Sailing the Caribbees
| Vessel Name: | MERIDIAN |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Concordia Custom Yachts/Chuck Paine 45 |
| Hailing Port: | Boston |
25 May 2014
26 April 2014 | Charleston, SC
16 April 2014
31 March 2014 | Fajarda, Puerto Rico
27 March 2014 | Virgin Gorda
10 March 2014
01 March 2014
05 February 2014
03 February 2014
27 January 2014 | St. Barth's
02 January 2014 | Anguilla
26 December 2013 | St. Barth's
19 December 2013 | Gustavia, St. Barths
15 December 2013 | St. Martin
08 December 2013 | Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda
Recent Blog Posts
26 April 2014 | Charleston, SC
on our way!!
Sorry for the lack of updates. We had a funtastic, if brief, stint in the Bahamas and I will be sure to post a write up of that time as soon as I can.
St. Barths
19 December 2013 | Gustavia, St. Barths
Jeff/ beautiful
12.19.13
Our time in St. Martin was enjoyable and productive but our anchorage inside the lagoon was less than idyllic. St. Martin is very built up, especially the Dutch side – quite dirty and very busy with traffic. However, as I mentioned in the last entry, the convenience of our location was ideal. We were able to easily zip into Marigot for fresh baguettes and the open-air fruit market; two huge chandleries for boat supplies were in the other direction on the Dutch side with dinghy docks out front and all boat services line the lagoon. The down side is the volume of boats enclosed within the lagoon and the inability to jump in for a swim, coupled with the screaming jetliners taking off just off our starboard beam!
We left yesterday morning and trudged upwind 14 miles to the most serene anchorage on the northwest corner of St. Barths – Anse de Columbier. Almost before the anchor was down, we all jumped overboard for a much-needed swim! Moorings have been installed since our last time here and as a result the grass beds on the bottom have recovered and with them have come the turtles! The anchorage was fairly empty with over 20 empty moorings to choose from. We had a nice swim into the beach and a run up and down the beach followed by some schoolwork back onboard and then some snorkeling along the Northern edge of the harbor. Tucked under the shade of a large pinnacle of rock in about 20 ft of water we spied two 5-6’ nurse sharks resting on the bottom.
Today after another morning swim, we motored the couple miles down the coast to the port of Gustavia to clear into customs and have a walk about the town. On the way in, we passed several gigantic mega-motoryachts – one, named Le Grande Blu carries a 60’ sailboat on its port deck and about a 50’ motorboat on the starboard side. I think the main ship is around 400’ long. Inside the harbor we saw a couple of familiar boats from New England – JUNO (Rebecca’s sistership) and LONE FOX – both wooden boats that are based here for the winter.
Unless the weather breaks by the beginning of next week, we’ll stay here through Christmas until we meet with Steve Taylor and family for their vacation on the boat starting January 5, when we’ll join Rebecca and cruise through the islands to the Grenadines. If the weather looks good for a passage to Antigua before Christmas, we may shoot over there for a week before returning for the Taylor’s vacation.
The kids are getting along great! Orly complains occasionally about here “poopy” brother, Asa, but mostly they giggle hysterically and play numerous games together – imaginary as always, but also plenty of hearts, rummy, and Settlers of Catan – the only board game we brought with us. Both are reading voraciously! Schoolwork is going swimmingly as well, math is still a struggle for Orly. Music has also been fairly regular for both of them and they are currently working on some Christmas duets!
Food is always a huge draw for me and I am in ecstasy with the ready availability of fantastic French cheeses, fresh bread, numerous cured meats and saucissions and fine wine! We are hoping to get ashore to my favorite local restaurant, Eddy’s, if we’re still here for my birthday. This afternoon we will back in to town to do some provisioning for dinner, get online to send this out, and maybe walk over to shell beach for some beach combing. We may look into renting a mini Moke for tomorrow for a tour around the island!
Hopefully I can upload some photos along with this entry!
Miss you all!
Jeff, Mege, Orly and Asa
Our time in St. Martin was enjoyable and productive but our anchorage inside the lagoon was less than idyllic. St. Martin is very built up, especially the Dutch side – quite dirty and very busy with traffic. However, as I mentioned in the last entry, the convenience of our location was ideal. We were able to easily zip into Marigot for fresh baguettes and the open-air fruit market; two huge chandleries for boat supplies were in the other direction on the Dutch side with dinghy docks out front and all boat services line the lagoon. The down side is the volume of boats enclosed within the lagoon and the inability to jump in for a swim, coupled with the screaming jetliners taking off just off our starboard beam!
We left yesterday morning and trudged upwind 14 miles to the most serene anchorage on the northwest corner of St. Barths – Anse de Columbier. Almost before the anchor was down, we all jumped overboard for a much-needed swim! Moorings have been installed since our last time here and as a result the grass beds on the bottom have recovered and with them have come the turtles! The anchorage was fairly empty with over 20 empty moorings to choose from. We had a nice swim into the beach and a run up and down the beach followed by some schoolwork back onboard and then some snorkeling along the Northern edge of the harbor. Tucked under the shade of a large pinnacle of rock in about 20 ft of water we spied two 5-6’ nurse sharks resting on the bottom.
Today after another morning swim, we motored the couple miles down the coast to the port of Gustavia to clear into customs and have a walk about the town. On the way in, we passed several gigantic mega-motoryachts – one, named Le Grande Blu carries a 60’ sailboat on its port deck and about a 50’ motorboat on the starboard side. I think the main ship is around 400’ long. Inside the harbor we saw a couple of familiar boats from New England – JUNO (Rebecca’s sistership) and LONE FOX – both wooden boats that are based here for the winter.
Unless the weather breaks by the beginning of next week, we’ll stay here through Christmas until we meet with Steve Taylor and family for their vacation on the boat starting January 5, when we’ll join Rebecca and cruise through the islands to the Grenadines. If the weather looks good for a passage to Antigua before Christmas, we may shoot over there for a week before returning for the Taylor’s vacation.
The kids are getting along great! Orly complains occasionally about here “poopy” brother, Asa, but mostly they giggle hysterically and play numerous games together – imaginary as always, but also plenty of hearts, rummy, and Settlers of Catan – the only board game we brought with us. Both are reading voraciously! Schoolwork is going swimmingly as well, math is still a struggle for Orly. Music has also been fairly regular for both of them and they are currently working on some Christmas duets!
Food is always a huge draw for me and I am in ecstasy with the ready availability of fantastic French cheeses, fresh bread, numerous cured meats and saucissions and fine wine! We are hoping to get ashore to my favorite local restaurant, Eddy’s, if we’re still here for my birthday. This afternoon we will back in to town to do some provisioning for dinner, get online to send this out, and maybe walk over to shell beach for some beach combing. We may look into renting a mini Moke for tomorrow for a tour around the island!
Hopefully I can upload some photos along with this entry!
Miss you all!
Jeff, Mege, Orly and Asa
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