Voyage 2010: Chapter 3

10 Jan 2011, St Barts and Gustavia, 17 54.372 N/ 062 51.60 W

We left Oyster Pond at at 0800. We were heading for Anse de Colomber which is a nice bay on the north side of St. Barts. Nice and crowded. Moony decided that they wanted to stay as they secured a mooring but we wanted to see Gustavia. So we weighed anchor and drove the 3 nm to Gustavia. The anchorage was a bit rolly but we decided to anchor with the big boys in 35 ft of water. Not bad. Only problem, is we had several boats anchor really close to us during the evening. Not good.

We cleared customs the next day and found the process to be quite friendly and efficient. Most things we done by computer. Sadly, no stamp on the passport. Oh well, at least we can fly the French courtesy flag. We were told that we missed Martha Stewart and Julia Roberts by only a week. Or did they miss us?

Most of the crowd left us so we were pretty much by ourselves. The anchorage continued to be rolly. Even the mega yachts were taking their fair share of the roll. Apparently, the super yachts come to the anchorage to work on their boats while the owners are away. Here as in St. Maarten, dinghy etiquette is pretty much non-existent.

The harbor of Gustavia is very picturesque and is very dinghy friendly with at least 4 dinghy docks in the harbor area. Some of the mega yachts find dockage in the harbor but that seems to be a rare treat for most of them. We enjoyed the town by visiting shops, eating at a great Vietnamese restaurant, and of course getting ice for Ann. Tomorrow we will head for St. Kitts and see what we find there.

15 Jan 2011, From St Barts to St, Kitts, 17 17.556 N/ 062 43.48 W

We left the Gustavia anchorage at 0640 and soon encountered 20-30 kt winds and seas of 8-11 feet. As the wind and waves were on our quarter, it was not too difficult. However, once we rounded the northern tip of St. Kitts, we turned towards the south east, we found the wind and waves on our nose. We were getting little protection from the island. We had difficulty stopping the wind generator and the regulator was getting dangerously hot so we turned on everything we could to increase the load. It worked but Bob damaged the generator in his haste to stop it.

The waves were a bit of a problem now as we were heading into them. A 'rogue' wave dumped a bunch of water in the cockpit which set off one of the inflatable life jackets. Great. And we did not bring backup cartridges. Oh well, at least we have spare life jackets. Now we will remember to care spare cartridges.

We saw what looked to be an old fortress about halfway from the northern tip and Basseterre. We would learn later that it was the Brimstone Fortress, which as you can imagine has a very rich history. All along the coast,we could see small and colorful settlements. Of course there were the universal fishing floats that we had to avoid even though we were in 100 feet of water.

We arrived in Basseterre at 1630 where the swells were entering deep into the harbor. We decided to head for the marina where the folks were able to find us dockage but only on a lee concrete dock. Lots of fenders came out. We headed to the customs and immigration to clear in but found the process a bit lengthy. First we checked in with the captain of the port, then to customs. However, the immigration officer had left for the day so we had to go back at 0630 the next day. Whole process took nearly 4 hours. It was good that everyone was nice and friendly.

As the weather was not favorable for a return to St. Maarten for a few days, we decided to take a taxi tour of the island. The gracious marina guard contacted Randolf and we arrived with 5 minutes. He agreed to take us around the island and show us the sights and tell us of the history. We 'did good' by getting Randolf. Sadly, we did not get a good picture of him, only his cab.

Our first stop was the arboretum which give us a glimpse of the rain forest on the island. We saw many native plants including a really big and old Samon tree which they claim is over 350 years old and a canopy of nearly an acre. On our way to the arboretum, we passed through many towns, including Ranolf's home town of Champion.

Next on the stop was the Brimstone Fortress which was quite high up. Brave Bob was not too brave as the roads were steep, narrow and without the benefit of guard rails. Still, we got there. The last hurdle was climbing the last 100 yards to the top of the fort. Somehow Bob got up there where we met several of our marina mates, including Erica and her family, delightful folks from the UK. Bob was rewarded for his bravery by a nice picture with Erica.