hustle and bustle. We soon drive out, the route we more mountainous, leads partly directly along the sea and is very beautiful. We have several photo stops and conquer two extremely steep mountains, which are difficult to manage despite the engine support. Two guides from AIDA are with us and tell us a little about the history of the island or Road Town in between. There is a Caribbean shower and a tire has to be patched during our tour. At a beautiful white sandy beach we have almost 90 minutes stay and use the water as cooling. Then it goes back to the ship, the tour was very nice.
At 18:30 we enjoy the theme evening “France” in the board restaurant, there is good cheese, mussels and many other delicacies. After a nice round of pinball, we are already packing our backpacks for tomorrow, as it starts very early and are already 21:30 in bed.