I've been working on my trip report for our recent stay (6/28 - 7/11/2009), and most of it is kinda boring, except for this day:

Day 11 – Jost Van Dyke

Took the 10:00 a.m. ferry over to Jost to spend the day. When we arrived we headed for the taxis and noticed the taxi-director-guy sending the people in front of us over to the “safari” truck, so we figured we’d be herded on there as well. Jack says to taxi-director-guy “White Bay!” and he points to a black SUV which we gladly climbed into. Wow, did we luck out or what? It turns out to be Gregory from Perfect Pineapple and we really enjoyed our ride in his tricked out Ford Escape, complete with leather seats and music DVDs playing. (Yes, DVDs, not CDs!) We didn’t chat much with him as we were kind of nursing slight hangovers, plus he spent a good bit of time on his cell phone working. I pay for the round trip when we got to White Bay and he tells us to meet him at the Purple Pineapple office/store when it’s time to go.

First stop, Soggy Dollar Bar of course. I don’t care if it’s only 10:30ish, I am having Painkillers and Mic was ready to serve them up.



Jack stuck to his Bud Lights… Another couple about our age sat at the bar and noticed Jack’s Tampa Bay Rays shirt, and struck up a conversation. Turns out they are from Florida too and had come over from Tortola for the day. We see them a couple more times that day and, as luck would have it, on our flights home on Saturday.

Enjoyed several Painkillers and some conch fritters, along with Mic’s awesome company. Good people watching too, but the best would come later down the beach.



We head down to One Love, possibly our favorite bar in the world.



Right after we arrived and got a couple of beers from Raquel we noticed Seddy at the bar getting ready to do his magic tricks. We have never met Seddy before, but we wouldn’t this time either because a group of folks off of one, maybe 2, cats were totally monopolizing the place. They were first timers, as evidenced by this quote from one of the ladies: “If and when we come back, I think we’ll put the sail up, it would save us some money!”



We ordered Lobster Sandwiches, which were delicious, and enjoyed the people watching on the beach, in the water, and of course in the bar. One of the boat ladies apparently got too drunk for her husband’s taste and she had to tell him off, very loudly and very explicitly, telling him exactly *what* he only thinks about!

Also enjoyed watching a couple from a skippered yacht talk a walk down the beach. Well Jack enjoyed that part, as it was an older guy with a “swimsuit model”. At least she was posing for him… He must have enjoyed quite a few cocktails on the beach, as they had to help back on board where he proceeded to nod off before they took off. Yup, greatest people watching beach in the world.

We head back to Soggy Dollar around 4 as Jack wants to do a little shopping.



We change into dry clothes and head up to look for Gregory. He wasn’t around but the nice lady in the store called him. He came driving by and said he’d be back soon. We were too early, could’ve had another Painkiller or two… But we sit there enjoying the scenery, along with a local gentlemen who I guess was pausing on his way home. I spot a mongoose and point it out to Jack, as we had been talking about them a few days earlier – I was wondering what kind of noise they make as I thought I might have heard them at the villa. Anyways, local guy says to us: “Did you see those squirr – rells?” Funny guy, thinking he was going to have a little fun with the “tourists”. I just laugh and say “There’s no squirrels in the BVI!”. But squirrels will always be “squirr – rells” to us from now on.

Gregory gets us to the ferry in time, after teasing us to see if we were worried we’d be late. Mic was on the ferry too, of course, and remembered my name from our tab earlier in the day. We decided the Jost day trip is a must for all future trips down.

Stopped at Harbour Market to get some shrimp for dinner (1 lb. bag of frozen only $12.00, not the $30.00 from Sailor’s Ketch I’ve seen before, but I would’ve paid that if they had them!). Made the best Shrimp Scampi ever, followed by after dinner wine and stargazing. What a perfect day!