DAY 90 – March 27th 2014 – St. Barts
Enjoyed the wonderful internet again this morning, worked, updated my blog which had not been done for at least ten days, but still not able to Skype for some reason, whenever I do Mum and I sound like fish in a bowl. Spent all day wandering around the wonderful little cobble streets and great shops, we were going to come back for the party but it was bumpy and we must have had too much sun and were quite tired so decided to stay aboard tonight.
DAY 91 – March 28th 2014 – St. Barts
As the boats started to leave the dock we headed ashore to watch the first Race from the top of one of the hills. It was a fantastic sight but really hot so we went and had lunch to cool off and then back up the hill to watch the finish line. The Bucket Races are just like our Turkey Trot where all the boats are rated and have start times instead of all at once. Yesterday Doug fished out of the harbour a cap from State of Grace one of the Grand Dames in the race. I wore my new cap all day. About 8.30 we headed ashore for the Boat Hop (for VIPS not mere mortals like us) and I was itching to see my boat. There she was in all her glory alongside all the others, State Of Grace is 40M and from Douglas on the Isle Of Man so I felt very close to her being British and all that. Donna and I walked on while the lads were discussing something and we started chatting with another boat security about how we can get on these boats, he said you have to be invited but if we wanted too we could hop on and have a quick look. I felt odd doing that and walking around knowing that we really were not supposed to be on board, so I declined and thanked him and then headed back toward the lads. WELL there they were on the stern of my boat, the nerve. It took a while to get us on board, the swell in this harbour is huge and these massive boats were swaying back and forth a good six feet. Eventually we did it and there we were on a MEGA YACHT, champagne was handed out and we took pictures and then a quick tour of the guest cabins, very nice I must say. It even had a full gym and a sauna that has never been used. Top that I don’t think so, we said our goodbyes and good luck tomorrow and then headed home to our MINI YACHT and another bumpy night
DAY 92 – March 29th 2014 – St. Barts
Second day of the races and the boats are heading North in a Zig Zag line so we decided to watch from Moma and take a day off from going ashore. They started under Spinnaker which was really exciting and passed in front of us, but a long way away. We could see them all milling around in the distance as they Zig Zagged around the marks and we enjoyed the commentary on 68 and the competitors on 17 being very polite, saying things like “coming up behind, what is your intention” and other requests “I have the line, give us room”. One ran aground which was sad but not much damage I think, one had an injury that was not serious. Eventually they all came back and we watched a close finish. Tonight is Caribbean theme and lots of fun, after getting our drinks and doing another walk past the yachts we arrive at the tent and the entertainment just started up and goodness me who was the opening act for Soley a popular performer here but Jimmy Buffett himself. Well that was fun, he sang about five songs and then hopped on one of the boats to relax and chat