More cruising '
We had a nice week in the Yacht Haven Grande marina, using the pool every day and dining in the coffee shop and restaurants. Much to my delight, there was a health food store so I could stock up on gluten free food. I didn't buy too much gluten free bread however, as it was $US16 a loaf. The Zumba exercise classes in the main square of the marina was very entertaining - the few non -Caribbeans participating just didn't have the rhythm. We loved the pet accessories shop that sold a line called Chewy Vuitton. We also enjoyed watching the huge yachts getting ready for their owners or charterers, with truck loads of flowers being delivered to the boats, champagne and strawberries at the ready, and when the owners arrived (in suits or pearls) all the staff standing at attention, looking like the staff at Downton Abbey, lined up in their uniforms to greet and almost bow and curtesy.

The Ferraris arrived surprisingly non-jet lagged after their long trip. We all went for a celebratory dinner at a very nice restaurant in Frenchtown called the Twisted Cork - one of the nicest pork Osso Bucco I have had. The oyster shooters and deep fried oysters were pretty good too. Frenchtown has narrow roads and tiny houses, almost shanties, and one source I consulted said an old form of Norman French is still spoken there. There was a jazz concert at Roosevelt Park, next to Emancipation Park, it being Saturday night. There is a plaque in Emancipation Park that commemorates the stopping at Charlotte Amalie of 144 Englishmen in 1607 on their way to settle at Jamestown in Virginia in the first permanent settlement beyond the British Isles. Not many of the poor things survived that exercise.

Sunday we set sail again, with lunch at Christmas Cove and then the crossing to Maho Bay on St John. The fee for mooring in the national parks is paid by an honour system at the floating docks that have forms and a box for cash or credit card numbers. Feeling privileged to visit such lovely places twice. To finish the day, a Caribbean pelican, small and grey, sat on the bow of Trilogy, posing like a figurehead, and keeping an eye out for a fish dinner.