We sailed to the French island of St Bart's, Columbier Bay on Thursday, 4/9. The wind was pretty much on our nose at about 20K so that was not very comfortable, but in 4 hours we were anchored in this lovely bay on the NW shore. There are about 20 boats in here this morning, after the morning exodus, and by this evening there will probably be 30 or so, most of them charter boats. We are very protected here with high hills all around that are covered in cactus, low trees and a few palms. At the head of the bay is the best beach we've seen since we left the Bahamas, and parts of it are staked out for camping spots. We wake up to kid goats calling for their mamas and their bells tinkling on the craggy hillside. The Tropic birds on the bluffs are spectacular, swooping and sailing in groups of 4 or 5. We watched a Frigate bird chase one of the Tropics and nearly caught him. After that the Tropics dispersed. We're guessing the Tropic birds are nesting, but we haven't seen that yet .

Friday we walked about 5K to the town of Gustavia with our German friends Edgar and Hella. The 1st kilometer was over a mountain trail to a small village, as there are no roads to this anchorage. The rest of the walk was on narrow, extremely steep and windy roads. I was surprised at how tall the hills are here. I couldn't stop taking pictures because everywhere was another scenic view looking down on waves crashing, various shades of blue ocean, clean and orderly towns with closely packed colorful houses and shops and beautiful flowering gardens.

We were standing at an intersection on a ridge saddle, looking down at Gustavia on one side and the airport on the other as a twin engine otter buzzed us so closely that Hella dropped to the ground on it's literal dive for the airport. The strip has waves lapping at it on the far end and a bluff with the traffic circle on it on the approach. From our vantage point looking nearly vertically down at the runway we couldn't see the numbers on the approach end. The trade winds are such that the approaching airplanes cross the ridge top roadway at less that 50' height and then dive for the strip. Your dad says the approaching aircraft likely can't see any part of the strip until they cross the ridge! It looks like the strip might be about 3,000' long.

The water is warm, the sun is shining. We have everything we need. Can't ask for more!

On Saturday, April 12, we were joined by Edgar and Hella for a dive at Petit Jean, just off the SW tip of the bay we're anchored in. The corals were pretty good there, not the best we've seen. We did watch a grouper catch a smaller fish, and Jack swam into a shallow cave that had 25 or 30 same-size tarpon, all about 4' length. They weren't the least bothered by his presence, even when he reached out and touched one with his hand. We mostly swam at depths from 30 to 50 feet, because that's where the colors were best seen with the light filtering effect of the water.