tortola jost van dyke

[huskie11]

Am on the mar 14 cruise on celeb solstice and am interested in anyone's experience with visit to tortola and jost van dyke?

[Johnthed0g]

Sorry, no help BUT someone has posted about this recently, have a look..

[Buckeroo00]

We sailed around that area a few moons ago but can't tell you anything about cruise ships going near there. We had to launch our dingy to go over there but I can tell you ----a fun time was had by all.

What memories -----:o

[cobalt206]

We were on the Solstice Jan 17-24 and took the Jost Van Dyke excursion. We wanted to do the Baths but I figured it would be very popular and ultimately very crowded. So I have heard from friends how nice JVD is and how the Soggy Dollar Bar is a great highlight. So we booked this excursion through Celebrity after learning we had a very short stay at Tortola and did not want to chance missing the ship.

 

As it turns out, there were only about 24 people on this excursion vs hundreds going to the Baths so I think we made the right call as we don't like huge groups. We boarded a small bus and took a 5 minute ride to a marina. From there, we boarded a comfortable boat and had a scenic 30 minute voyage to JVD and White Beach. They anchored just off shore and I thought we had to swim to shore but they brought a mini barge up to our boat and whisked us to shore quickly. This is important as you CAN bring your camera. Once ashore, we were shown an ara where we could enjoy a beach chair, a rum punch and a burger lunch later in the day.

 

This beach is spectacular and unspoiled. We walked the beach and made our way down to the famous Soggy Dollar Bar, appropriately named as most people have to anchor and swim to shore with their currency in their pockets. This bar is an open air shack that has a cool ambience. Extremely casual and a very friendly staff await here as well as a phenomenal libation called a, "Painkiller". These drinks go down smoothly, but a 9am, you might not want to drink too many :)

 

We went back to the beach chairs and enjoyed the sand and crystal clear water. We only had about 3 hours at this wonderful spot and wished it could have been longer. I think we will go back there someday and stay at the rustic Sandcastle Hotel, very laid back and peaceful.

 

I've heard positive things about the Baths at Virgin Gorda but I just don't like crowds. If you like taking the path less traveled, take the excursion to JVD!

[dingsterkat]

OK, first I have to say there is 3 inches of snow outside and another 4 on the way so forgive me for daydreaming of my past excursions in both Jost Van Dyke and Tortola. My experiences are old but vivid: 1998 to be exact - honeymoon cruise on a Windjammer. Jost Van Dyke was idyllic - our sailboat docked on the quiet side of the island (other side from the Soggy Dollar) and it was the most unspoiled, beautiful place we'd been. Luckily though it was not so unspoiled as to not have a bar. Ivan's Stress Free Bar was an oasis - a very large mellow black man in a very crude cinder block structure with cold Corona. We asked for two beers and gave him a $20... he just looked at us as if we were anal, overstressed Americans (which we were) and simply said, 'Drink 'til ya done mon'. Man, I loved Ivan and his beach bar... Hope he has survived the hurricanes that have hit during all the years since we visited.

 

Tortola is very British as you might expect. We just rented a car and drove all over the island - great restaurants with even better views on top of the mountain and fantastic snorkling.

 

So, if you must choose between the two you have a very difficult choice, but then its been 13 years since I was there. Thanks for allowing the walk down memory lane - I'm sure others will write to give you a much better update. Enjoy regardless...