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Transporting Sailboats
If you look closely you will see that there are full size sailboats with their mast up loaded on this ship – either going out or coming in – we weren’t sure but that is quite a way to transport your sailboat over a distance. As the guidebook states this island was not one that would easily have been settled in the early days due to lack of rainfall to support agriculture, but it did have on its side a very strategic location in the middle of the Lesser Antilles. The result was that its very fine small harbor was fought over by the French, Spanish and British. It prospered under the French in the 1600’s as it was a base for pirates to spend their ill-gained wealth. In 1784 however the French gave the island to the Swedes in exchange for free port rights in Gothenburg which has continued to this day. Prosperity as a trading center occurred during the American war of independence as Americans came here for supplies. Unfortunately several hurricanes and changes in trading patterns took its toll and the Swedes sold the island back to France in 1878 and it still remains part of France today. It is a free port which has helped the island recover economically. It has also become known as a world famous chic destination; a favored spot for the good looking and the well-to-do. It was not high on our list of islands to visit on
Welcome in big letters!
The people of St. Barth’s definitely are into service and do their best to welcome you to their island. It is also probably one of the cleanest islands we have seen and they actually recycle as well (at least glass and cans). the way south, but with the turn of events that allowed us to stay in the Caribbean a few weeks longer we looked to see what islands were near-by and St. Bart’s came up on the radar. We are very glad it did we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in this very picturesque and amazingly clean, well run country.
To anchor at the entrance to the harbor of Gustavia you must pay a nominal fee based on the length of your boat. In our case it was equal to $11, with the fee for the use of the showers and the disposal of trash and recycled bottles and cans. When we arrived late in the afternoon we put down an anchor and proceeded to go to shore to officially check into the country. We saw that there were moorings in the center of the harbor so asked what it would cost for one of those. The difference was 40 cents so we decided to move the next day because the anchorage was quite rolly and a longer dinghy ride to town.
One of the first things you notice in the harbor is how accessible everything is for the marine
Realtor with a Sense of Humor
A real estate office in town with a sense of humor. On their notice board they had everything from the White House to the Leaning Tower of Pisa to the Taj Mahal either for rent or for sale. community. The city of Gustavia is built around the harbor with great restaurants and shops. Only thing about the shops is that they are not your customary souvenir shops of most tourist locations, it is very upscale and as a result window shopping was the best and safest way for us to shop!
When we arrived we thought we would only stay a couple of days but it easily turned into a week. There were places to hike to as well as places to explore by rental car. We also took a couple of days for the boat as a few things decided to break on our sail from Barbuda and needed to be fixed. Bob had to go up the mast for one of the repairs and being on a mooring made it much easier.
As the harbor was in a strategic location it was protected by 3 forts and you can hike to 2 of them and enjoy some wonderful vistas of the area (the 3rd has been taken over by the local police force). One day we decided to rent a car to explore the rest of the island, there is no bus system here
2nd Story Residences
Typically the businesses are located on the first floor and the residences were on the 2nd floor throughout the town of Gustavia. (guess the rich and famous don’t use buses!) We found out how small the island was as we made it completely around the island with plenty of stops to walk the beaches, have a very leisurely lunch and still be back in 6 hours! There are plenty of beautiful beaches and quaint resort type communities situated in almost every bay on the island. It is an easy island to drive around and thankfully they drive on the right side of the road as well.
We visited the Marine Park office while in Gustavia and found out they have a couple of areas where boats can stay overnight on free moorings that are provided to help protect the marine environment. One of the islands that is part of this park is private but they allow visitors to hike as long as you do not disturb anything. It is conveniently located about an hour’s sail from St. Bart’s in the direction we were headed next, St. Martin. Ile Fourchue is dry and rocky with several steep hills to climb giving our leg muscles some exercise. The water is crystal clear with a recovering reef and numerous tropical fish to observe. Unfortunately
Watch Out for Cars
This may look like a pedestrian mall back in the US but here it is a very viable road that cars travel on through the main town of Gustavia. our underwater camera decided to “die” so we can’t show you anything that we saw, but you’ll have to trust us that it was an enjoyable place to explore. The moorings provided by the park are in excellent condition and are checked very often providing a feeling of security overnight even though there was a bit of roll, but not so bad that we couldn’t sleep. After a day and a half here we sailed to St. Martin as we have an appointment for Sailor to get her own pet passport (needed for entry into EU countries), a few things to buy at the excellent chandlery here and have a reunion with great friends, Madeline and Skip from Saralane when they return from the US next Monday. Then we will get serious again with making a decision on the timing of our departure for the Azores.
These few weeks delay in our departure for Europe have turned out to be some of the nicest we’ve had in the Caribbean. Because it’s late in the season most of the places we visited have been almost empty of charter boats. But now that we have had some relaxing time, Janice
The Anglican Church
The Anglican Church had a great location at the end of the harbor. The interior was quite stark. has cracked the whip and it’s back to checking items off our lists. Janice has inventoried the entire boat and has put it on a spreadsheet ( you may be able to take the control freak out of the office but you can’t...-guess who wrote this part!) which means that now every time Bob takes anything out of food storage he has to mark where he got it from on the appropriate spreadsheet. This has caused a small amount of grumbling among some of the crew but the Admiral has assured the crew that this will make it much easier when we are looking for food and it will make re-supply much easier. When the boat is heeling and he needs to make dinner he will thank me for this – (who wrote this part??) While Janice has been organizing everything below decks Bob has been checking and double checking all lines, fittings, cotter pins, etc.
We are presently anchored in the lagoon in St. Maarten on the French side.
We hope this finds all of you well and enjoying the weather up in the Arctic North. We heard through the grape vine that you are getting your
What do you do with a 10 T anchor?
This 10 ton anchor was found in 1981. Research states that it may be from a historic American warship that was in service between 1700 -1725. It definitely is quite the landmark no matter what the history is. summer weather now. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Take care and as always stay in touch!
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