A Yellow Submarine trip

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Geo: 17.8981, -62.8511

The pretty island of Saint Barthelemy, commonly known as St.Barts, is a French colony, which I didn't realize otherwise would have brought our Euros which is their local currency. The capital is Gustavia so called after the Swedish monarch King Gustaf from the time it was owned by the Swedes. The Swedes sold it back to the French in 1878. The ship moored off the coast as the island has only a small harbour and we had a 15 minute tender to get to the mainland. Like most Caribbean islands it is volcanic in origin but has some lovely beaches and the weather is hot and sunny with very little rain although the island is covered in green vegetation. There are plenty of duty free shops selling top of the range French goods. Not being into beaches or shopping we opted for a tour on a semi submersible aptly named the Yellow Submarine. From the comfort of below water level seats we saw the coral reef, a shipwreck and lots of Tropical Fish including a Shark, Barracuda, Parrot Fish, Turtles and star fish. It was better than snorkelling as we could take photos through the windows. After the trip we walked from the Port along the road and then upwards along a small track past a large white cross and then up to a ruined fort with a couple of cannon. On the way we saw wild tortoises and a huge lizard and some lovely butterflies so we definitely did better than taking the bus tour round the island. Apparently there are some very good restaurants here but of course we ended up taking the last tender of the morning to get back to the ship in time for lunch.

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