Jost Van Dyke travel guide

Lying to the west of Tortola, the island was named after a Dutch pirate. Dr William Thornton, who designed the US Capitol in Washington DC, was born here. It is mountainous, with beaches at White Bay and Great Harbour Bay on the south coast. Great Harbour looks like the fantasy tropical island, a long horseshoe-shaped, white sandy beach, fringed with palm trees and dotted with beach bar/restaurants. Jost Van Dyke is a point of entry and has a Customs House at the end of the dock at Great Harbour. Electricity and a paved road arrived in 1991. There are moorings in Little Harbour where a marina is being built and anchorages at Great Harbour, Sandy Cay and Green Cay. It is surrounded by smaller islands, one of which is Little Jost Van Dyke, the birthplace in 1744 of Dr John Coakley Lettsom, the founder of the British Medical Society.

Sandy Cay, a small uninhabited islet just east of Jost Van Dyke, is owned by Laurance Rockefeller. It is covered with scrub but there is a pleasant trail set out around the whole island, which makes a good walk. Bright white beaches surround the island and provide excellent swimming. Offshore is a coral reef.