Category: St Barth

After our guests left we spent a few days decompressing and arranging for an export certificate for Charlie. We then made our way to Road Town for the certificate and some provisions. Then we headed to North Sound where we would await a weather window to head to St Barth with another boat sv Alberio.

We spent my birthday with dinner at the Crawl Pub in Bitter End, then a glass of champagne on Blue Sky with Steve and Lynne from Alberio. We determined that we would depart the next day for St Barth.

This is an overnight sail, so departure was 3pm. We started with good winds, but not quite good enough for a direct shot. We ended up motoring about half the trip in seas that seemed to get steeper by the minute. We arrived to Ile Fourche about 10:30 am. Here we snorkeled and checked out the beach. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Our buddy boat, Alberio, at dusk sailing with us to St Barth from BVI

Different sunset, do you see the person with hands stretching out toward you?

Approaching Ile Fourche

The rocky beach and rugged terrain at Ile Fourche

Getting ready for the hike to the top!

A view to the west, quite desolate

Sad sight. Always check your anchor or mooring line!

Fascinating gold needlefish, rock looks kind of old too

The next day we motored to Gustavia. Anchoring here in high winds and a very crowded anchorage was a bit nerve racking, but all was okay. Paul cleared us in and we took the time to wander the town. Found a restaurant with Dairy Free ice cream (delicious, made with cashews), but can’t recall the name to pass it on. We also located the Patisserie (Bakery) and the la Creperie, where we had galettes and crepes more than once. We walked to Fort Carl and the museum.

A lot of boats and a long dinghy ride in

Going into the harbor, surprise, We all live in a …

Yup, we’re happy to be in St Barth

Narrow sidewalk and scooters to dodge but beautiful

Gotta love that weathered wood and narrow streets

Just a small anchor found nearby

Looking at Fort Oscar (currently houses the Gendarmerie) from Fort Carl

Gustavia inner harbor (crowded!) as seen from Fort Carl. Love the red roofs

Palms were magnificent

Along the palm lined peninsula of Gustavia

The next day we shared the cost on a rental car. Steve drove us around the island on the Sunday (thank goodness, less traffic). The roads are very narrow and passing other vehicles is scary. We enjoyed taking in some site seeing views where stopping was possible. Charlie was not allowed on any beaches so we only stopped at one briefly. It was fun to see the island from land for a change.

Rugged hills around Grande Saline

Grand Saline beach is gorgeous!

Coming back from a beach explore

What’s this? A prirate shop half way around the island?

Interesting stop light along the way in St Barth – 2 seconds and we go

Sounds like an appropriate punishment 🙂

Just a part of Anse de Columbier with Ile Fourche behind and St Martin behind it.

Petite Anse and Anse des Flamands

Climbing to the lighthouse and old Fort Gustave

A cannon’s view of part of the harbor from Fort Gustave

The peninsula with Fort Oscar right and Fort Carl the hill on the left edge

Where’s Waldo? Uh, Blue Sky? In Gustavia harbor

Sometimes you forget the sun is a ball of fire

We planned departure to Antigua as another overnight sail, so we left St Barth on Monday the 25th of January at 11 am. We were able to sail, although not direct, to Antigua. The seas seemed to steepen as we went. Happily we arrived to Jolly Harbour at 10:30 am on the 26th, salted up but happy to be somewhere familiar and out of the wind and waves. This trip was not fun. Paul cleared us in, but we both forgot to send our paperwork to the vet, so we didn’t get Charlie cleared in until just before customs closed.

We spent a day recovering in Jolly Harbour and spent some money at the well stocked grocery store. Then we made our way around to Green Island where we were greeted by turtles in our favorite bay (Ricketts Bay). Here we plan to sit until our next guests arrive on Feb 4th.