05/19/2006, Ballast Bay, St. Kitts
This picture doesn't quite capture how really striking these islands are. From sea these smaller volcanic islands look very much alike because they all have a flat mountain in the middle (the volcano which erupted in the past) and relatively flat land close to the shore. There are pictures of more of them in the photo gallery. The afternoon light was good, and going by St. Kitts was one of the prettiest passages we've had.
Because the weather forecast was favorable, we only spent one night at St. Kitts anchored in Ballast Bay. The view was very nice; the anchorage very comfortable; but the beach was unfriendly because it was all rocks.
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05/16/2006, Gustavia, St. Barts
After a night at anchor in beautiful Anse de Colombier on the north coast of St. Barts, we took a mooring in the Gustavia harbor for a few days while I got over the cold I picked up when visiting Tennessee the previous week. In fact my drink at the lovely beach bar in the picture was only fruit juice. Yes, there was some topless sunbathing on the beach, but there aren't any pictures of it in the photo gallery. The Admiral (me) had to issue a direct order to the Captain (Paul) about that! However, there are a couple of interesting pictures of this beach in the photo gallery -- a stand with empty soft drink cans hanging on strings to use as ashtrays and a double bed painted pink just sitting out on the beach.
St. Barts (short for St. Barthelemy) is a French island. The food is terrific, both at restaurants and in the grocery. Shopping at the AMC Supermarket was a challenge because most of the labels were not English. Some I recognized as French, but my French studies back in high school and college could only take me so far. Luckily, I can still see the pictures on the labels and didn't get anything I didn't recognize, and I managed to get some wonderful treats like great pate and terrific cheese.
Each morning we would go ashore for coffee and a fresh coisant. Sort of gets you spoiled. After a few days rest, my cold was much better and were were ready for our next port.
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04/30/2006, St. Maartens St. Martin
Arriving in St. Maartens early in the morning, we had to anchor and wait for the bridge to open at 9:30am in order to anchor in Simpson Lagoon. We settled in quickly so we could catch the Carnaval Parade that afternoon.
As you can see from the picture, Val and I got in the act and really had a great time. Check out the photo gallery, and you will see the Sherrif looking on as Paul and Menno got friendly with one of the parade participants. Large trucks came by periodically passing out cold bottles of Heineken beer, and there was even a "bar" truck which was also passing out drinks. Clearly, we were "not in Kansas" anymore. When was the last time anyone went to a parade in the states where they passed out cold beer for free? I certainly don't remember anything like that!
Since we had some good rains in St. Maartens, we were able to collect rain water for the first time. Our boat is designed so all the water drains into two holes on the pilot house. We simply run a hose from the drain to the water tank input, usually after we let it rain long enough to really clean off the pilot house roof. Incredibly, it had only rained once or twice since we left Florida on January 12.
Why the two names (St. Maartens and St. Martin)? That's because half of the island is Dutch and half is French. Guess where the best food was? On the French side, of course. The large lagoon where we were anchored divides the Dutch and French halves of the island. And the two halves don't seem to have much in common. The official currency of the Dutch half is the Guilder, but almost everyone takes US dollars and credit cards. Also, almost everyone on the Dutch side speeks English. On the French side, the currency is the Euro; no one wants US dollars; only the larger businesses take credit cards; and only a few people speek English.
I also had the pleasure of a trip back to Tennessee to see Laurie, Trevor, and little Zachary, now 6 months old and the star of the show. I was in heaven, although Laurie and Trevor are discovering how much territory a baby can cover when he starts to move around. Sadly, we had to put Cierce, their 9 year old Maltipoo, to sleep. The vet thought she had a brain tumor because her condition became so bad so quickly. Although we were sad, the new puppy, Albus, did a good job of distracting us.
Paul didn't do too bad in my absence. He quickly scheduled a pot luck supper with a couple of other boats. He says they all had a good time, although the other ladies were suspicious of Paul's motives. I think they took pity and also left him with some extra food. Since Paul doesn't like to be by himself very much, he also got well acquainted with the staff at Shrimpy's, a bar/restaurant with free Internet that caters to cruisers.=
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04/30/2006, Sombrero Passage; on the way to St Maartens
We were joined by 12-15 dolphins while crossing the Sombrero Passage between Virgin Gorda, BVI and St. Maartens. The dolphins like to coast just under the bow and occassionally jump out of the water. We have had visits from one or two before, but never such a large group. They were with us for 5-10 minutes. It was amazing!!
This was a night passage because we needed good light to avoid the coral heads in Eustatia Sound when leaving Bitter End on Virgin Gorda. And we would have to anchor outside Simpson Lagoon on St. Maarten until the bridge opened at 9:30 in the morning, and we wanted to do that is daylight also. Hence, another night at sea. Since we have now made several night passages, this one went smoothly and we were comfortable both physically and mentally. Considering what a big deal I made out of our first night passage, I'm a little surprised that they have now become "routine". I guess this "old dog" can learn some new tricks.
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