Foxy's Old Year's Night

I can't believe I was at Jost Van Dyke to see the New Year in because we had heard only the crazies come here for New Year's Eve! Never mind that statement...The Big Guy and I welcomed in 2012 Island style, only without smoking the pot.   

      Let me digress for a moment. It was many years ago (in the 90's) that I first read about this little, mostly uninhabited, sleepy island. Save for it's beach bar population, the rest of the island seems mostly deserted.

     I was intrigued by the stories about Foxy, the guitar-strumming, poetry-reciting character, whose bar, Foxy's Tamarind Bar is the islands most popular draw, and Foxy himself is the islands most colorful resident. I became a closet Foxy fan and read every story about him that I came across.

     There was just something about a guy who can put up a shack on a piece of sand (in 1966) and turn it into the mother of all beach bars, that warmed my old cold heart. I've always loved a man who could play guitar and write his own music, corn-ball or not, but one that recites poetry too? You just gotta love a guy like that.  I put "Going to Jost Van Dyke and meeting Foxy" on my bucket list. 

The inside of Foxy's. Classy joint huh?

      My first trip here was in 2005. I was in the gift shop paying for my Foxy logo souvenirs when I spotted the barefoot, dread-locked man holding down an old worn bench. Being somewhat of a Foxy stalker I recognized him immediately, introduced myself and told him that meeting him was on my "to-do-before-I-die" list. We shook hands, he signed the "Foxy's" baseball cap that I had just purchased and then he proceeded to make up a poem about me...right there on the spot! I can't recite it after all these years but it was something about a white woman shopping like crazy and spending all of her husband's hard earned money, while the husband just followed along and carried her bags and said, "yes dear."  What the hell does Foxy know?  He's an amateur troubadour not a physic right? Thinks he's a comedian too. Smart ass!

Anyhow, since that first meeting I have been back to Foxy's many times. We often see him and speak with him and sometimes we catch one of his impromptu performances. He is usually giving that wonky-eyed smile and making up shit about some other tourist, but gawd I love him everytime! I put "Seeing in the New Year at Foxy's" on my bucket list.

Foxy's dinghy dock, jam packed with dinghys and pukers

So somewhere over the last decade being at Foxy's on Old Year's Night (he calls it) has become one of the top party destinations in the world. (#6 according to Pub Club.com) It's where all the cool kids go, along with thousands of drunken boaters who pack in to Great Harbour for the New Year's shenanigans. For that very reason The Big Guy has not been too thrilled with my desire to attend this freak show, but this year he finally agreed when I reminded him it would probably be a lot like Sturgis. And it was, only with fewer leather-clad fat guys throwing back Budweiser and more Ivy League Yachty-types getting smashed on Clicquoet.

This cool kid, pictured above had standing room only on his little piece of sand where he was offering FREE ADVICE. Most of what I overheard sounded like he had gotten his wisdom from a bunch of a Chinese fortune cookies. One guy complained about the free advice he was given and the kid said, "hey, you got what you paid for didn't ya?" Brilliant! This young entrepreneur will probably go on to invent the next wheel.

I am a firm believer that everyone has the right to fly their Freak Flag and this guy was just one example. Island penguins I guess...I saw a couple of them.

 

Ahhh honey, you gotta lose some clothes if you are gonna do the drunken pole dance. If I'd have taken a butt shot you would have seen her white granny panties showing through her black leggings. Hysterical and pathetic! 

By the stoke of midnight the little one lane sand street in front of Foxy's was wall-to-wall people. We had a great time and I checked another thing off the old bucket list. The old Fox just sat back, smiled and counted his $$$$$. I just love that man!

 

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, prosperous and blessed New Year! 

May you get to check something BIG off your bucket list. 

See ya all in 2012.