At
roughly 8 square kilometers, Jost Van Dyke is the
smallest of the four main islands of the British Virgin
Islands, the northern portion of the archipelago of
the Virgin Islands, located in the Atlantic Ocean
and Caribbean Sea. Jost Van Dyke lies about 5 miles
to the northwest of Tortola and 5 miles to the north
of Saint John. Little Jost Van Dyke lies off its eastern
end.
Like many of the neighboring islands,
it is volcanic in origin and mountainous. The highest
point on the island is Roach Hill at 321 meters (1054
feet). A few hundred people live on Jost Van Dyke
however, the population increased in the late 1990s
with the advent of electricity and paved roads.
The most frequent mooring destination
is Great Harbor (or Great Harbour). The beach strip
around the harbour is lined with small bars and restaurants.
Since the late 1960s, Foxy's Bar in Great Harbor has
been a popular stop for Caribbean boaters. Foxy's
and the other bars in Great Harbor now host a modest
crowd year-round and are filled with thousands of
partiers on New Year's Eve (locally known as "Old
Year's Night").
Located in nearby White Bay is
the Soggy Dollar,another famous beach bar on the island.
The Soggy Dollar is reputedly the birthplace of the
popular drink known as the Painkiller. The Soggy Dollar
bar is appropriately named because of the difficulty
of navigating one's boat over the coral reef to reach
the beach where the bar is located. It is a common
practice for boaters to anchor beyond the reef, swim
to the beach, and pay for their drinks with wet money.
Further infomration on the Britisha
Virgin Islands can be found at Wikipedia. |
