Turkey & Pineapple: An island-style Thanksgiving Day 5

It was my favorite day. Jost Van Dyke day!

This required us to actually get up early and leave the house without our customary 3 hour morning rainbow hunt on the veranda.

The morning view of Trunk Bay more than made up for it.

We have always taken the ferry to Jost because it gives us more time there than a day boat and is more cost effective than a private boat. I will say that the ferry has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive since we last made this trip. What cost us $50 pp all inclusive the last time we made this trip increased to over $100 per person.

Ouch.

Despite the price gouge, I was still elated when the ferry pulled up to the happy little building with the red roof on the outskirts of Great Harbor.

We hopped on a taxi and made our way straight to White Bay. We decided to make the Soggy Dollar our home base because its sturdy Adirondack chairs were much more comfortable to the ladies than a beach lounge. It also minimized any walking they would have to do in the sand since it is a straight shot out from the taxi drop off.

We grabbed chairs, lay back, and soaked it all in.

My favorite time on White Bay is in the morning, before all the party boats have arrived. Nothing is open and the only sounds are the soft waves crashing on the sand and the rustle of the palm trees overhead. There are no "who has the loudest boat speaker" competitions going on in the water, no footballs being thrown around by testosterone riddled college students all hopped up on painkillers, and no one vomiting in the shrubbery behind us because she had one bushwhacker too many.

It's peaceful and perfect.

After walking down the beach snapping photos, I came back and couldn't find Matt anywhere. His mom hadn't seen him. Neither had Elaine.

I knew exactly where I would find him.

With Mic, of course.

Yep. Sure it was barely past breakfast, but Mic's bloody mary is the breakfast of champions.

We were wandering along the beach when the most AWESOME thing happened. Most. Awesome.

This lovely young woman approached me and asked, "This is going to sound odd....but are you Vicki?"

Now, this has definitely happened to me before in places we visit a lot. That part I'm used to. People who have read my blog or are part of a travel forum I belong to recognize me by my enormous camera. Small girl. Big camera. I am hard to miss. Mainly because I'm usually climbing up a tree or laying on the ground to get a better angle.

But what made this especially cool was that she and her husband had come to Jost ALL THE WAY FROM GERMANY. FOR THE FIRST TIME. BECAUSE OF MY BLOG.

Now....what were the odds that I would just happen to be there at the same time?????

Crazy. It was simply crazy.

It made my day.

If I had not been intoxicated at the time, I might remember her name. I know, I know. I am a horrible, horrible person. And yes, it was only 10:30 a.m., but I was on vacation and there is nothing wrong with a couple of morning bloody marys when you are on vacation.

Fine. Get me the number to the Betty Ford Clinic. I'll call tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope she reads this because it was the absolute highlight of my vacation to meet her!

Now that I was famous, I demanded that Matt walk a few feet behind me and carry my bag for the rest of the day. He promptly dropped my bag in the sand and walked off in search of the next drink.

Apparently, he simply didn't understand just how famous I was.

Or maybe he was jealous.

Whatever.

I dusted off my bag and wandered off after him.

At some point....we made some friends.

The details are really sketchy because I'd had a few drinks at this point, but I know they were a very nice couple from Texas, I think. Or was it Arkansas? She was a teacher. I think. Or was she an underwater welder? I can't really remember. I just remember they were really nice.

I showed them how to "pour your own" at Gertrude's and we sang along to the music from the nearby boats as we pruned in the water.

We also took terrible pictures of ourselves next to the world's ugliest Christmas tree:

We also shared a lunch table at Seddy's One Love on the far end of the beach. We managed to score the last of the lobster and it did not cost us $400.

We wasted away the afternoon munching on Doritos and watching the party boats do their thing.

It was early afternoon, but we had already been there and done that.

I remember being told once on Abaco...."You people from Tennessee sure party hard but you burn out early."

It's true. I like to do my thing early. There are fewer witnesses that way.

As we boarded the taxi to head back to the ferry, my only regret was that we hadn't had a chance to stop at Foxy's. No trip to Jost Van Dyke is really complete without getting to see Foxy and hear one of his racially inappropriate jokes.

Who knew the taxi would stop by there on the way to pick up some more people? As soon as the taxi stopped, Matt jumped off the taxi.

Uh-oh. I thought. He was a little tipsy. What if he didn't show back up before the taxi left?

Before I knew it, Matt was back. And guess what he had with him????

I didn't mean Foxy. I meant the mango colada!!!!!

Dang, I was thirsty.

We arrived back in Cruz Bay and had just enough time to head to the house and clean up for dinner.

We were headed to the Lime Inn. I was going for the all-you-can-eat shrimp. I'm not sure why. Does anyone really need to eat all the shrimp they can?

It had been a long, beautiful day and we were spent.

Teacher from Texas (or was it Nebraska????)....you guys were awesome and we totally rocked that Bon Jovi song.