Jost Van Dyke

[CruisingYiayia]

Has anyone done the Escape to Jost Van Dyke excursion through NCL?  It says in the description "In the event conditions are rough, the boat will anchor just short of the beach and guests will swim the short distance to shore (approx. 30'. Participants must be able to swim as there is no dock at White Bay. With the shallow draft of the catamaran, guests can be dropped right at the beach, making it a very short distance to swim ashore."  Just wondering how often this happens that the catamaran can't let people off on the shore.

[ggTexasGal]

Perhaps you will find more information here: (scroll through for JVD posts) 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/202-tortola/

[FLcruisergrl]

We’re doing this excursion in December. I haven’t actually been to JVD,  but it’s a bucket list place for me and we have a week booked next year, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching and staring at the webcam. White Bay is usually very calm, so it seems way more likely that you would be close to the beach. However, it’s always a possibility.

[surfclam2003]

6 minutes ago, FLcruisergrl said:

We’re doing this excursion in December. I haven’t actually been to JVD,  but it’s a bucket list place for me and we have a week booked next year, so I’ve spent a lot of time researching and staring at the webcam. White Bay is usually very calm, so it seems way more likely that you would be close to the beach. However, it’s always a possibility.

Go to the Soggy Dollar and have a painkiller! Its a wonderful laid back place.

[FLcruisergrl]

13 minutes ago, surfclam2003 said:

Go to the Soggy Dollar and have a painkiller! Its a wonderful laid back place.

Plan on spending time there in Dec and A LOT of time there next June! We have a villa overlooking White Bay for 8 days!

[ggTexasGal]

Just now, FLcruisergrl said:

Plan on spending time there in Dec and A LOT of time there next June! We have a villa overlooking White Bay for 8 days!

Sounds heavenly!

[samiam0403]

Have done this excursion 3 times and have never had to swim to shore. It's always been wading through shin-high water at the highest for me. 

[JIMESOPUS]

@CruisingYiayiaHave been to the Soggy Dollar JVD, too many times . Never had the cat ride up to the shore, they usually drop the ramp about 6ft offshore, the water is about 2ft deep with a step up to about 1ft of water, sandy bottom no need for water shoes until you reach dry land. I have more trouble getting back on .

Edited September 14, 2022 by JIMESOPUS

[surfclam2003]

3 hours ago, FLcruisergrl said:

Plan on spending time there in Dec and A LOT of time there next June! We have a villa overlooking White Bay for 8 days!

Nice!

[OrcaGirl]

I've been twice, once on the big catamaran and once on the smaller RIB; both times, we got off the boat in 1-2 feet of water but no swimming required.

[ClevelandCruisin]

We have done this before. Our catamaran pulled us close enough to the beach that you got off in maybe a foot of water. We had someone with a broken arm even able to do this as well. 

 

Couldn't tell you how often it wasn't able to pull ashore, but the catamaran is designed perfectly for this. They only need the front part of the boat where you disembark through a hatch onto the beach.

[ChiefMateJRK]

I did one of these things once.  I think there was about four feet of water to "wade" through.  I had my hat, sunglasses and rum punch.  It started out easy, but I hit some unstable sand and "almost" went down.  The "crowd" watched in earnest.  Fortunately (despite several rum punches already consumed), I was able to regain my foothold and save all.  The crowd cheered loudly as I proudly proclaimed that my rum punch was saved.  Cruising is fun.😎

[Cruising Lynne]

17 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I did one of these things once.  I think there was about four feet of water to "wade" through.  I had my hat, sunglasses and rum punch.  It started out easy, but I hit some unstable sand and "almost" went down.  The "crowd" watched in earnest.  Fortunately (despite several rum punches already consumed), I was able to regain my foothold and save all.  The crowd cheered loudly as I proudly proclaimed that my rum punch was saved.  Cruising is fun.😎

Love this! We also experienced deeper than ankle deep water. About three feet deep. I enjoy getting my Painkiller from Soggy Dollar and floating in the bay. You are right, cruising is fun. We had an early excursion, so we were drinking Painkillers before 10 am.

[Mike C]

We've been there s couple of times.  Once on an NCL excursion, the captain deemed it was too dangerous to try to get close to the beach so we went to a dock on the other side of the island.  They provided transportation back and forth to the Soggy Dollar.

 

Mike

[Buford T Justiice]

I would estimate that we stepped into water two feet deep on our last NCL excursion to JVD

[2boyzmom]

If this is offered through the cruise ship- take it! There are tight restrictions on JVD now and many private excursions not even going due to outrageous fees so sign up asap before it sells out! We have been about 5 or 6 times and never had an issue getting to beach from boat. They will offer you a noodle if you feel you need it and they put your dry goods in plastic buckets and bring to shore for you.

Edited September 19, 2022 by 2boyzmom