Planning a day trip to tortola

Travel discussion for St. John
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fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

Looking for ideas on what to do, what to see. Do we need to rent a jeep?
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Ed S
Posts: 270
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:23 am
Location: Brick, NJ

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by Ed S »

Have never done it, maybe some day, but this might get you started....
http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/virgi ... yyXW4QrJ9M
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equineannie
Posts: 264
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:24 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by equineannie »

Yes, you can cover the island and have a good time. BTW, Denzil Cline rents there, he has a place on St John. Reserve ahead of time to be safe. I rented from him as far back as the mid 1980s...
Coconuts
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Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:41 pm
Location: Southern NH, USA

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by Coconuts »

fmzip: Rent a car near the ferry, take Zion Hill Road over to Long Bay, and enjoy a leisurely drive along the north shore to Cane Garden Bay and back. That drive resembles the north shore of St. John, with a succession of gorgeous bays and beaches, but with higher and steeper hills between them. Be sure to shift into low gear when you are going downhill!

All the best,

Kevin
fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

Coconuts wrote:fmzip: Rent a car near the ferry, take Zion Hill Road over to Long Bay, and enjoy a leisurely drive along the north shore to Cane Garden Bay and back. That drive resembles the north shore of St. John, with a succession of gorgeous bays and beaches, but with higher and steeper hills between them. Be sure to shift into low gear when you are going downhill!

All the best,

Kevin
Can you shift these jeeps into 4 low without stopping?

Haven't had to use 4 wheel drive since I was a kid and that would require getting out of e vehicle and locking the hubs manually ;)
Coconuts
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Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2011 7:41 pm
Location: Southern NH, USA

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by Coconuts »

fmzip: You won't need 4WD unless the roads are wet and slick. I was simply referring to shifting into low gear (easy with any automatic transmission), which will increase the rpm's and let you ease off the brakes, as engine braking will be slowing you down. On that same Tortola north shore drive many years ago, we knew what to do, but a friend of ours in another car left their car in regular (high) gear. We could smell that something was wrong, and he got scared when his brakes began to fade. The next time that you return to Cruz Bay from north shore beaches, try downshifting on that last hill down to Mongoose Junction, and you'll see how little you need to use your brakes.

All the best,

Kevin
fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

Coconuts wrote:fmzip: You won't need 4WD unless the roads are wet and slick. I was simply referring to shifting into low gear (easy with any automatic transmission), which will increase the rpm's and let you ease off the brakes, as engine braking will be slowing you down. On that same Tortola north shore drive many years ago, we knew what to do, but a friend of ours in another car left their car in regular (high) gear. We could smell that something was wrong, and he got scared when his brakes began to fade. The next time that you return to Cruz Bay from north shore beaches, try downshifting on that last hill down to Mongoose Junction, and you'll see how little you need to use your brakes.

All the best,

Kevin
I must not see low in our jeep...just drive, reverse, neutral and park
fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

Hmmmm....

That little +/- sign on the shifter, turning 50 tomorrow, couldn't see it :D :D
fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

Coconuts wrote:fmzip: Rent a car near the ferry, take Zion Hill Road over to Long Bay, and enjoy a leisurely drive along the north shore to Cane Garden Bay and back. That drive resembles the north shore of St. John, with a succession of gorgeous bays and beaches, but with higher and steeper hills between them. Be sure to shift into low gear when you are going downhill!

All the best,

Kevin
https://www.google.com/search?q=tortola ... MwGXymM%3A

We made the trek to Tortola today, rented at Clives and followed your directions in reverse, ending driving down Zion Hill rd. The map about is similar to what they gave us but the missing info for us was the police station (see hogs lunch) at the east end! We couldn't find ridge rd for the life of us. Asked three people on the east end and the words ridge road sounded unknown. I asked at Clives if the go by road name or routed, they said roads.....

Anyway, killed a good hour trying to find that left turn, gave up, and headed back to road town where we say a sign to cane garden and followed it. The road, oh my god! Steep??? Beyond steep incline and never ending! I think it was great mountain road. Yes, we'll paved but a mountain for sure.

Word to the wise, do not rent a Suzuki..., thing felt like a one cylinder and really, I felt the vehicle couldn't make the slopes even in low gear. It was scary and I am a good driver. People there drive reckless and fast, passing you on blind turns,nuts!

Lots of questions on the map above and honestly, I feel like we'd get lost again, too many twists and turns but maybe as you suggested, driving out toward cane garden may be the better route. We drove the coast to road town, to the airport, hoping to find the mysterious left on to ridge rd. We stooped in road town, had lunch at the sugar mill inn on the water. The rum punch put me back on island pace. My blood pressure was not in St. John mode prior to that ;)

Would we go back? I highly doubt it. As the driver, up on those steep,roads you can't even enjoy a glimpse of the view, no pull offs from what I see like on St. John.

Back to enjoying a stress level of negative 63 (on a scale of 1-10) the way it's meant to be on the best island on the globe, St. John 8)
Coconuts
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Location: Southern NH, USA

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by Coconuts »

fmzip: Did you take the ferry to Road Town instead of Soper's Hole? Roads in parts of Tortola are pretty steep; at least you were forewarned about the downshifting thing :)

All the best,

Kevin
fmzip
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 10:24 pm
Location: connecticut

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by fmzip »

No, we took the ferry to the west end, not road town
AquaGirl
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Location: Fairfax, Virginia

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by AquaGirl »

Thanks for sharing your adventure on Tortola. We've stayed on Tortola a few times and the first trip, we had a Suzuki, so I know how you feel. It definitely had a hard time making it up those steep hills. On one of the steep hills we had to stop for construction and were concerned about making it up the hill. The next trip, we rented something with a bigger engine (can't remember what we had) and it was no problem making it up the hills. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip!
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Adrienne
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Location: Jersey

Re: Planning a day trip to tortola

Post by Adrienne »

Got married in Tortola 10 years ago this June on Long Bay. We renting a villa overlooking Cane Garden Bay. So we took that road along the shore back to our house. It had rained just prior to leaving. I was driving one of the cars (My husband had to drive his mother in a separate car, she refused to drive), it was a Suzuki Rodeo. We were going up the one hill with the switch backs that I think you're talking about and the car wouldn't move...in fact it started to slide backwards. All I could do was aim it for the low rock wall with the hopes that the car would just gently come to a rest against the wall. Luckily, I switched it down to super low and gunned it and got up to the top. I remember seeing my poor mother's face in the rearview mirror. Poor thing!

As for the other hill that you're speaking about, we could see it from one of the rooms in the house that we stayed at we would watch the cars struggle to get up those hills, esp after a rain.

At any rate, we're on our way to St. John the end of June for our 10th anniversary - first time with both kids. Wish I could say that we were returning to Tortola - but we will save that trip for another time when they're a little bit older.
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