LIFE: Part 2

Current Location: St. Bart's
Current Position: 17 54 N 062 51.14 W Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 82 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

He finally made it. We picked him up from SXM airport at 9pm, put him in our dinghy, and drove him across the bay to Life Part 2.

Unfortunately, Simpson Bay is quite exposed and seems to often be quite rolly – certainly more bumpy than other bays in which we have anchored. Which, after spending about 20 hours traveling was all a bit too much for Ben.

So, as soon as he had unpacked, we jumped back in the dinghy and went ashore to find some stable land for a few hours. We had some drinks and then went for a late night burger for Ben, and then finally retired back to the boat and a moving bed.

On Sunday we took a tour around Simpson Bay Lagoon in the dinghy, and had a lazy day on the boat and in the turquoise Caribbean sea.

On Monday we hoisted sail and had a fast reach across to Anguilla. Ben announced that he rather liked this sailing thing.

Anguilla is a very quiet and peaceful island, with almost all of the beaches and anchorages being protected marine parks which cost $US 100 per day to visit! And even then the conditions were too rough for us to actually stop and visit them.

So on Wednesday we hoisted sail again and went back to the French side of St Martin for an overnight stop before carrying on to St. Barth’s.

Now, St. Barth’s is the complete opposite to Anguilla. Small in size too, but busy with narrow streets, lots of cars and, of course, dozens of chic French boutiques because St. Barth’s is, after all, quintessentially French. French bread and pastries, French cheese, French cuisine, French shopping, and French people. Many of them well off, for this is the Paris of the Caribbean. That honor used to belong to St. Pierre in Martinique, but a certain volcano in 1902 put an end to that, so now all the chick people find their way to Gustavia, St Barth’s.

Ben got so swim with some turtles in St. Barth’s, found some cotton buds, admired the mega yachts, and then it was back to St. Martin to fly off for a three day visit to New York.

It was great having him aboard – and having lots of fun discussions about Donald Trump and his philosophies on life and business.