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Tortola/Jost Van Dyke

ktc42spike

By ktc42spike,
in Tortola

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ktc42spike

ktc42spike

Posted
Posted

We are on booked on the Escape on the 4/8/23 Easter cruise that stops in St. Thomas followed by Tortola.  We are only in Tortola from 6 am to 1 pm.  Not sure if this is normal.  The only thing we really want to do while in this area is go to Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke.  The JVD excursion through NCL is not being offered.  No idea why.  (I am not a boat-sponsored excursion fan, but this one seemed perfect for what we want.) It seems we are left to take the ferry to get to JVD.  It appears to have a strange schedule and I am worried about timing given our short window.  Or is there a way to get to JVD from St. Thomas?  Any input from those who have made this trek (without the benefit of the NCL excursion) would be appreciated.  Thanks!

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zqvol

zqvol

Posted
Posted

Getting to Jost from St. Thomas can be done but it is not easy you have to have passport and clear customs and immigration both ways. In addition it is a pretty long ride. The ferries don't go to White Bay on Jost but into "town" so you would then have to walk over the hill or get a cab to Soggy Dollar.

 

Your best bet would be to charter a boat from Tortola and go that way.

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KarlChilders

KarlChilders

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Posted

When we had Tortola on our iten. last year, we had a similar in-port time, so we booked the Baths at Virgin Gorda on a ship excursion for the same reasons you were considering.  We ended up having to skip that port anyway and went to San Juan instead. Oh well.

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PattyWinters503

PattyWinters503

Posted
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On 12/13/2022 at 9:52 AM, zqvol said:

Getting to Jost from St. Thomas can be done but it is not easy you have to have passport and clear customs and immigration both ways. In addition it is a pretty long ride. The ferries don't go to White Bay on Jost but into "town" so you would then have to walk over the hill or get a cab to Soggy Dollar.

 

Your best bet would be to charter a boat from Tortola and go that way.

Where can I find a boat to charter ? 

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blue_water

blue_water

Posted
Posted (edited)

Aristocat, Kuralu, and Patouche offer itineraries that include an hour or two in White Bay, or you can hire them for a private trip if you have enough people (or just enough $$$). 
There are also private motorboat options that obviously get you there and back much faster. 
But your early and relatively short port time in the BVI doesn’t give you much of a nice day in White Bay…
 

From STT you can take a water taxi like Dolphin Shuttle. Check their site for pricing for private or shared transfers…. 

https://www.dolphinshuttle.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiA76-dBhByEiwAA0_s9UoDxJ0eY22KVMeVsrDLXQwbVgW-OicLkG7ucxqfI0uGwdD39EKVbxoCiGkQAvD_BwE

Edited by blue_water
Typo
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Cruisin1996

Cruisin1996

Posted
Posted
On 12/16/2022 at 7:44 PM, NeurosurgeryNP said:

We are doing this same cruise in Feb.  I just booked a private small boat charter in order to do JVD from Tortola.  We booked this itinerary for Tortola and didn't realize the shortened stop until after we booked.  We too are White Bay an Soggy Dollar fans.  

Wondering what charter company you used... looking to do the same this March. 

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volk904

volk904

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Do do a check on Charters.  A few years ago the ship charter was only a short time so we looked for a charter to go to the Soggy Dollar.  We looked at many options and tried to book on Aristocrat already listed. It seems like it was full but he gave us another boat to try. We ended up going with a few other passengers we found on the meet and mingle for our cruise. 
 

loved the trip and we were at got a few hours on the beach before the ship charter arrived.  
 

Try Aristocrat and see if they have a recommendation. Also do a search for Tortola half day charters.  Seems like our second choice was a female captain with a boat for 6-8 people.  

 

The trip to White Beach was about 45 min but a smaller boat could do it in 30 min. 


 

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CruiserGregg

CruiserGregg

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April 27th I took the NCL Escape excursion, Escape to Jost Van Dyke at 6:20am, crazy time of day.  It was just a ferry ride more or less, on a fairly modern quiet catamaran ferry.  Other people in my party took an independent tour to Jost Van Dyke and had an older slower louder diesel ferry and had to take a cab to the beach. 

 

Jost Van Dyke was pretty, beautiful area, I would visit there again.

 

Word of caution, my wife turned off airplane mode to post a couple pictures to instagram while on Jost Van Dyke and almost immediately had her Instagram account stolen and the hackers sending her ransom texts to get it back.  It may have been coincidence, but it seemed likely somebody was skimming data from the cellular connection there, use a VPN there.

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blue_water

blue_water

Posted
Posted

Yes VPN is a way of life anywhere…
 

As mentioned above, Aristocat, Kuralu, and Joe at Patouche offer alternative itineraries (shared, or private if your group is large enough, or you have enough $$) between the East snorkeling and the West beach time on Jost. Often the first group to book chooses the itinerary…

They sometimes have smaller boats for excursions to VG or Jost. It’s all about booking early…

 

And there are private options including Capt Malcolm at Sunshine - 

https://sunshinepowerboats.com/

And someone else recommended Capt Phil at Antilles -
https://antillespowerboats.com/

 

 

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