When? |
|
Really
a delivery boat, the When
(494-2997, schedule) is a nice ferry as well and makes a fun day trip
to Jost Van Dyke. The views from the front deck are exhilerating,
especially of Tortola's
rocky point and undulating coastal peaks
coming out of Sopers Hole. |
Also see the New Horizon Ferry
Service (schedule). |
Aptly named, spacious Great Harbour is sheltered by
small mountains (photo:
Bareboats BVI). An ample, if sometimes difficult holding,
anchorage, Great Harbour has moorings as well as an easy entrance down the
center, but avoid the large reef that extends 300 yards
from the beach.
Taxis.
Locally,
Bun's Tequila Sea Taxi (495-9281) and Gregory's Brat
water taxi costs $5 per person for local trips in a center console boat and
Bun's
(495-9281) and George's land taxi (495-9253) costs the same
for a trip to White Bay. Walking to White Bay takes about 20 minutes--see
White Bay Walk. It's longer and a higher fare to Little Harbour. |
|
Foxy Callwood |
|
The yachties' troubadour,
Foxy sings spontaneous Calypso ballads, sometimes about his guests
(photo from TMM
Bareboat Vacations). |
Foxy's New Year's Eve party is
perhaps the most famous in the Caribbean and fills Great Harbour
with rafted up boats. |
The quintessent beach bar--on
the beach, open to the elements, and personally attended to by Foxy
Callwood. What began as little more than a lemonade-stand-size bar
which was supposed to be open for one day only, Foxy's
(495-9258 email) has evolved
into a major cultural force.
Big annual events at Foxy's are his
Halloween party
(see pictures here)
and Halloween Cat Fight (catamaran race) and Wooden Boat
Regatta (see
article) (Foxy is founder of the Jost Van Dyke Preservation Society).
See the book, Foxy and Jost Van
Dyke.
Known for its great local food, Foxy's has
Friday and Saturday barbecues, rotis and flying fish
sandwiches for lunch and grilled fresh fish and lobster for
dinner.
The Foxhole (495-9275) sells T-shirts, hats, islandwear,
souvenirs and Foxy's tapes. |
|
Stroll the "Bypass"
The Ice House |
Great Harbour encompasses a large water area but a
small settlement on the available flat land bordered by steep
hillsides. The ferry dock extends via a small road, The Alley,
transecting the plain to the local Ice House
(which has ice by the block as well as cubes) and a delightful
bypass road, Back Street, that forms an arc toward the back and
invites a stroll
through this interesting community. Jost Van Dyke has lots of
goats but no chickens (for which will be grateful the late
sleepers unused to rural life with roosters crowing at dawn). |
|
Beach Establishments
 |
Main street here is a
beach.
The ferry dock and white building with police (495-9345) and customs
(494-3430) is on the right. |
Ali Baba's
(495-9280), a picturesque bar and restaurant open for breakfast, lunch and
dinner, features lobster and grilled local fish, such as swordfish, wahoo,
and kingfish, as well as drink specials on Bushwackers and
Ali Baba's own rum punch, and a Monday night pig roast.
Corsair's Beach Bar & Restaurant,
breakfast, lunch and dinner, has replaced Club Paradise, the "shocking pink"
landmark (which now has some added purple), specializes in Mexican, pasta
and fresh seafood. The
wall murals are still inside.
Happy Laury's Snack Bar
(495-9259, VHF 16) is known for its pig roasts, honey-dipped chicken,
Johnnie cakes, cold beer and ice cream.
 CocoLocos's
boutique on the beach is owned by a gifted craftsperson,
Lorrin Callwood, who designs jewelry, clothes, and other artifacts and gift
items such as sundresses, painted mugs, true designer baseball caps
(for that diffcult male gift), designer magnets, and T-shirts. CocoLocos has
relocated to White Bay by the Sandcastle. A new shop is at the old location.
 Rudy's
Mariners Inn (495-9282) has five rooms, a bar and restaurant that
features seafood and live entertainment (see picture) and Rudy's
Superette for supplies.
|
 |
Christine's Guest House
(495-9281), upstairs from the bakery, is a small bed and
breakfast with rooms for 2 or 3 people for that unique
vacation or a night off the boat in air-conditioned spendor. |
|
Up The Alley.
Near the Ice House is
Christine's Bakery (495-9281), a great spot for
breakfast on the small porch with tasty cinnamon buns, coconut
cake, and egg sandwiches as well as fresh baked loaves of whole wheat, white
and banana bread.
