Jost Van Dyke installment 3

Last I left you with some video from White Bay. We spent each day down on White Bay beach right near this tiny little restaurant/bar/campground/cabins. The first time we went to Jost Van Dyke, Ivan's Stress-Free Bar was literally a tiny, itty-bitty little shack sort of thing that was just a bar. The stress-free part of this bar was that there was no bartender! There was all this booze and all the mixers and you made the drink yourself and then there was a notebook where you wrote down what you drank for the entire week. You paid at the end of your stay!

Is that not the coolest thing ever? It has grown CONSIDERABLY since the first time we were there. There were a few people camping on the beach before and just the little bar part, but now it's got guest cabins, they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and the bar part is much bigger. Oh, and now they have a bartender...

Some douchebag (pardon my French, but that word applies here) had to go and steal everything and trash the place and be an idiot a few years ago, so now they have a bartender there full time. It's still pretty stress-free - they still just write down whatever you drink for the week and you pay at the end of your stay, but the whole concept of the making-of-one's-own-drinks honor system was really amazingly special. I guess all things must pass, as they say.

Anywho, it's still paradise and here I am sitting on the beach in front of Ivan's:
This was day 2 on the beach and I was already a crispy critter. By day 3 my lips were so sunburned they blistered...Yuck. They are just now healed up. Sun is STRONG down there, my friends!

Here was a neat thing we saw while we were just sitting in our beach chairs:
Can you tell what it was?

I happened to be looking out over the water, and saw this dark shape moving along the water's edge - when I got up to see what it was, it was a big STINGRAY that decided to come in and check out the entire beach! He stayed right there for the longest time! His wingspan was easily 3.5-4 feet!! My husband just stuck the camera underwater and got this photo!! Neato!

Next up, goats:
There are goats peppered here and there over the island, as well as mongoose. We saw a few mongoose, but they are HARD to photograph!

Pretty view on the opposite side of the island:
That's Tortola in the background. Gorgeous, isn't it?

Back underwater with maybe my favorite picture from the entire trip:
The parrot fish was getting his teeth cleaned by that smaller fish and he had a big grin!! Isn't that wonderful?

I think this is a jack with these little fishies:


And last for today, a trumpet fish:These will also come very close into shore at times, I saw a few while I was just standing in the water close to shore!

In other word news, it got up to almost 60 degrees here and I was one HAPPY camper! There is nothing like the feeling of 60 degrees in February in Massachusetts! Everyone had their windows open, I saw people in SHORTS and despite the mounds of gross, dirty snow, the feeling of spring was in the air...I even did some cleanup in the front of our house - swept the sidewalk (well, the part that isn't still snow covered!) and took down the holiday garland. It's official! Spring is COMING!

Back to reality, of course, on Saturday when it's in the 30s again, but these little respites from the cold really do the trick in improving the mood here!

Ok. I'm off...I made a roasted chicken tonight and am roasting veggies, as well...We're going to have mashed potatoes to go with it and I have to go make them. Back to eating in a more South-Beach-Diety way again next week, so I'll be enjoying my high-glycemic-index potatoes immensely tonight!

Hope you're having a good, springy day wherever you are!

Later!