Today was the day we planned to dinghy through the narrow boat channel by Ile Petit Jean, follow the coastline down into the town of Gustavia for some exploring.

We were in serious need of a Promenade. A Cheeseburger in Paradise. And to have a wee bit of a conversation with C&I. When we arrived, we started with the latter.

Clearing in/out of St Barts happens at The Port Office, easily enough on the computer, followed by paying your fees owing to the officer.

We knew we would be charged according to our location, and although Dave had indicated we were in Anse de Colombier, there might have been some miscommunication and we paid the rather (we thought) astronomical fee, and left.

The other evening, in chatting with fellow cruising friends, we shared our fee information, and just as we thought with sinking tummies, it was confirmed that we had been astronomically (over)charged (given our location). Le Sigh.

We wanted our money back, we said to the officer, as we stamped our feet !! And he confirmed that we had, indeed, been overcharged, mais oui !! However, as with all things, it's never as easy as that, is it? Payment by cash, would have been returned, by cash, pas de problème!! As we paid by credit card, and it was almost 4 days after the fact, the most they could do is offer us a credit, for our "next visite" said with à petit accent à la français, à la sarcastique, oui?

So as it happens, we can now visit Gustavia 4 different times, or stay for 4 nights "for free". They were very helpful in clearing us out of St Barts, by doing it right there for us, instead of sending us to wait in the long line up of people already at the computer stations.

I guess we are going back to St Barts?

We walked about the very touristy (shopping is duty-free) streets lined with boutiques carrying quite exquisite items. Not really needing any of the beautiful items on display, although it was fun to window shop and dream, we soon opted instead to explore the town a bit more.



Had we read the street name, Rue de la Colline, we would have been warned, in advance, that we would be climbing straight uphill, forever and a step!!

We were hoping this was a Fort that we could visit,



but as we approached, we noticed it was actually a police station, requiring a numeric key code to enter and we are sure they would not have readily allowed us to randomly explore. Dommage.

The view from La Pointe road was nice, overlooking the inner Bay with its red roofed buildings and the many mega-yachts tied up stern to, all along the shoreline.



We continued on along the road almost to the other end, where we found some stairs, leading, guess what, UPHILL !!



And from there, we saw where we had come from (see the fort/police station at the opposite end of the photo?)



so we climbed up the steps (renovated by the Littoral Conservancy) leading to Fort Karl.

First claimed by France in 1648, the island of Saint Barthélemy was given to Sweden in 1784, prospered during the Napoleonic Wars, but then the island was sold back to France in 1878.

The capital of St Barts (Gustavia), was named after King Gustav III of Sweden.

Gustavia was first called Le Carénage (many places in the Caribbean (Grenada, Carriacou, Martinique, Nelson's Dockyard, to name but a few) have an area of town called Le Carénage), and interestingly enough it comes from the word careening, which basically means beaching sailing vessels in order to fix them, paint the hulls, etc.

There were three forts built here that protected the Harbour. Fort Oscar, Fort Karl and Fort Gustav.

Would you believe that in 2006, the police station (gendarmerie) moved into what was known as Fort Oscar, where we had just been. Mais oui!!

The News Release states that the Fort used to be owned by the French Ministry of Defense, and used to be a listening station (in other words, there be spies here!) Since then the equipment has been removed (and hidden?). The officers now work here as the ex-fort houses "six separate offices, and two cells".

We are presently at the top of Fort Karl, with outstanding views of Shell Beach!!



And behind us the remaining ruins of the old stone walls of Fort Karl.



Today the views are home to many, many mega-yachts, cruise ships, and water based vessels of all types, makes, models and sizes found in both the outer harbour,



and inner harbour.



After all this type of adventurin' we walked downhill and back towards the waterfront,



and as soon as someONE saw this sign,



ravenously exclaimed and declared, with a quick whiff of the gastronomical feasts we were smelling: "I'm starving!"

Le Select, opened 60 years ago and was one of the bars used as inspiration for Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise song, and before I could even sit down, amid the the cluster of picnic tables under the trees in the garden,



where Dave was coming back with a satisfied smile : Two piping hot Cheeseburgers and order of fries, to share, were coming up.



We had walked a lot, eaten a lot, contemplated going up to the airport road to explore some more, but it was getting late and we still had to dinghy our way back to Banyan,



and prep some dinner fixin's to bring to the Beach BBQ.

The tourist pamphlet I had picked up was entitled "Gustavia in a Day" but truth be told, we found ourselves wishing for, perhaps, just "One More Day" here. Thank goodness for a free pass when we come back !!