Breakaway Part 2–Tortola and Jost van Dyke

After a morning of touring the Baths on Virgin Gorda, our next destination was Tortola’s Diamond Reef.

Thankfully the rain let up and we were able to spend the next hour or so snorkeling in the crystal clear water. They all thought the Baths were “cool,” but this is what our kids (I use that term loosely because they are all teenagers and hate being called kids) had gotten up at the crack of dawn for.

I absolutely love snorkeling. I’ve been several times and it’s just the most soothing, calming experience the way your body just floats effortlessly and sways with the action of the the gentle waves. The only thing you hear is the sound of your own breathing and the muffled sounds of your surroundings above the water. In every direction, all you see is that mesmerizing water and the carnival of brightly colored fish darting in and around the lacy coral “leaves” also swaying to the rhythm of the waves. Occasionally a school of tiny minnow-like fish will swim by like a peloton in formation. It’s completely relaxing and also quite a challenge for me not to lose all track of time and space.

This is my happy place when the thermometer in my car says 131 degrees.

Anyway, once again the looming rain and thunder was calling in the distance so we all swam back to boat and turned in our snorkel gear. But it wasn’t all bad because lunch was next at the famous Pusser’s Restaurant at Pusser’s Marina Cay.

This tiny island eight-acre island off of Tortola is surrounded by white sand beaches and emerald green water and an ideal place for all types of water activities. That day it was a perfect place to get out of the rain.

Not long after we were seated in the beach front restaurant, the wind picked up and rain started pouring in.

We rode out the storm eating our delicious lunch. This table of diners (notice that I didn’t say “kids”) seemed less than enthusiastic about the afternoon storm.

The rain didn’t last too long, so while it was clear we enjoyed our 30 minute boat ride to the island of Jost van Dyke with “refreshments” from the fully stocked bar.

Captain John cranked up some great tunes and by the time we got to our next destination, we were feeling quite “refreshed.”

So the thing about going to White Bay is that you can’t just pull right up to the beach.

Captain John and first-mate Jenny had to carefully moor our vessel just offshore near the other boats in the bay.

You may be asking, “But Kelly, if they can’t pull the boat up to the shore, then how do you get to the beach?”

It’s an excellent question and as it turns out, one must swim. Hence the name of the island’s main attraction, The Soggy Dollar Bar – the unofficial best beach bar in the world.

It was a brief stop because #1 – yet another storm was starting to blow in and #2 – we had to get back to St. John in time to get through customs. Not surprisingly, the swim back to the boat was a little more challenging than the swim to the beach.

But everyone enjoyed the fun at Soggy Dollar and got safely back to the boat. And before long we were on our way back to St. John.

Back at customs, we said goodbye to our new friends – lovely people also enjoying the breakaway to the British Virgin Islands on our boat. Here are Adina, Chris (Marky-Mark’s long lost twin brother), and their sweet boys Ben and Luke.