Nature's Basket
(495-9312), on the way to the Ice House, has fresh fruits and vegetables.
Its owner, Ivan Chinnery sometimes conducts
walks to his own plantation where he grows mangoes,
papayas, pineapples and bananas. During Hurricane Georges, Ivan "lost a
quarter acre of bananas . . . mangos, avocados and all that, they
held up pretty good." Now of course, Ivan is open for business. |
|
 White
Bay.
Named for its long and lovely white sand beach, White
Bay, now very popular with boaters, is protected by extensive
reefs.
|
|
Hexagonal
Cottages |
|
Especially charming are the
Sandcastle's four hexagonal cottages near the beach. |
Chef Oliver Clifton
 |
A BVIslander
who has trained top BVI chefs, Chef Oliver adds a creative
personal touch to a native Caribbean cuisine with strong French
and American influences. |
|
|
|
| White Bay is the location of
the Sandcastle
(495-9888 open breakfast, lunch and dinner) (more),
a lovely, intimate resort whose restaurant (see
menu) has excellent dining by candlelight. |
|
Sandcastle |
 |
This hideaway favors sea breezes, hammocks and
beach strolls. |
|
|
|
|
The
Soggy Dollar Bar (495-9888), at the Sandcastle, got its
name from the soggy condition of the dollar bills
from sailors who swam ashore.
The Painkiller,
born here, is a frozen delight made (strongly) from
dark rum (often Pusser's),
pineapple juice (4 parts), orange juice ( 1 part), and Coco Lopez
(1 part sweetened cream of coconut) with fresh nutmeg ground on top
(Pusser's recipe--the Soggy Dollar's is a closely guarded secret).
It is illegal in the BVI
not
to try its most famous drink! |
|
Soggy
Dollar Bar
Birthplace
of the
Painkiller |
|
|
|
| For lunch, try
the "best conch fritters," chicken roti, jerk chicken, or
flying fish sandwiches. New dinner menus
nightly have been "wowing" guests with great dishes such as
crab cakes and duck (no dinner Fridays, reserve by 4 pm).
Great breakfasts too-- with johnny cakes
on Monday. |
|
Ruben Chinnery plays
from 2-4 on Sundays afternoons. |
|
|
 |
Up
the beach next to the Sandcastle, Gertrude's Beach Bar
(495-9104) has sodas, beer and mixed drinks as well as hairbraiding and
bungalows for rent. Next door, Wendall's Boutique has
ladies clothing. Jewel's Snack Shack is good
for burgers and beer and One Love Bar Bar and Grill is a great spot
for hanging out! The signboard photo on the left is from
JostVanDyke.com, an
excellent site).
CocoLocos
(495-9401) has relocated from Great Harbour to White Bay, up the beach from
the Sandcastle and Soggy Dollar bar. |
|
White
Bay Walk
An interesting walk to White Bay over the
small mountain, especially for the exercise minded, takes about
20 minutes (10 minutes more along the beach). Take the second
left down to the White Bay Campground, possibly stopping at the Local
Flavor Bar for a refreshment (note the honor
bar if no one's around). Continue along the gorgeous
White Bay beach, over the picturesque rocky outcropping via a path above
it, before reaching the Soggy Dollar Bar, stopping here for a
serious drink, a Painkiller--you've earned it! Call Bun's cab
for the ride back. |
|
The
White Bay campground (495-9358), has bare
campsites, tent
campsites equipped with a bed, lamp and ice chest, and screened
cabins
similarly equipped. The cabin and tent platforms are nestled into a
beautiful natural setting. However, the bare campsites on
the bluff right above the beaches
of White Bay are truly magnificient, the finest camping sites in the world.
 Local
Flavor Beach Bar (495-9358), also called the
Stress Free Bar, right at White Bay Campground, has an honor
payment system. Check out all the pictures on the walls as a testimonial to
all the great times people have had here.
 Snorkeling
is good in White Bay. The dark blue is a moving
shoal of fish fry
pursued by a flock of pelicans (one is diving) above and a
school of tarpon below (see
story). This abundant marine life is more typically
seen at the Twin Towers dive site described below.
Snorkeling is particularly fine out on the point off the White Bay
Campground.
