Today we slept in a bit and hit the water headed for Cane Garden Bay and the Callwood Distillery. It was a bit rainy as we past to the North of St. John and Tortola to slide into Cane Garden Bay in a nice 2 foot swell. After securing the boat on a mooring ball it was off to the distillery. It was good to revisit the oldest continuously operating distillery in the world again and to tour around this place where rum is still made the way it was hundreds of years ago. Seeing the old wood fired pot still and the old condenser it is just a living museum of rum making. After buying a bottle of Arundel Cane Rum to take back to the boat it was off to Jost Van Dyke for the rest of the day.
The light rain did not deter us from our voyage across the water from Cane Garden Bay to Great Harbour and Jost Van Dyke. Our first stop after docking was Corsair’s, a great little bar and grill that is just loaded with character and memorabilia. After having a great British style grouper & chips lunch and a couple of really tasty cocktails, we were ready for the safari ride over the mountain to White Bay and a visit to the Soggy Dollar.
The ride over the mountain is an “E-ticket ride” at Disneyland; it is vertical up one side of the mountain and vertical down the other. We just prayed that the brakes would hold as we enjoyed the fabulous scenery on the approach to White Bay. A few “white knuckled” minutes later and a great at job by our skilled driver we were safe and sound at the Soggy Dollar. Immediately it was off to the bar and having Mic fix us Pain Killers from the place that they were first created. The drinks were fabulous and it was a pleasure to watch the Painkiller master work his magic. We spent the next couple of hours hang and chillin’ on the beach and enjoying the beauty and the pain killers. Alas it was time to make the trek over the mountain again and make a stop at Foxy’s before getting aboard the Naughty Nymph #43 again.
We spent quite some time at the Soggy Dollar, so it was a short visit to Foxy’s. Fortunately we got the chance to sit and talk with Foxy for quite some time on Monday when we were diverted from Cane Garden Bay by a 12 to 18 foot North swell. We were able to have a cocktail there before getting underway again.
Now it is back to St. John and the US Customs check in and home again to Red Hook on St. Thomas. Tonight we are headed for dinner at Mim’s on Bolongo Bay the over to Iggy’s for an evening bash as our last hooray here in the Virgin Islands. Thursday it is back to the plane for a short hop to San Juan for 2 days of distillery visitation. ;o)
