Tortola

[samoka]

Daughter #1 and SIL are going to Tortola for a few days before joining us for family vacation on St. John - does anyone have any suggestions or words of caution? thanks

[Diana2]

They will probably need a car. Where are they staying?

[LauraD]

Been to Tortola a couple of times and love it. Just take the same precautions you would at home. Depends on where you are going, but definitly get a FWD, those roads can be steep and if should rain you will really need it! Alot of steep dirt driveways and when it rains dirt comes onto the paved road. Have fun, the people are nice and the island is beautiful. Laura

[Diana2]

Been to Tortola a couple of times and love it. Just take the same precautions you would at home. Depends on where you are going, but definitly get a FWD, those roads can be steep and if should rain you will really need it! Alot of steep dirt driveways and when it rains dirt comes onto the paved road. Have fun, the people are nice and the island is beautiful. Laura

Very true about the roads. The roads are much worse then those on St. John and there's a lot more traffic. The locals drive like maniacs.

[AquaGirl]

We've been to Tortola several times and also love it. Definitely get a 4WD Jeep - agree with the OPs. We enjoy going to Smuggler's Cove beach. The road is bumpy and dirt once you get past Long Bay Beach resort, but its a beautiful cove with several vendors selling grilled food and smoothies. Brewers Bay is also a nice swimming beach with some snorkeling. Little place to get cold drinks and burgers there.

Our most favorite restaurant is Bananakeet Cafe. It is perched way high up a mountain, with a spectacular sweeping view down the coast. Great place for sunset and food was good.

We went on a day sail & snorkel trip with Aristocat. Big catamaran, excellent snorkeling spots and friendly captain & crew. Highly recommend them.

The "old town' part of Road Town is very interesting to see. Its a block or so off of the main road through Roadtown. Very old buildings and narrow streets. You can get a glimpse of the old Caribbean.

Now for the caution. This past year, there were some muggings in an area we haven't been. It was a marina area, but can't remember name. I seem to recall the person was out around 1am, had some drinks and were walking back to their boat and got robbed. Probably not a good idea to be out at that hour. We have driven all around the island, and walked through Roadtown (during the day) but have never felt threatened. So probably normal precautions are fine.

[Diana2]

Bananakeet was our favorite restaurant on Tortola as well, followed closely by the Jolly Roger at West End. I'd be very caution on Tortola. The villa that we rented had been broken into the week before we arrived and we learned that there had been a rash of them in the area. We always locked everything up and had no incidents but heard of others who did. We did not find the locals all that friendly during our stay with the exception being those at Bananakeet and the Jolly Roger.

[samoka]

Thanks everyone for your ideas and suggestions - I knew someone out there would be able to help - I will be sure to pass the info along.

[ClevelandDave]

Tortola is fine...there are no more issues there than on STJ.

The villa burglaries mentioned were year's back. The muggings were in the wee hours in Road Town. The roads are fine with the exception of the short stretch between Long Bay and Smuggler's and a few other obscure areas.

Bottom-line...you can find crappy roads on STJ, you can get mugged in Cruz Bay and there are villa burglaries on STJ.

Tell you peeps "no worries", Tortola is a great place to visit. Just don't be any less cautious that you would be on STJ.