Terrible Case of the DIF

Ugh.  I have a horrible case of the DIF.  It's really bad this time around, too.  What is the DIF, you ask?  Dreaded. Island. Fever.  Every year my husband and I travel to our little piece of paradise.  The Virgin Islands.  We "discovered" the U.S. and British Virgin Islands back in 2005 and have been going every year since.  We've stayed on almost every inhabited island in group - Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, St. Thomas and St. Croix.  This year we are staying 3 nights on St. John at Caneel Bay and then taking the ferry over to our anchor spot - Jost Van Dyke (pronounced "Yost" and rhymes with toast).  The Sandcastle Hotel on White Bay beach is our home away from home.

White Bay Beach - Jost Van Dyke

Jost Van Dyke is a teeny-tiny speck of an island that is part of the BVI.  It has about 300 permanent residents and the only way to get there is by boat.  The main road in Great Harbour is the sandy beach and is lined with 6 or 7 open air bars and restaurants.  Our hotel, the Sandcastle Hotel is 6 small, rustic rooms on the world's best beach - White Bay Beach.  It is also connected to and part of the world's best beach bar (IMO), the Soggy Dollar Bar which is so named b/c there is no dock and boaters swim in to shore and pay with soggy dollars for their rum drinks and beers.  The bar actually has a clothesline where they hang the money each day to let it dry.

I simply can't get enough of this place and the wonderful staff.  It's like visiting friends or family once a year now and each time we come and go, it's with hugs and kisses.  Our days pretty much consist of:

1.  Sleep in and wake with the sun.  Go to kitchen area and turn on the coffee pot for all guests as I am invariably the first person up.
2. Have coffee on the beach while checking email
3.  Light breakfast
4.  Nap/Reading on the beach in a hammock
5.  Daily exercise - walk over very long and very steep hill to Great Harbour and back
6. Swim in White Bay after walk
7. Nap/Reading
8. Lunch
9.  Nap
10. Swim in White Bay
11. Lay out in Sun to dry
12. Afternoon cocktail and watch the boaters leave
13. Shower/Clean up for dinner
14.  Sundowner cocktails
15. Dinner
16. More after dinner drinks and chatting with the staff
17.  Stay up until ?????
18. Bed

It's exhausting, isn't it?  We usually rent a car for a few days and we drive to some other restaurants on the island for dinner.  We usually go for a longer hike one day up to the ridge road that runs along the top of the highest hill on the island (getting up there is an ass-whipping; let me tell you - I earn every rum drink after that).

My Sunset View Every Evening

Now, I will say that this place is not for everyone.  It is not a resort.  There are no TVs or phones in the rooms. There is no spa, tennis courts or pool.  The rooms are clean and comfortable and some have A/C but it is not a Four Seasons with marble bathrooms and 1000 thread count sheets.  They follow the "If it's yello, let it mellow" rule for the toilet.  The showers are run on a cistern system so you can't always count on having a hot shower in the evening.  You need to douse yourself with Deep Woods Off each evening to keep the no-see-ums from eating you alive.  If those are things than can ruin your vacation, then I would suggest staying at a more modern hotel on a bigger island, like St. John or St. Thomas.  We've done that too and it's nice but I really love the "get away from it all" feeling I have on Jost.

We leave in less than one month....which also means I have less than one month to drop these last few lbs that are hanging around my middle.  Ugh.