Tuesday, December 20, 2016

La Vie en St Barth's

Something has changed, my brain now thinks en francais.  If you spend enough time in the french islands trying to communicate - you know, when in Rome... 

Baxter, Kala and I left St Marten and have been hiding from squalls in St Barth's.  We spent a week at Ile Forchue, an uninhabited island which is 12 miles south of SXM and 2 miles north of St Marten.  There are mooring balls in the bay to protect the turtles, reef and fish from over anchoring and they are maintained by the Marine Park Office.  The day after we arrived, Tammy and Pete from Yolo joined us.  There were a couple days where our boats were the only ones there.  In fact, one morning, we didn't see anyone come or go between St Marten and St Barth's until late afternoon.  For a minute, I was wondering if an apocalypse occurred and we were the only people left on the planet.  That's what happens when you're off the grid.  Though there were lots of squalls and sustained winds, we hiked every day, snorkeled and enjoyed the simple life.  

We thought we would check in with the rest of the world, so we made our way to Anse de Colombier - also with managed moorings and took the dinghy to the Port of Gustavia to check in.  The next day, our friends Hakan and Anna on Unicorn were in the mooring field.  We haven't seen them in a couple years so we were super excited to join them for drinks and dinner on their beautiful boat that evening.  

The Christmas Winds are here and are not moderating much below 22kts, making sailing between islands a battle of wind and high(er) swell.  So, we are seeing more and doing more than ever on St Barth's but still managing to enjoy our Gold Star Days.  

Baxter and I have regular conversations about where we might go this winter and it looks like the plan remains TBD with the wind and seas....

One of the best spots in the whole Eastern Caribbean
Molly taking a picture of Baxter taking a video of a tortue (fr: turtle).
Beautiful, windy day on Ile Forchue - so fun to have Tammy and Pete from Yolo to hike with.
Look...the edge of a cliff (ugh...)
Terrapin in her happy place
La Tortue stopping by the boat to say good morning

Port of Gustavia - notice the mega yachts lined up over my right shoulder.  I'm sure there are plenty of celebrities paying millions for those - Baxter and I did it on our own for a lot less and we have the same view.
The runway in St Barth's can be dicey in high winds.  I wish I could capture the scream of the woman in the silver car when the plane flew over and the wheel almost touched her roof.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It was so nice to have you guys on board. Hope you are doing fine in Columbier. We will spend X-mas in St Martin this year because of the weather. Had a massive squall with thunder, lightning and storm force winds last night. The anchor did hold fine though.

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