Jost Van Dyke, BVI (part 2)

New Years Eve sunset in Great Harbor

Foxys on Jost Van Dyke is famous for their New Years Eve party. Writeups have been done listing it as one of the top three places in the world to celebrate the new year, just behind New York and London. Stephen and Maureen learned sailing friends were also headed there and agreed to join us. We had an absolutely delightful sail from Virgin Gorda to Jost Van Dyke. Trip and I grabbed one of the moorings furthest out of the harbor (to avoid the music and lights at night), while Stephen and Maureen grabbed one close to shore and close to all the festivities. It’s really been nice having company – Maureen and I have been trading dinners periodically. We had them over that night for jambalaya and we went over the next night for broccoli alfredo & avocado salads (yummmmmm).

Rob at work on the ‘Christmas navigation hazard tree’

We did another trip around the corner to White Bay and were thrilled to see how business had picked up at the Soggy Dollar. I splurged and bought a tshirt labeled: “I love day drinking” even though I know it gets me in trouble some days….. : ) We went over to Hendo’s Hideaway for lunch so Trip could re-create his favorite, most memorable burger ever (they didn’t fail to disappoint again).

And then the anchorage began filling up. There’s about 24 mooring balls spread out in the bay, but a lot of folks cram in and drag anchor. It’s a bit dangerous because of very poor holding and we watched many a boat have to up anchor and reset (one boat we watched do this 7 times before they were successful – ugh). Not such a big deal if you have an automatic windlass, but Maureen and I cringed at the thought of having to bring up chain on a manual windlass to reset the anchor over and over again.

The navigation hazard Christmas tree

After pates at Sugar and Spice (curry chicken or fish filled empanadas) we ran into Rob again. Trip helped him finish making a makeshift dinghy dock at the ferry dock and then we met him back at Foxys. There’s a tree that overturned and landed in the shallows, half submerged, half visible. Not a big deal during the day, but at night a true hazard for all the dinghies heading back and forth to Foxys. Did I mention no one uses dinghy lights in the Caribbean and they run their outboards full tilt? And did I mention the alcohol most drivers have consumed? Partly to mark a navigation hazard and partly to say we decorated a Christmas tree while down in the islands, we took multiple strands of Christmas lights and a generator strapped down to a makeshift raft made out of flotsam out to the tree. It was totally convoluted but really fun and a great last volunteer project on the island.

New dive gear

We got back to the boat and Trip decided to change the prop zinc which was becoming well worn. He put on the new Mantus dive gear, and went overboard. The good news is that he got the old zinc off. The bad news is that the threads wouldn’t take and he couldn’t get the new zinc on before the air in the tank ran out (to be fair, not much more than a pony bottle – not a full dive tank). He gave up and took a brief nap while I continued to watch with nervousness the boats anchoring well and not so well around us.

Zeus & Diana

Stephen and Maureen’s friends Mel & Don have a catamaran and were nice enough to invite us over for sundowners before everyone headed to shore. Onboard we met two other cruising couples and had a lot of fun trading stories. Throughout the rest of the night we kept running into each other on the island – it was rather fun to have a new group of friends.

We eventually headed to shore and were amazed at the transformation. In addition to the restaurants that had been rebuilding, a half dozen or so shacks had been set up just steps from the water. Every single one of them was packed.

LED hula hoop girl

The routine for New Years Eve is that most people go to White Bay (Soggy Dollar) for the afternoon and then when the sun sets comes back to Great Harbor. Great Harbor was anchored by Foxys on one end with a live band and the scuba shop mid island that now features a bar (and guest DJ New Years Eve). We started at the scuba shop, marveling at how far they had come in the week since we helped clean debris. The Soggy Dollar crew showed up and we chatted for a while – they were thrilled with the amount of business they had taken in that day – getting back to the good old days. We then wandered the main drag, buying a drink or something to eat here and there at the little stalls before getting to Foxys.

Trip & Geiga

Did I mention the theme of the party (yes, there’s a theme) was toga party? I couldn’t be bothered and had opted for a light long sleeve shirt and jeans to ward off the bugs (you’ve already read about how well I do with bug bites), but it was a lot of fun to see how people had gotten into things. We continued to make our way down to Foxys and the crowd was worth it. We were intercepted by ‘Zeus’ and ‘Diana’ who insisted on pictures, and had a lot of fun watching one of the performers – a hula hoopist with a hula hoop with LED lights – I’m sure it was even more fun with more to drink.

NYE merry makers

I can’t remember the last time I made it up past midnight, but we did it. We headed back to the boat watching the fireworks (praying that none of the ashes were drifting down on us) and sat out in the cockpit with an after dinner drink enjoying the sounds.

Happy 2018!