As a gift for my son Tylers 16th birthday, my Mom paid for airfare for us to visit the US Virgin islands. Thanks, Mom! Visiting my sister in St Thomas, Camping on St John, snorkeling and hiking every day, saving hermit crabs, and a boat trip to the British Virgin Islands, The Baths at Virgin Gorda, swimming with sharks, Jost Van Dyke, and the Soggy Dollar Bar!
We left Marina Cay, and it seemed in no time at all we arrived at Jost Van Dyke. The main attraction here is a place called the Soggy Dollar Bar, so named because there is no dock here for boats to park! The Breakaway simply got as close to the beach as it could, and everyone had to jump off and swim to land! Being 6'2", I was able to touch bottom right away, but the water was up to my neck. We made our way to land, and joined the throngs of people who were already there, from the several other boats that surrounded us. There are several stores and small restaurants in a row here, but thae majority of folks were enjoying themselves around the bar. The Soggy Dollar got it's name because everyone has to swim to get here.
Making "Painkillers" by the dozens!
...and thus arrives with wet money!! They actually have a clothesline behind the bar, where they clip the wet bills that people give them, to dry out!!
One of the bartenders was making Painkillers by the dozens. This is a well known Caribbean drink that was invented here at the Soggy Dollar. It consists of rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and cream of coconut, seved on the rocks with fresh nutmeg grated on top. Delicious! You'll get a nice island buzz going in no time! There was already a fair amount of people in the bar, as there were several other boats in the area, all with the same idea. There was an old man entertaining the group with his guitar, singing island songs, and a few people were playing a ring-toss game on a tree out front.
This guy was entertaining the crowd with relaxing island songs
A small metal ring was hanging off a branch on a string, and there was a small metal hook attached to a board on the tree. The idea was to swing the ring on the string (try saying that 3 times fast!) and get it to make a "ringer" onto the metal hook. Im not sure what the prize was if you accomplished this feat, maybe a free drink or something? In any event, no one was able to get the job done.... not an easy task when completely sober, certainly more challenging when you have a few Painkillers under your belt!
We relaxed for a little bit in the hammocks that were strung between some palm trees in front of the bar. The place kind of reminded me of the tv commercials for Corona beer- where they show people relaxing on the beach enjoying Coronas.
Yep! This sure beats school!
If fact, one of the crewmembers told me that those commercials were filmed on a smaller island that we passed, not too far from here! Tyler and I took pictures of each other relaxing in the hammocks, but I didn't stay there too long... the rope of the hammock was aggravating my sunburn! Tyler and I decided to walk around and do a little exploring, there were a few other shops and restaurants nearby. I was looking for a place to buy replacement batteries for my camera, and found a conveniance store that had what I was looking for. As you can probably tell, I went through quite a few camera batteries on this trip! ( I normally use rechargeables, but staying in a tent doesn't give you many opportunities to plug in a charger!) Tyler, too young for alcohol, grabbed a Red Bull to keep his energy up.
An overview of the goings on at The Soggy Dollar Bar, on July 6th, 2008. Old man plays "Downpressure Man" while people drink painkillers, hang out on the beach, play ring toss, and watch the bikini clad women walk by
We wandered back to the Soggy Dollar, and I bought Ty a T-shirt and a few souvenirs in the gift shop at the back of the bar. We hung around the beach there for a little while, I had another painkiller, and before we knew it, the crew was blowing the horn to tell us it was time to head back to Breakaway. They give you a double tied plastic bag in the gift shop, to help you swim back to the boat and keep your souvenirs dry! I also had brought a small airtight ziplock bag for my camera, and we succeded in keeping everything dry as we made our way back to the boat. Tyler and a few other boys couldn't resist the opportunity to do a few backflip dives off the boat, as we waited for the others to return. While waiting, the crew members got the papeerwork ready for everyone to "pay up" for the trip.
Tyler jumping off the boat that took us to Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands, while we were returning from the Soggy Dollar Bar
.. I found out then that the trip AND the tip, could be put on a credit card!! All that stressing about finding a cash machine earlier, and in the end, I didn't even need it! I gave them a good tip, though, they deserved it, and the crew really earned it. I would recommend this trip to anyone who has a full day to spend in the Virgin Islands! Just don't forget your passport!
Once all the paperwork, paying, etc. was done, and everyone was back on board, we were on our way back to Cruz Bay!
Yeah, I guess we weren't near there. There is no harbor anywhere near the Soggy Dollar...it got its name because patrons have to swim to shore from their boats! No dock, even!
Just checked on-line and sure enough, they are still around...right at the harbor (the Dollar is a little ways down the beach, right?) --> Check out [url=http://www.foxysbar.com/home.html] Foxy's [/url] for more info!
I didn't notice Foxy's...was it on the same location? There were a few other bars, restaurants, etc. nearby, but we didn't really check them out too thouroughly.
