BVI Charter Day 2: Jost Van Dyke

I didn’t sleep well that first night on the boat. My mind was on overdrive with too many things but waking up that morning rejuvenated me as I soaked in the reality that we were finally settled into the boat and had a full day ahead of us with excellent weather in the forecast for the rest of our trip. We had breakfast onboard the boat and prepared ourselves to work our way 2 hours north to Jost Van Dyke. Our first mission was to retrieve my credit card from the Pirate Bite restaurant where we dined the night before when the power went out. We had to wait for the crew to arrive by ferry before we could settle up and head back to the boat. We made quick work with releasing the boat from the mooring lines and motored out of the bay.

Shortly after I raised the headsail to take advantage of an hour of predictable Southeast winds on a reach before we approached the halfway point at the Thatch Cut, the small channel between Little Thatch, West End Tortola and Frenchmen Cay, where it is prudent to put the sails down and motor through with good steering ability. After passing the cut we continued to Jost on motor to get a good look at White Bay and possibly score an anchoring spot or mooring ball. My best guess was that because of the bad weather over the previous three days that all of the cruisers came out in full force and because of that White Bay was maxed out. We initiated our Plan B to head to the neighboring Great Harbour, just a short hop east from White Bay. Great Harbor has plenty of mooring balls and we had reserved a Boatyball mooring early that same morning. Boatyball is a mooring ball reservation system used throughout the Virgin Islands. It’s easy to use and you can guarantee yourself a reservation versus choosing a first-come-first-served mooring ball.

Jost was a hit. We dinghied back over to White Bay which was a short 10 minute ride away. Our first stop was on the east end of the bay at Ivan’s Stress Free Beach Bar. The east side of the bay is not as popular as the westside where the famous Soggy Dollar is, but I will tell you I think we made the right choice. Ivan’s is a quaint beach bar that has plenty to do unlike the others. Naturally they have food and beverages like everyone else, but what separates this spot is other amenities like beach games such as volleyball, cornhole, a massage barge which G can tell you was better than her Thai massage in Thailand, covered picnic tables and a bumping but not annoying sound system. My dad was so stress-free he took two naps. Paul and I played cornhole, we had lunch and drinks, later I flew the drone, V and I went for a dingy ride and though it to be just the perfect beach bar. It was crowded, no obnoxious tourists, plenty to do and pass the day away.

Naturally we had to make a run to the Westend of White Bay and visit the Soggy Dollar where surprisingly our friends Scott and Joalice and their kids visited just 5 days earlier. They were gracious enough to leave us two Pain Killers on the list. We found our names and killed the pain. Of course there were a lot more vacationers here than at Ivan’s. It was later in the afternoon when we arrived and the stragglers were still enjoying themselves. The beach setting on both sides is beautiful with boats anchored close offshore, clear blue gentle water to cool off in and good vines in the air, We fully took advantage of the day at White Bay and made it a great one. We closed out at White Bay and boarded the dingy back to our boat in Great Harbour, We had no plans or reservations beyond showering and vising Foxy’s later that night. G surprised us with a special libation for sunset on the flybridge as we listed to some Salsa music, took photos, flew the drone and relaxed before heading ashore.

The ride to Foxy’s was no more than 10 minutes from the boat. We tied up at the the Dingy dock and made our way inside. We missed last call for dinner and had a few drinks instead checking out the scene. There is a lot to look at with all of the banners, stickers, posters, paintings, license plates and whatever else you can tack on to a wall or ceiling. Since it was later in the night people were clearing out little by little but we still had a good time. The music was great, we danced a little and found a couple of places to leave our mark with a GG sticker.