France in the Caribbean

St Barthelemy (St Barths) is like a visit to France with the warmth of the Caribbean.   The picturesque port of Gustavia was a welcome sight after a 3 hour sail upwind from Sint Maarten in 25 to 27 knot breeze, and 6 to 8 foot waves.  Adventure handled beautifully with a full main and 2/3 jib.  The bow went under a few times, but all was good.  Pirate still thinks we've lost it, but she did fine.  And as you can tell by his huge smile, Roger is a happy guy 😁.  His new sailboat can actually sail!

It took quite some time to find a place to anchor as Gustavia, which is the main port in St. Barts, is extremely busy.  Along with the Super Yachts, there are sailboats of all shapes and sizes anchored and moored there.  We found out later that while this is a beautiful port, it is very rolly and not the most comfortable anchorage to stay in.  Interestingly enough, even when you go into the harbour where it appears calm, there is a tremendous surge.  The multi million dollar Super Yachts are lined up side by side along the shore, their anchors out and sterns tied to shore, with huge fenders between them as they rock back and forth.  

Once ashore we found a beautiful little town where everyone speaks French.  Having lived in Montreal for many years, it somehow provided a sense of belonging.  We quickly found a boulangerie for a cappuccino, croissant and tarte aux tomates.  While the town itself is filled with upscale boutiques that I don't frequent (fortunately for Roger), it really is the overall ambience of the place that makes you feel at home.  With it's steep hills and cobblestone roads, it definitely has an Old Montreal or European feel.  Not surprisingly, many of the tourists there appear to be French-speaking.  

We had an amazing dinner that night at L'Isoletta, where pizzas are prepared by the half meter and meter.  Pirate was welcome to sit with us as well.  Along with a Greek salad, we chose the half meter with two different combinations of toppings.  They also provided the most delicious bread with our meal. Needless to say, we had enough for dinner and lunch the next day as well. Which is somewhat redeeming economics as a two topping Pizza in St. Barts is $85.00 USD. 

The following day we took a taxi to St Jean to meet with the Dr. Benjamin, a veterinarian from France, who had to provide Pirate with her health certificate for entry into Antigua.  The taxi driver was very accommodating and agreed to take Pirate as well.  The 7 minute cab ride only cost $40 USD 😂. When I enquired if that was the usual fee, he said that other drivers might even charge more!  Hmmm....our ride back was $35.  

Our tour over to St Jean took us by the airport.  We have never been to St Barths before so have not experienced a flight in, but I can attest that this must be one of the shortest runways in the world. The pilots fly over the mountain, immediately dive down and try to hit the short patch of pavement which has a steep down angle ending in the sea.  The vet shared with us that, last August, a plane hit a parked helicopter and the fuselage is still at the end of the runway.  Fortunately, the plane's eight passengers managed to escape unharmed. 

While we would have liked to stay another night in Gustavia, we also wanted to get a good nights sleep, so we left the harbour around 4 pm that day and headed around to the next bay called Anse de Colombier.  This bay is part of a Marine Park that you pay for use upon your original custom checkin.  There are no structures there and just a goat path people use to hike in. There are a number of 'free' buoys there so we quickly found one as close to shore as possible to try to reduce the swells.  We then settled in to enjoy the beautiful sunset.

We stayed in Anse de Colombier the next day as well.  It was a great bay for swimming and Pirate got a chance to get out on her Pup Plank again.  It was less easy to get her ashore however as there is no dock and the dinghy and passengers get a little pounded heading into shore due to the surf.  Where there is a will, there is a way so we decided to anchor just out from shore and Roger swam in with Pirate so she could do her business.  

Chef Tama prepared a gourmet dinner of medium rare tuna steak accompanied by a grapefruit, avocado and feta salad.  Amazing the new recipes you can discover when working from a limited pantry 😉.  Over dinner, we discussed how much we liked St Barths, but due to the rolly anchorages it would not be a place we could stay for long.  If you are looking for a place to visit by plane (and you can stomach the short runway), I bet renting a villa there would be a great experience.  Wonderful restaurants and some old world charm.  It's a small island but I think it would be worth the trip.

While the winds had been howling for a couple of days, Predict Wind forecasted 14 to 18 knots of breeze starting around 3 am.  So we set out from St Barths at in the pitch black at 4 in the morning, headed to our next destination...Antigua.  We soon learned that weather predictions are just that....