The Soggy Dollar Bar: The Caribbean Beach Bar You Have to Swim to Reach (And Why It’s Worth Getting Your Money Wet)

There is a bar on a small island in the British Virgin Islands with no dock and no road access. The only way in is to anchor offshore and swim through warm, turquoise Caribbean water to a stretch of white sand called White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke. The bar is called the Soggy Dollar because when it opened in the 1970s, customers swam ashore with their cash tucked into their pockets. By the time they reached the bar, the dollars were soaked. The name stuck. So did the bar.

What It Actually Is

The Soggy Dollar sits on White Bay, one of the prettiest beaches in the British Virgin Islands. That is a high bar given the competition. The island of Jost Van Dyke itself has a permanent population of around 300 people. No traffic lights, no bank, no major resort development. It is the kind of place that people who love the Caribbean talk about the way people who love New York talk about a specific neighborhood diner.

The experience runs on thatched roof, sand floor, hammocks, and sailboats swinging at anchor in the bay. The main attraction is a cocktail called the Painkiller, invented here in the 1970s and credited to Daphne Henderson. The recipe is exactly what you would expect from a drink designed for people who just swam through the Caribbean: dark rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, orange juice, and freshly grated Grenadian nutmeg on top. The proportions are a closely held secret. The bar uses a premium dark rum with its own private label. The original version used Cruzan rum, which the staff will tell you freely.

Notably, the Soggy Dollar ranked number one on Caribbean Journal’s list of the Caribbean’s 50 Best Beach Bars. This is both a meaningful credential and also completely obvious to anyone who has sat on that beach with a Painkiller.

How to Get There

This is the part that filters for the right kind of traveler. Jost Van Dyke does not have an airport. Getting there requires a boat. The most practical approach from the US is to fly into St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands or Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Both have direct flights from multiple US cities. An inter-island ferry runs from St. Thomas to Jost Van Dyke several days a week. From Tortola, a short ferry from the West End terminal crosses in about 25 minutes.

Most visitors, however, arrive by sailboat or charter yacht. This allows anchoring directly in White Bay and swimming or taking a dinghy to shore. Charter sailing in the BVI is one of the more established industries in the Caribbean, with dozens of operators based in Tortola. A bareboat charter, where you captain yourself if licensed, or a crewed charter, runs several days and typically includes Jost Van Dyke as a stop. Most people who have done a BVI sailing charter describe the White Bay anchorage as the highlight of the trip.

Additionally, if you are not arriving by charter, the ferry drops you at the main harbor on Jost Van Dyke, called Great Harbour. From there, a short water taxi ride reaches White Bay.