British Virgin Islands - Tortola

 

In Road Town,Tortola, BVI - My ship in the background.

On my morning on the island of Tortola, town of "Road Town", I walked to Joseph Reynolds O'Neal Botanical Gardens National Park.  

Note: Road Town, chief town and port of Tortola Island is the tourist centre for the British Virgin Islands (BVI).

There was not a lot of time for an extensive excursions, so a walk through the Road Town business district and the trek up a hill to the Gardens was a relaxing off-the-ship morning. It was about a 30 minute walk from the cruise port (photo above). The Gardens have scenic vistas and cool shade which was much appreciated after the walk.   

in September 2017, Hurricane Irma struck the islands, causing extensive damage, especially on Tortola. That damage is still very prominent at the gardens. They lost the top part of a building and many of their beautiful Royal Palm Trees. You can see that recovery has been show, but still a beautiful tropic garden is there.   

__________________

Wikipedia:

The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands and north-west of Anguilla. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles and part of the West Indies.

The British Virgin Islands consist of the main islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada and Jost Van Dyke, along with more than 50 other smaller islands and cays. About 16 of the islands are inhabited. The capital, Road Town, is on Tortola, the largest island, which is about 20 km (12 mi) long and 5 km (3 mi) wide. The islands had a population of 28,054 at the 2010 Census, of whom 23,491 lived on Tortola;[1] current estimates put the population at 35,802 (July 2018).

British Virgin Islanders are British Overseas Territories citizens and since 2002, are also British citizens.