Another small french island between St. Martin and Antigua. When first discovered it was an undesirable island lacking fresh water. It later grew in popularity to the very wealthy and construction was limited to villas with lots of land around them...
Gustavia Harbor
We picked a calmer day to cross over to St. Barts which wasn’t a long distance away, some 36 miles. We had a perfect sailing direction and flew up to 9 knots at times. Gustavia Harbor is very busy and there weren’t many spots to anchor or moor. We found one that we were later told was private but decided to stay and move in the morning. Known for its upscale and elegant people, St. Barts proved to be just that. It was a change to see so many high end shops and fancy people dressed up. Loads of money everywhere. Still, the town was cute and the grocery shopping was heaven. We loaded up on lots of yummy food.
By chance we ran into our friends Marie and Arnaud as well as Caroline, Hugo and Guillaume right at the dinghy dock. We all agreed that moving on to the next calmer bay was going to be better. Too many super yachts and ferries making the bay very rolly.
Anse Colombier
Crystal clear water, white sandy beaches, very few homes, and an abundance of turtles made this bay quite perfect. Turns out we weren't the only ones who thought so. There were about 6 motor boats rafted up near the shore celebrating the weekend or maybe a holiday. Loud music and happy people but they ended up leaving late in the afternoon leaving us a calm anchorage. We had Marie, Arnaud, Caroline, Guillaume and Hugo over for drinks and appetizers and enjoyed another sunset on Shift.
There were turtles all around and Andreas swam with them to get awesome go pro footage which they were absolutely fine with and didn't seem to be bothered in the least.
After 2 nights here we made our way to St. Martin with Thalia. With a lunch stop and nice hike at Ile Forchue, just 4 miles further. Sailing with another catamaran is fun and both of us made good headway on an almost downwinder. The bridge opening to Simpson Bay was at 4 so we need to get there in time. We missed it by 10 minutes so anchored nearby and waited for the 6pm opening.
ay ay capt'n
in the middle of a huge anchorage this mega yacht pulled up anchors at 7am and successful only after 1 hour as they managed to cross their 2 anchors - they weren't very knowledgeable on how to untangle them. Needless to say, we were quite nervous on how close they were getting to us!
sailing school getting a ride back to the marina
anais doing her part in editing the blog