St Barths

We have been in St Barths for a week now and just signed up for another week. We left the BVI after going back and forth about the weather. We had decided to scrap our trip and wait for another weather window to cross the Annegada Channel. Its about 80 miles and the channel can be very rough at times. Kind of like crossing the Gulf Stream because are always right into the wind and waves which can build very quickly.

Suddenly I said to Linda, let's go and if it's too rough we can turn back to the BVI. AS you can see we went all the way across in only 6 to 8 foot waves in about 21 hours. It wasn't a bad ride but slow because the wind was too strong and we had to make some long tacks away from the wind to get here.

St. Barts is our favorite place and we are happy to relax here. We are anchored right off Shell Beach which I think is the place Linda wants to be buried. The shells are piled a foot thick on the beach and you can find Linda searching through them for hours. She looks like a kid in a sand box. The boat is getting too heavy from all the shells.

Life is expensive here if you want to eat out every day. I guess that is the same in all the islands. Living on the anchor and eating on the boat is the way to go. We are eating a lot of baguettes (90 cents each). The grocery has fresh bread every day and the prices there aren't too bad except for fresh produce. Meat is very reasonable as is the wine.

There is not one place on this island to get an air tank filled for diving. You are not allowed to dive with out a local dive master with you. I wanted to use mine to clean the bottom of the boat and remove a rope from an engine but they won't fill it. I hope they will in St. Martin.

The water here is so perfectly clear and blue. The water temp is a little bit chilly but we are still enjoying it. 78 degrees. The days are very warm and the wind is always blowing. Not bad for winter.