Foxy’s in Great Harbour Jost Van Dyke BVIs

Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke

The main settlement on Jost Van Dyke is in Great Harbour and, importantly for us, it has the Customs and Immigration offices where we needed to check out of the BVIs. The bay was full of yachts on mooring buoys and so it was a little tricky to find a good place to anchor so that we could go ashore. [Ed, the moreso as the seabed in and around the moorings appeared to have only a thin layer of sand over rock.  We couldn’t get the anchor to dig in so we moved closer to the reef on the southeast side and here found good holding and a certain amount of protection from the wind-driven waves.] Once BV was settled our first priority was to visit Customs and Immigration. It took a little time but, with the formalities completed, we had 24hrs to leave the BVIs; we intended to make the most of them.

Foxy’s Bar

Tucked in the eastern corner of Great Harbour is the famous Foxy’s Bar. Now, mid-afternoon is not the best time to visit a bar, and so we weren’t expecting much, but we couldn’t pass by the opportunity. Foxy and his wife Tessa have been welcoming sailors for over 45 years and within the sailing world his bar is legendary. Foxy plays Calypso ballads on his guitar and between songs tells jokes and stories to entertain.

We perused the cocktail list, ordered 2 that we hadn’t tried before, agreed that they were really rather good, and then, boringly, set ourselves up on a table to check our e-mails. Hallelujah! Our first Wifi internet connection in ages!

A New York journalist once wrote that there are just 3 places in the world to properly celebrate New Year’s Eve: Times Square, New York; Trafalgar Square, London; and Foxy’s Bar on Jost Van Dyke. Apparently, it is one of the best beach parties anywhere.

Well, New Year’s Eve it wasn’t but Foxy still came out to entertain us. The boring e-mail admin was put to one side and we pinned our ears back to listen to his amusing dits and songs. It was a fabulous way to spend the afternoon and I have to say that a variety of cocktails slipped down very easily.

Foxy doing what he does best: entertaining the crowd

As a result, we spent far longer in Great Harbour than we had really anticipated but by 1600 we really had to drag ourselves away because we had another legendary location to visit a couple of bays along and we needed to anchor there before we lost the light because it is really rather shallow.

Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, BVIs