 White
Bay Villas are three splendid villas just
above pristine White Bay.
|
|
|
 Little Harbour
A
good anchorage with moorings as well, Little Harbour is famous for
its lobster feasts! |
|
 Nestled
under its small hiking mountain,
Little Harbour is known for its three restaurants,
Abe's By The Sea
(VHF16), Sidney's Peace & Love (495-9271)(see picture), and
Harris' Place (495-9302). Harris' Place has groceries and sundry
items as well.
| Sidney's Peace & Love
(495-9271, 495-9010, VHF 16). Open for 26 years with many repeat
customers, Sidney himself captures most of his lobster
from the Anegada reef. Cooked to an old family recipe on an open
fire, Sidney's lobster is served with peas & rice, corn,
coleslaw, potato salad and hot butter. Featuring a self service
bar for sofas, beer and mixed drinks, Sidney's has pig
roasts on Mondays & Saturdays with
live music. Reservations are suggested and credit cards
accepted. |
|
Hostess with
the Mostess |
|
Shown
under rafters full of Sidney's trademark hanging t-shirts of guests,
Sidney's lovely
daughter and hostess Rena describes their lobster as
finger lickin' good. |
|
Tee's and Tings (495-9276)
sells t-shirts, earrings, necklaces, lucky charms & other jewelry in the
shop and also boat-to-boat as Nippy's Traveling Salesman.
Sandy
Ground Estates
(email
494-3391) are eight villas above a secluded beach over the
hill from Little Harbour on Jost's East End. |
|
|
Nearby Tropical Isles: Sandy Cay, Green Cay & Sandy Spit Diamond
Cay & Little Jost |
|
|
A Tropical Isle
MiniTour A mile-wide
U-shape, the MiniTour starts at Jost Van Dyke's Diamond Cay
and goes past
Little Jost Van Dyke to
Green Cay before ending at Sandy Spit. Or continue to
Sandy Cay, another mile or so offshore. |
|
A series of small
islands, off Jost Van Dyke's east end, offer the perfect setting for a
tropical isle--spectacular beaches, day anchoring over sandy ground and
snorkeling in the shallow reefs.
 Diamond
Cay, seen here in the right foreground, has the new Foxy's Taboo
bar and restaurant as well as moorings and a dock (photo:
Bareboats BVI).
Take the "goat trail" to
Bubby Pool,
a great spot to visit at high tide.
Little Jost Van Dyke, seen above in the
right background, offers anchoring (except when the surge is up) and
excellent snorkeling along the shore and its reef to the right. On the
north side, the dive site, Twin Towers, is visited by
schools of reef squid and moving shoals of fish fry
in the springtime.
|
Green Cay and Sandy Spit
are further east, adjoining Little Jost and each other, with Sandy
Spit to the south. |
|
Sandy Spit |
|
 |
|
Sandy Spit, in
particular, is a
superb day anchorage over sandy ground with excellent snorkeling
(photo:
BVI
Yacht Charters).
Off Green Cay's
ocean-side, The Playground is an exciting dive site
for swell-less days. A series of pinnacles covered
with
brightly colored sponges and branching hydroid fans
shelter abundant marine life such as juvenile angelfishes
and glassy minnows, patrolled by jacks,
large dog snappers, schools of barracuda,
and
huge tarpon, sometimes seen underneath the white
foaming surf breaking on the shoreline. |
|
|
JVD Scuba &
BVI Eco-Tours
offers many water-related adventures, including rarely seen tours
Great
Tobago and the
North side of
Jost Van Dyke, where bottlenose dolphins are encountered |
Off Green Cay's
ocean-side, The Playground is an exciting dive site
for swell-less days. A series of pinnacles covered
with
brightly colored sponges and branching hydroid fans
shelter abundant marine life such as juvenile angelfishes
and glassy minnows, patrolled by jacks,
large dog snappers, schools of barracuda,
and
huge tarpon, sometimes seen underneath the white
foaming surf breaking on the shoreline.
 Sandy Cay,
about a mile to the south, has the
character of an
ideal tropical
isle, dotted with palm trees on wide, gently sloping beaches as
well as a botanical tour that includes
dramatic surf-side cliffs on its ocean side (see Mary Lou above from
Gary Kunkel's).
Westernmost
Great Tobago, a little-visited island on the other side of Jost
Van Dyke in the westernmost BVI, with remote and advanced dive sites, is a
marine sanctuary for a nesting colony of the
magnificent frigatebird. |
|
