We were up early, as we had a full day ahead of us. The ship (hereinafter referred to as "the boat") had a shore excursion to The Baths on Virgin Gorda, but since we'd been there before, we decided to "freelance" - a term that we learned at breakfast one day from a couple from Alabama.

We walked from the pier to the ferry terminal - most of downtown Road Town was still asleep because it wasn't even 8am yet! We purchased two round trip tickets on Speedy's ferry service ($25/person) and caught the 8:50 ferry. There were about 4 other couples from the boat on the ferry with us - all prominently displaying the blue Carnival Cruise beach towels (we hid ours in the backpack). The trip took about 25 minutes, and we passed the shore excursion boat packed with people along the way (hee hee). We got a cab to the Baths ($4 one way). The driver, RastaJoe, was very chatty about "11 September" (darn British date formatting) - we gave him $10 and asked him to come back for us around 2.

The hike down through the mangrove forest was exactly as we remembered. About a ten minute walk - when we reached the bottom, we saw the other people from the ship laying on the beach - they didn't even realize they were only half way there. The hike through the boulders is absolutely breathtaking. These pictures don't do the views justice. It was high tide and we had to crawl like crabs in some parts. We had the beach to ourselves for about an hour before the boat people arrived. Some complained that the beach didn't have drink service - sheesh. This is one of THE most beautiful places I've seen (in person or in magazines) - not complaint material. The water was much rougher than the last time we were here - we watched "recently divorced single cruiser from New Jersey" get tossed against the rocks several times while body surfing. The boat people only got to stay for an hour or so because they had to move on to their "picnic luncheon and complimentary rum punch" so we again had the place to ourselves. Around 12:30, we hiked back up and enjoyed bushwackers at the Top of the Baths restaurant (awesome view and fresh water pool). RastaJoe returned for us right on schedule, and we boarded the 2:15 ferry back to Tortola.

At this point, we figure we were way ahead of the boat shore excursion cost ($58/person) - then we ducked into Pusser's (one of our favorite Caribbean restaurant/stores). Andy bought a shirt, and I got an awesome awesome brass seahorse key chain, a t-shirt, and a hat for the collection. Half way back to the boat, we realized Andy forgot our towels/snorkeling stuff in the shop, so we dashed back but still made the boat with plenty of time to spare. There was actually a line to board, since they x-ray everything and have to confiscate all alcohol purchased ashore (they return it at the end of the cruise - a big ploy to get you to buy drinks on board).

Dinner that night was one of the two "formal nights". We missed the Captains' Cocktail Party because we were watching the closed circuit tv of the shore excursions the day before and the entertainment we missed by going to sleep early. We went to dinner early to try to get reseated, but the only table available was right near table 150, so it would have been a little awkward. At dinner that night, we were joined by Butch and Christy from New Hampshire - any future mention of weird table mates does not apply to them - they were normal :) Still had two vacant seats at our table though. Every night when we'd arrive at dinner, the table mates would ask what we did after dinner the night before, what we did on shore that day, and what activities we were going to do after dinner. It got to be a little tiresome, especially since they couldn't understand why we weren't doing any of the things they were doing.

When we returned to our room, we encountered the first of many towel creatures the cabin stewards sculptured. This one was a dog (we think) and was made of two towels (one for the head, one for the body). The cabin steward even came in and showed us how to make one!

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