Soggy Dollar Bar
Jost Van Dyke · British Virgin Islands
The Soggy Dollar Bar on White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, is the most famous beach bar in the British Virgin Islands and the birthplace of the Painkiller cocktail. There is no dock: your catamaran anchors off the beach, then you swim or dinghy in and walk up the sand with wet money in your pocket, which is exactly how the bar got its name. We brought guests here most weeks across three seasons in the BVI, as captain and chef on Euphoria and Ohana, and it is still the stop people talk about on the flight home.
Walk through the Soggy Dollar with us
Two minutes on the beach, in the bar and around the shop, filmed by our crew. Press play; nothing loads until you do.
Filmed by Get Crewed. Music: Tin Spirit, Freedom Trail Studio (YouTube Audio Library).
What to expect at the Soggy Dollar Bar
Picture a turquoise wooden bar under a tin roof, strung with yacht club pennants, sitting on one of the finest stretches of white sand in the Caribbean. Out front are picnic tables in the sand, hammocks between the palms, and water that shelves from ankle deep to swimming depth in a few paces. Behind the bar is the shop, where half the beach ends up buying the T-shirt, and beside it a coffee and breakfast shack that most visitors never notice because they arrive after lunch. The Soggy Dollar is a full-day beach bar rather than a sundowner stop: breakfast, a swim, lunch, a Painkiller, another swim.
The crowd is a mix of crewed charter guests like you, bareboat sailors, day-trippers on the ferries and power boats from St. Thomas, and a steady trickle of people who have flown halfway round the world to drink a Painkiller where it was invented. It is busy, friendly and barefoot. Nobody wears shoes and nobody minds if you walk in dripping. On Sundays the bar runs its beach barbecue, which is the liveliest afternoon of the week on White Bay.
The Painkiller, made the original way
The Painkiller was born at this bar in the 1970s: dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and cream of coconut, shaken, poured over ice and finished with a heavy grating of fresh nutmeg. Every bar in the Virgin Islands makes one now, and most of them are good, but the Soggy Dollar still makes it the original way and is unapologetic about being the benchmark. Order your first one here, sit under the palms with your feet in the sand, and you will understand why crews plan whole itineraries around this beach. Ask for it with two, three or four rums; two is plenty in the midday sun.
Best time to visit
Mid-morning is the sweet spot. The day boats from St. Thomas and Tortola start arriving around midday and the bar fills up fast, so on a crewed charter we like to have the anchor down early and grab a spot right in front of the Soggy Dollar’s live beach cam, so you can wave to all your friends and family back home who wish they were there. Then swim in while the sand is still empty and have the first Painkiller of the day poured before the crowd arrives. Late afternoon is the other good window, once the day boats have gone and the light goes golden across the bay. Weekends are busier than weekdays, and Sunday is the beach barbecue.
That is Euphoria, the Sunreef 60 we ran for four seasons, two and a half of them in the BVI, parked exactly where we like to be: dead center on the Soggy Dollar cam, close enough to the sand that the guests could swim in and open the bar. Get there before the bareboats, who are still cleaning up their own breakfast, and before the day boats from St. Thomas, who are still standing in the customs line, and this spot is yours. Send the webcam link home, anchor, and wave.
Getting there on your crewed charter
White Bay is protected by a reef with two marked channels through it. Bareboats pick up the mooring balls just inside; crewed catamarans do not. We all anchor, in the sand between the reef and the beach, which puts you closer in and right in front of the bar. Your captain will judge the swell on the day: in settled conditions the anchor goes down a short swim from the sand and you swim or take the dinghy ashore, which is the arrival the Soggy Dollar was built for. White Bay is a day stop, not an overnight one: before dark we move around the corner to Great Harbour or across to Little Jost Van Dyke, and when a northerly swell is running some crews skip the anchorage altogether and come over the hill from Great Harbour by taxi. Either way, lunch and dinner are waiting on board when you swim back out.
If you would rather ride than swim, ask your captain: most crews will run guests in on the tender and land them dry on the sand. Bring a dry bag for your phone and a few dollars anyway. Soggy dollars are the tradition.
The other bars on White Bay
The Soggy Dollar is the famous one, but White Bay is a whole row of beach bars and you can walk the entire beach in ten minutes. From west to east you pass Alice’s JVD on the quiet beach beyond the rocks, then Ivan’s Stress Free Bar, Coco Loco, Gertrude’s Beach Bar, the Soggy Dollar, One Love Bar and Grill and Hendo’s Hideout, each with its own character, and a floating massage barge moored off the beach for the afternoon. Around the headland in Great Harbour is Foxy’s, the other Jost Van Dyke institution, and a short sail east is Sandy Spit. We filmed walkthroughs of every bar on the beach, so you can see each one before you decide where to spend the afternoon.
Soggy Dollar Bar questions we get asked
Is there a dock at the Soggy Dollar Bar?
No. There has never been a dock on White Bay. You swim in from your boat or take the dinghy through the reef channel and beach it on the sand. That is the whole point of the name.
What is in a Painkiller?
Dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and cream of coconut, served over ice with fresh nutmeg grated on top. The Soggy Dollar invented it and still makes it to the original recipe. You choose how many rums go in.
Can we take the kids?
Yes. It is a beach bar on a calm, shallow beach, and families are welcome all day. The water in front of the bar is sheltered by the reef and ideal for children.
Can our crewed catamaran stay overnight in White Bay?
No, and you would not want to. White Bay is a day anchorage: it is open to the swell and the reef is close under your keel, so crewed catamarans spend the day here and move around the corner to Great Harbour or across to Little Jost Van Dyke for the night. Sunset in Great Harbour with Foxy’s a dinghy ride away is not a bad consolation.
Can our friends watch us on the Soggy Dollar webcam?
Yes. The bar runs a live beach cam pointed at the water in front of it, at soggydollar.com/webcam. Send the link home before you swim in, anchor early to get a spot in frame, and wave.
How long should we stay?
Give it half a day at least. Swim in mid-morning, walk the beach to see the other bars, have lunch at Gertrude’s next door (the mahi fish and chips was Cory’s go-to) or back on board, and swim out when the crowd builds. On a week-long charter most groups come to White Bay twice.