Guest User
March 22, 2024
My wife and I spent seven days at White Bay Villas. We were in Villa #3 in the Paradise Villas at the top of the hill with spectacular views. This was our first time staying on Jost Van Dyke and the first time at WBVs. We found the villa to be clean and well-maintained and the perfect size for the two of us. The grounds are well-manicured, and the wandering goats are always entertaining. The staff at WBV are incredible and very customer-service-focused. Maria was fantastic and answered all our many questions with a smile. If we needed anything – snorkeling gear, directions, ferry schedules – Maria was there to help. And every morning, one of the staff came by and asked if everything was okay or if we needed anything. We had our villa provisioned before we arrived. We used Riteway Provisioning on Tortola. They picked out all the groceries, shipped them over on the ferry, and Maria and the team put them away in our villa. It was great to arrive at a fully stocked villa. That said, if we had it to do over again, we’d buy far less food. We had way too much. Given the proximity and easy access to beach bar food, we ate out (often in late afternoons) every day. So, we weren’t hungry and didn’t feel like making dinners when we got back to the villa. We would have been fine with some light breakfast and snack food and, of course, copious amounts of Caribs and rum. The villas all face westerly, which is great for seeing amazing sunsets. However, if you return to your villa in the late afternoon expecting to sit on your deck with a cold one, you may be disappointed, especially if you’re sunburned. The late afternoon sun blazes into the small porch, and without a lot of air movement, it gets pretty hot. Adding a retractable semi-transparent shade would be an excellent addition to make the porch more usable in late afternoons. But once the sun gets low or behind a cloud, it's a perfect place to view the world. The only other issue we had was understanding the walkability of the area. The villa sits on a high hill between White Bay and Great Harbor. When we booked the villa, we inquired about walking to the beach on White Bay (Alice’s, Soggy Dollar, etc.) and to Great Harbor (Foxy’s, Corsair’s, etc.), and we were told yes, it’s possible to walk to both. So, we rented a car for just one day to explore the island, thinking we would walk to the beach and restaurants the rest of the time. From the villas at the top of the hill, there is a wide switchback path to the White Bay beach and a paved road to Great Harbor. We’re in our late 50s and in average shape for people our age. On our first day, we walked down the hill to the beach. Upon our arrival at the beach, I promptly got on the phone and added the car rental for the entire week. Since the car rental wouldn’t start until the next day, we hiked back up the hill after our first day at the beach, and unless you’re in your 20s or you run marathons, we wouldn’t recommend it. That hill is no joke. Rent a car;