The Long way to Gustavia
28 March 2014 | Anse de Colombier, St. Bart's
Lynn
To begin with, we have managed to escape from St. Martin. Rigging done, dinghy dealt with, and new autopilot installed (but not functioning quite right... yet). Groceries bought, water tanks filled, time to hit the open water!
Tuesday morning we got ourselves organized and departed the Simpson Lagoon with the 10:30 bridge opening. Obviously, we were not alone in this plan, as there was a plethora of other boats queuing up to get out. 'Recetta', with Steve and Ann, and 'Tussen Takk' with Chuck and Barb, were also in this gaggle of boats.
Our first plan, once we had got away from the other boat traffic, was to do the seatrial part of commissioning our new autopilot. However, this was not to be, as we found out that the old ST4000+ Autopilot is not quite the same as the new one, and we couldn't use our old unit. The motors just weren't compatible. Well, that could wait until we got to St. Bart's. It was only about 14 or so miles, anyway.
We decided to stop at Ile Forchue for the night instead of going straight to St. Bart's. This smallish island is privately owned, but the bay is part of the marine reserve, complete with mooring balls. We were one of two boats there when we first arrived in the middle of the afternoon, but the other moorings soon filled up. We were struck by the complete dichotomy from Simpson Lagoon. Here, it was quiet, the stars were easy to see since the only other lights to be seen were the anchor lights of the other boats, and it was just so relaxed. No dinghy traffic roaring by, no bridge traffic to be heard. Aaahhh. The water wasn't wonderfully clear and a gorgeous turquoise.
In the morning, we changed the wheel component of the autopilot to the new one, and once again struck off for St. Bart's, a massive 5 mile jump to Anse Colombier. Our attempts to do the seatrial was once again thwarted, as the unit no longer even gave that as an option on the commissioning menu. However, it did tell us that the compass deviation was 188 deg. ??? We tried it, and it sort of worked, although it got to a point that it wasn't too happy. What a coincidence, we weren't happy with it, either.
We arrived in Colombier and picked up another mooring. This is also a marine reserve, with the park's fees collected in the main town of Gustavia, close to the place where one checks in with Customs. As the dinghy travels, Gustavia is about 2 or more miles away. Walking? We weren't sure.
By about 2:00, Ken and I decided to walk to Gustavia to make ourselves legal in St. Bart's. The guide book says they don't get bent out of shape if you don't go immediately, but we figured we may as well get it done, as we weren't sure if we wanted to take the mothership to Gustavia (the fees are higher there, as well). So we rowed the dinghy ashore (by choice) and hit the trail. One must take a trail to the main road, and there are two choices, through the "town" of Colombier, or towards Anse de Flamandes, then on the road. We figured Colombier looked like a shorter route.
We took one or two wrong turns, and finally got onto the road. The trail from Colombier to the beach is not a walk in the park, and we were going UP it. We stopped at a little hotel to confirm we were going the right way and to get a tourist map. The ladies figured we were 60 to 90 minutes walk from town. With hills. How bad could it be, really?
I am a runner. I do stuff like this for the heck of it. Ken is not a runner, but he is a good walker. However, his fitness level is not the same as mine (not everybody wants to run long distances, after all). This was not a fun walk in the later stages of the afternoon, with knowledge that we would have to get back before dark (we had flashlights, but didn't want to be in the position to be forced to use them). We walked. Up hill, down hill, facing traffic, with traffic, enjoying the views and cursing the lack of shoulders to walk on. Over all, not the most enjoyable walk we have had to date. They don't seem to have any kind of a bus service here in St. Bart's. We finally made it to Gustavia, in 60 minutes from the little hotel to the Port Office, and not a single place to stop to get a drink.. I checked SH3, Ken and myself in on a rather cludgey Customs software (no more drop down choices, please!) and paid our fees. We then walked to the Marine Park office... only open in the mornings. Harumph. Fine, they can get our money when we check out.
We did a quick walk around the port area, observing the megayacht sailboats lined up along the seawall. This weekend is the "St. Bart's Bucket Regatta", open only to sailboats 100 feet or longer, so there was a lot of nautical eye candy available. Really, what one crew member makes in a year would cover our cruising costs pretty nicely. Definitely boats in a different snack bracket.
We found the taxi stand, as we both readily agreed that walking back at this point would not be a good idea (it was about 5:00 by this time). For a reasonable 25 Euros (we would have paid double!) we got back to the trail head that led to our homeward walk. Since we now knew which way to go, and it was downhill, it didn't take us as long to get back to our dinghy.
We would like to go back to Gustavia, and will either take the dinghy around, or leave much earlier to walk. The dinghy option is looking better and better.