A Slice of Paradise in St. Barth's

When folks discover we have been sailing the Caribbean quite a bit, they often ask “Where is your favorite anchorage?”  Included in our top spots is Anse Du Colombier.  The bay is unspoiled and charmingly beautiful; and the turtle watching is the best! 

Here is John’s friend from London, Roger,  standing on the cliff overlooking part of the bay.  Adventuress is on the right side:

 

 

And a picture of Roger’s buddy  Mr Wodgy Le Rogue-Turtle swimming under water:

 

One morning we hiked the two miles along the cliffs to Baie Flamande.  This is a tradition with us, but this year the goat path along, around, and up and down the cliffs seemed narrower, steeper and trickier. Here are Nancy and John picking their way along a flat bit of the path:

 

The spectacular Baie Flamande, lovely white sand and very few people:

 

We relaxed with some eau gazeuze prior to a five star lunch at the small private hotel at the end of the bay called Ile de France: 

 

Until last year Ile de France was owned by Charles De Vere  and his wife. Charles being the local Church of England vicar, that made Ile de France a vicarage!  The hotel is now owned by LVGH.

The manager Cedric and some of his lovely waitresses:

Our very best to you!

Nancy, John and Roger

26 January 2014

Goodbye Marina, Hello Caribbean Cruising!

Thursday January 16

Adventuress threw off her lines this afternoon and romped out of Oyster Pond with a big smile on her face, and with her mainsail gleaming in the sunshine. Soon the motor was off and we in turn were grinning as we bore away North Westwards under full Jib and reefed Main: great to be sailing again! Just forty minutes later we entered Orient Bay and anchored behind the reef:

 

and we jumped in: great to be swimming again! After our dip we had to celebrate the repaired swim ladder, good as new:

 

Our celebration included marinating lime in ice, gin and tonic:

 

And of course we toasted the early sunset behind the western hills:

 

Now it’s Saturday and we are anchored in Grand Case, another old favourite of ours:

 

And JFK is unhappily obeying all the local laws!

 

Best to all,

John and Nancy

Missing Ladder?

 To the deeply frozen tundra of Pennsylvania, we sang a cheery good-bye! 82 more degrees later (Yes, 85 less 3 brrrr is 82 net!) here we are in St. Martin.  Adventuress was waiting for us in Oyster Pond at Captain Oliver’s Marina and we were very happy to see her. Then we noticed that her aft swim-ladder was missing.  And there were a couple of small gouges on her swim platform! What happened?  

Aha! The 62 foot Sunseeker Predator stink pot, tied behind us stern-to- stern, had large gouges on its swim platform.  Apparently the owner took out his boat - named “Raw”- and when he returned he parked it too close to Adventuress. Why? Who knows…he had 15 feet of empty space ahead of him, but clearly left just a foot astern between Raw and Adventuress! Then came a windy, choppy day and his boat was banging into ours, damaging both boats and sheering off our ladder, which of course sank to the bottom.  After several anxious hours, John was able to speak to the owner of “Raw”, who, it turned out, is on business in Martinique. But he immediately called his “man” Sebastian (Basty), a very competent Frenchman, who lives right here on his big fishing boat at the marina, to deal with repairing our boat. 

Here’s a couple of pics of the diver retrieving our ladder and handing it to Basty on the stern of Raw, which had been belatedly moved away from our stern:

 

 

 

And a pic of our poor bent ladder!

 

“Basty” the Frenchman, took the ladder to FKG, a good rigging and stainless shop here in the Lagoon.  We should have it back as good as new, “no later than next Wednesday”.  Tomorrow a fiberglass specialist is supposed to come and repair the minor damage to our swim platform.  And then we should be back to ship-shape and ready to visit Anse Colombier in St Barth’s.

Best,

Nancy and John

Friday, January 10, 2014