ST BARTH

 

 

We sailed 17 miles (3.5 hours) from St Martin with our friend Arnd on Zanshin, to the island of Fourchue to do some diving. It is a beautiful untouched island and really great anchorage. It is a marine reserve and the kids and Arnd did 2 scuba dives while Stephen and I snorkeled. There were amazing drop offs and the water was crystal clear. We saw the biggest crayfish we have ever seen, it was about a meter long.....but no chance of catching it in the reserve! Arnd has his own compressor on board so it was fantastic to be able to re-fill our tanks as we needed. We spent 2 nights here, enjoying the diving, before heading on to St Barths.

 

The island of Fourchue

Clearing in at St Barths, a French island, is pretty easy, just a matter a filling your details in on the computer, they don't even stamp your passport. After clearing, we took a walk through the picturesque village and then walked to the airport to watch aeroplanes land. They approach extremely low, literally above one's head, and then land on a very short runway leading straight into the ocean. Taking off is equally as hairy and quite something to see.

 

Watching aeroplanes land

The town of Gustavia is beautiful with designer stores, restaurants and coffee shops in quaint alleys, all with a distinctive French feel. Needless to say, with everything priced in euros we couldn't afford to enjoy much on offer, but bought some yummy baguettes and cheese that we enjoyed with some great wine on the yacht.

 

St Barth

The following day we went to Anse du Columbier, a lovely bay adjacent to St Barths. We had a great time here, with lots of other yachts moored around us, a great beach and a nice vibe. There were parties on a few boats and we were all shining laser pointers on to the surrounding cliffs in the evening, which was quite fun!

Anse de Colombier

 

Arnd, Michaela and I did a strenuous 3 hour early morning hike from Columbier to the top of the mountain, through some magnificent scenery. It was great to exercise again and we were exhausted for the rest of the day!

Hiking around Colombier

 

We were so happy to see Mary A, with Jazzy and Sean on board, coming into the same anchorage. We didn't see them because they had guests on board but Sean was able to come say goodbye before we left. We felt really sad saying goodbye, they feel like family and we don't know when we will see them again.

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