St. Barts (St. Barthe)
December 6th, 2006
Alan's Log:
Joan's Log:You are looking at Gustavia, the only port in St. Barthe. On the left are the mega-yachts, apparently only the small ones are here now, the really big ones arrive just in time for Xmas. We are anchored just past the mega-yachts in the harbor basin, surrounded by lovely yachts. Actually we are not anchored, but tied bow and stern to buoys that keep us all lined up and neat and tidy.
We rented a scooter for 3 days and toured the island. The roads are impossibly steep and twisty, Colam Lane has nothing on this! Amazingly our under-powered scooter hauled us up even the steepest hills. The beaches here are beautiful, as are the beach denizens. The locals tend to arrive in the afternoon for a few hours of prime-time power sunbathing on the more remote beaches. Swim suits are rarely seen.
I blew out my flip-flop, musta stepped on a pop-top, and had to do some shopping, whereupon I bought the most trendy flip-flops ever built for man (judging by price!) Others were buying Christmas Trees..............
Joan really enjoyed the bakery. It was good to be back in a foodie culture after the British Virgin Islands.
Easy riders J&A cruise into town after a hard day's beaching.
Skip a couple of days. We did some more beaching. One favorite was Grand Saline Beach. It is approached via a rough track which it opens out to a beautiful bay, and also took care of some Christmas shopping. Then we left Gustavia where we have been hobnobbing with the rich and anonymous and sailed around the corner for a day at Shell beach. This beach is close to Gustavia and was much busier, it has a small beach bar and the obligatory fashion shoot was going on around us. Joan took advantage of the "world class" beach-glass collecting.
We then anchored outside
Gustavia harbor off a small fishing village, and I just had
the best meal of my life with the most amazing woman. (kids skip the next two
paras). To set the scene: We are anchored with a bunch
of other, mostly deserted yachts, some small and forlorn, some small and well-maintained
and a couple of charter yachts. As the light faded a 100' Swan racing
yacht arrived and anchored nearby, it has just arrived from an Atlantic crossing and most
of the crew jumped overboard and swam to celebrate their arrival
(100' racing yachts don't have showers it seems!). There is a
sail cruise ship in the anchorage with 5 masts and lots of lights. The racing yacht
has underwater lights so the water around it is glowing in the dark. Other
than that it is dark. We are anchored off a small village with a beach
and a number of small wooden fishing boats are pulled up on the beach. We are
listening to music that Joan just downloaded from Grey's Anatomy (don't ask just
do it).
I cooked a steak (we split a sirloin
strip) and grilled vegetables in a hot pepper marinade on the barbeque (small
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, onions, limes with skin). Joan made a bernaise sauce for the steak
and a bottle of Cab from the wine cellar (third cabin under the floor).
The meal was great and Joan wonderful company and beautiful
too.
No matter how I look at this, it just doesn't suck.
Far too soon it was time to leave and take Moonstruck back to the BVI where she would stay while we return home for Christmas. To check out of St. Barts we side moored next to Ultima III, the Revlon Megayacht and her sisterships .
Next......Toing and froing, Christmas 2006