We slept in a bit this morning and got underway around 9:30am. After shooting out of Orient Bay we covered a great distance, crossing the Saint Barthélemy Channel on a southeasterly course. We spotted 2 large whales about half-way across in the middle of the channel. Couldn't figure out what species, but it was fascinating! The weather was excellent, with winds stronger than we experienced on the first day and a swell even larger as well. We sailed under full jib and 1 reef in the main. En route to Gustavia, we navigated closely to the bay at Ile Fourchue to see if it would be a place we want to checkout. We also did a flyby of Anse de Colombier, a beautiful beach we'd like to explore depending on how long we choose to stay at St. Bart's.
Beyond Colombier we entered the showy bay of Gustavia's marina. Yacht after yacht lined the channel entering it, and even more after entering the actual marina. Most say they are from Georgetown, Grand Cayman. After we set anchor, we went in by dinghy to clear customs.
St. Bart's is 100% owned by France. We walked around town for about 30-minutes then went back to the boat. I bought a phone card and tried 5 different pay phones with Gabe -- all broken! Very frustrating. Gabe, however, was able to bum the WiFi signal off one of the docked megayachts! We decided to stay moored in this bay for the night and have dinner in town this evening.
After returning to the Madrid, Mike R., Mark, Jen, Gabe and I wanted to do some snorkeling. Since we spotted those lobster yesterday I wanted to be prepared this time. I took a large double pronged fork, like you'd use on a BBQ grill, and using an ace bandage from the first aid kid and 2 zip-ties I secured it to the end of our emergency manual bilge rod. This would serve as an effective spear. We then piled into the dinghy and made way for a group of rocks with a reef, just about 1/4mi from our boat off our stern. Once there we anchored the dinghy and entered the water -- I always love rolling backwards off the sponsons of the dinghy -- never gets old! After about a half-hour of awesome snorkeling -- visibility about 50-75' and lots of sea life -- we couldn't find a single lobster! We looked and looked... Then about 25' down I spotted a little one. I dove down to assess the situation where I might best spear him from (you think I'm going to return to the boat empty handed?). I returned to the surface for a deep, long fresh breath to be effective in my hunt. I stabbed him through his upper carapace, close to his eyes, and started making for the surface. About half way to the surface he came off my spear and, still having some life left in him, started to swim away. Mike and Gabe were on the surface watching as it happened. I thrust my spear into him again, and with that he stopped moving so much. They were pretty excited about the catch, and like me thought there must be more lobster in that area. So we swam all the way back to the dinghy, dropped off the lobster, and grabbed a mesh dive bag to go catch more. After spending over a half-hour thoroughly searching that entire area, we didn't find any! How disappointing. The sun was then starting to set, so we got in the dinghy and headed back. Before we went into town for dinner, I boiled the lobster tail in sea water and used some Caribbean Seasoning. I cut it into 9 pieces and warmed some butter. Everyone got to try some, and all agreed it was just excellent! Tony and Jo wanted to stay on the boat to relax, and the rest of us piled into the dinghy and made for shore.
Once back in the marina, we secured the dinghy and found a great little french restaurant called Le Bistro, Café, Restaurant, and Bar à Vins. I had salade césar aux gambas (cesar salad with shrimp) and Coquillettes Jambon et Truffle (pasta shells with ham and truffles). The salad was -- I think -- the best I've ever enjoyed, and the main course was unique and extremely good as well with lots of truffles piled atop my pasta. I'm placing a copy of the menu in this journal. Prices are in euro. We enjoyed our meals and talked for hours -- we returned to the dinghy around 11pm. After returning to the Madrid we all hung out and talked and laughed about things. It's 12:20am now and everyone went to bed a short while ago. Time I do likewise. Tomorrow I think we're getting up early and heading over to Colombier, then possibly continuing on up to Anguilla. We're not sure why celebreities like St. Bart's so much... There are tons of expensive shops where 100 euro doesn't get you in the front door, and lots of megayachts and helicopters, but it seems there are better locations than this in the area. When we told one store clerk we are headed to Anguilla next, her eyes lit up and she expressed how we're so lucky to do that (in a way that suggested it bests St. Bart's). Time will soon tell... And now, it's time for bed. Out on the trampoline it gets very windy around 2am and I always end up coming back in. Last night at 1:30am I woke and moved to the cockpit, which was really nice -- fresh air, no wind. I'll try sleeping out there tonight and hope it goes well.
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