Jost Van Dyke | The Voyage of Ryana

Considering that we’ve chartered in the BVI twice before and at this point been there almost a month it’s hard to believe there are places we haven’t been. But there are and we found them! We spent our first ever night in Little Harbor on Jost. This was a great place and we were able to dinghy from there over to Sandy Cay (what our friend Greg calls the best example of a deserted tropical island) and then over to the other side of Jost for a hike to Bubbly Pond. Plus we got to see what we’ve been missing all this time at Sydney’s Peace and Love. Our friend Jack is always going on and on about their painkillers! 😛 Well none of it disappointed and it was fun to see something new in a place we feel like we know so well.

The famous Sydney’s Peace & Love

The view from Little Harbor

Sandy Cay has a beautiful beach, some palm trees, a small hill and lots and lots of hermit crabs!! We set off to walk around unwisely leaving our shoes in the dinghy. It was okay at first when the trail was sand but then it turned to rock, and then to mud! And all I could picture was squishing a poor hermit crab with my bare feet! Luckily that didn’t happen and the view from the top was worth a little discomfort.

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After our Sandy Cay adventure we headed back over to Jost to check out the bubbly pond. This was a fun walk and it took us about 15 minutes to get there. It’s called the bubbly pond because the waves come crashing through this small area and make it all foamy in the small pond. Pretty nice and a good way to cool off after that walk!

Once we made it down to the BVI it was time to relax, drink a few painkillers and snorkel. Well, that was after cleaning, waxing, fixing and reorganizing the boat of course! Since we left a day early on the rally we had a week in the BVI before our crew were going to fly home. That meant a little exploring was in order.

First though we arrived in Nanny Cay Marina on Tortola which is actually quite nice. This is where they held the final happy hours for the Carib1500 rally and the awards ceremony party. We spent a few days just hanging in the marina and enjoying being on land! We enjoyed rehashing the trip with our fellow rally folks and sharing our stories of rough weather and faulty equipment. The final party was fun too and we all dressed up in our matching shirts!

Docked at Nanny Cay marina.

Dressed up for the party in our matching shirts. I think it took 4 tries to get this picture! (ahem…graham!)

Ryan was trying to win a mustache contest (he came in 2nd) which is why he looks so ridiculous!

Father and son

When we got out of the marina (finally!) it was time for some snorkeling. We headed to the Indians and got in the water and splashed around.

The Indians

Ryan snorkeling

Fish

Graham relaxing on the sail over to Cooper Island.

After that we went to Cooper Island to relax for the night. We met up with Te Mana there and had happy hour aboard our boat and dinner on theirs. Our resident bartender Greg went the extra mile by printing a list of drinks our boat offered and serving them up with a smile. 🙂 Then we had a great dinner on Te Mana with great company!

Kirk serving up dinner.

Russell reading from their drinks menu.

Pierre and Heather enjoying dinner.

Graham, Tony and Greg relaxing with their drinks.

Next up on our BVI tour was Jost Van Dyke. We moored the boat in White Harbor, had drinks at the Soggy Dollar and dinner at Foxy’s. Ahh….this is the life. Plus Stanley got to chase balls on the beach and ride on the paddle board!

At the Soggy Dollar

Graham finding the tag he previously left at Foxy's. He only had to look about 5 minutes...what a good memory.

Graham finding the tag he previously left at Foxy’s from “The Virgin Excursion”.

Stanley chasing after a ball.

Tony keeping an eye on Stanley (or is it the other way around!)

Stanley on the paddle board.

Stanley gets concerned when we’re in the water! It’s okay buddy!

After Jost we headed back to Tortola. This time we stopped at Cane Garden Bay. We headed in for lunch, toured the rum distillery and generally just hung out and relaxed. We made a dinner on the boat and in the morning sadly bid farewell to Graham as he left to catch his flight.