We went to Virgin Gorda as our first stop. Virgin Gorda is the home of The Baths, which are these enormous boulders (as big as a car) that create little caves and saunas in the ocean. On normal days, they take you snorkeling here through different caves, but the day we went, it was too rough, so we did the land tour. They served us breakfast before we got there.
We then stopped at this tiny little island call Marina Key; the island is so small that there is just a restaurant and a hotel. We had lunch here at Pusser's, which is famous for their rum. The food was delicious and very fresh. Pusser's sits right on the beach, of course, with crystal-clear water surrounding and little tiki huts on the beach. After lunch, we went to this huge reef that had colorful fish (parrot fish and all different kinds), coral, and huge purple sea fans. One of the fellow guests on our boat spotted nurse sharks, which are harmless.
The last stop was off to Jost Van Dyke (which is pronounced Yost); this was absolutely gorgeous water, the color of a pool, and gleaming white-sand beaches. We anchored and swam into the beach because they have no docks there. This leads to the main attraction, the Soggy Dollar Bar, where the Painkiller, a local drink, was invented. The Painkillers are delicious, and they even roast and grind fresh nutmeg and put it on top of the drink. The beaches are lined with hammocks; does it get better than this? I was speaking to the captain, and he hung out with Kate Moss (the model) the week before at the bar. There is another bar on Jost Van Dyke called Foxy's, which we didn't go to, and I read that appearances from the Beach Boys to Jimmy Buffet have stopped to play there. After we had to leave Jost Van Dyke (trust me, I didn't want to leave), we sailed back to St. Thomas and enjoyed the open bar on the boat and shrimp cocktail on the way back. The whole trip was well worth $115, and the Captain Dave and First Mate Lauren were a lot of fun and thought of every last detail, such as big ziplock baggies to put your cameras in when you swim up to Jost Van Dyke.