The weather for James' Easter break was great for the first few days and then pretty heavy rain and swell was forecast - keen to get some diving in we headed back to Ile Fourche the first morning.
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| Boys off for a dive |
There was a bit more swell than we would have liked on the trip there making it a bit of a rolly motor into the wind, once inside the bay it wasn't as calm as when we were last there but the water clarity was amazing and they boys had an brilliant first dive, with heaps of lobsters, turtles and a nurse shark. When they got back to the boat the biggest fish were however just hanging out under Askari - a school of about 6 huge tarpon just sitting there. We spent a lovely lazy afternoon in the bay and BBQ'd that night.
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| Ile Fourche |
Next morning we went to clear into St Barth at Gustavia - we anchored virtually in the same spot we went to last time, even though the bay was packed with racing yachts taking part in the Voile de St Barth. It was quite a sight when we came into the harbour.
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| St Barths - my fav street |
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| St Barths - so French but with palm trees |
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| Gustavia - busy dinghy dock |
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| Gustavia pano |
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| Birthday dinner at Orega |
Having cleared in we explored around town and had some breakfast before heading back to Askari for another dive and then back ashore for a special 18th birthday celebration dinner at Orega; a fantastic French-Japenese fusion restaurant. We concluded that if you are going to eat out in St Barth why not do it properly and Orega was certainly a show of amazing food, flamboyant guests, glamorous staff - Andrew's wasabi martini, the sushi plates and my seabass were out of this world. It was a memorable and fun night; highly recommended for a special occasion.
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| Sailing by Sint Maarten |
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| Motoring to Anguilla |
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| Glass Off |
Good Friday and it was a complete glass off - James slept in and we motored back past St Martin to Anguilla. This was the first time since we were in the Algarve that we have had a proper glass off - not a breath of wind. I have had Anguilla on my list of must visit islands for years - I think ever since we bought the Jimmy Buffet live in Anguilla album. I imagined it to be just like Barbuda, i.e. long stretches of white sand beach and blue water, so when we approached this low lying island to meet shear rocks, which looked like sandstone dropping into the crystal water it was a bit of a surprise, however there are also long long stretches of sand too. We dropped anchor in Road Bay and went to clear in.
Having spent the last few weeks in the French islands, which have automated their clearing in process, coming back to a British protectorate and all the paperwork and stamping was a bit of a chore; I don't think James had ever seen carbon paper in use like this..... However, the Immigration, Port, Customs and Fisheries people were so friendly and told us all about the best places to go, we decided to buy a parks pass for two days and explore. Just as we were leaving somehow we got into a conversation about fish, and before we knew it they were on the phone to a guy selling fish out of his car and providing bags for us to get our fish back to the boat..... all part of the checking in service???
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| This one was too big for us! |
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| Party Anguilla Good Friday |
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| Beer for the boys at Anguilla Party |
Many of the beach bars were closed, it being Good Friday so we walked down the beach and found a jump up / birthday party / beach BBQ with the loudest music being played from two huge speakers strapped to the top of the smallest car. We went and enjoyed a beer before heading back to Askari for some serious and not so serious paddle boarding - the boys certainly need to work on their technique!!
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| I think my tiki was getting abused! |
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| James paddlin |
The next morning we had to go back to town to collect our clearance for the following day, as we didn't plan to come back to Road Bay. That ended up being a bit of a drama as no customs officials were there so we had to go to the main Port, where a team of about 5 people were working on Easter Saturday - no wonder they were not very happy to provide a clearance for a yacht, the rest of the island was at an Easter festival..... Clearance obtained, written in ye olde English possibly by Captain Cook?? We headed off to the islands.....
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| To whom it doth concern I particularly like that the boat is to be navigated by 3 'men' |
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| Prickly Pear |
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| Only my footsteps on Prickly Pear island |
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| Prickly Pear |
First stop Prickly Pear island where we went snorkelling and had a fantastic lobster lunch at Johnno's - served by the man himself! The beach a prickly pear is just perfect, unfortunately the reef was very broken and we were a bit disappointed in the snorkeling. Next stop, closer to the mainland the tiny Sandy Island - again amazing clear water but not much to see, so we grabbed a beer before heading back to the mainland.
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| Andrew and Johnno |
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| Prickly Pear |
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| Sandy Island |
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| Sandy Island |
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| Sandy Island, Anguilla - Askari in the distance |
The permit for the national park in Anguilla does not allow you to anchor or stay on the moorings overnight but you can go to the anchorages on the mainland. Having had a good night at Road Bay we opted to pop back there - all was going well until I dropped the anchor right on a mast that I didn't see until we pulled back. Luckily we had used a trip line, so Andrew was able to pull up the mast with our windlass, tie off the line and then drop the anchor tilting it back. I then swam down and just had to wiggle it a little before we got free - phew!! We then managed to find a spot in nice clear sand and even saw an Eagle Ray cruise right alongside the boat, showing off so we could all see. A quick sundowner ashore and an amazing sunset - sooo good that I took some pictures but while checking them out on my phone missed the Green Flash - I can't believe it, everyone had said Anguilla is a good spot for it but stupidly I didn't look; Andrew and others in the bar were all so pleased with themselves!
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| The sunset but I missed the Green Flash :-( |
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| John's Road Bay |
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| Cocktails in Anguilla |
The weather was really cloudy the next morning, but we really wanted to check out Little Bay so we cruised around the coast and took a mooring in this stunning spot, just under the cliffs, surrounded by caves and just one small beach you could only get to from the sea. A couple of the super yachts anchored in the next bay had set up lunch settings on the beach. The boys snorkelled and I had a lovely paddle board around the bay - really lovely until the rain started and wowser did it rain, then the thunder and lightening came oh gosh..... we put the radar on and monitored the huge storm cell that was just sitting right over Anguilla.
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| Little Bay, Anguilla - such a shame the weather wasn't better |
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| Little Bay, Anguilla |
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| Yalla also making a run for it - just a bit faster than us!! |
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| We had to dig out rain jackets |
We got a bit of a reprieve for a few minutes so we dropped the mooring and decided to leave for St Martin. The rain and wind came back even stronger, we couldn't see a thing so we decided we should pull into Road Bay again and wait it out. Half an hour later it looked like it had moved off so we headed out again, the rain did come back but this time we were prepared with rain jackets etc. We motor sailed as fast as we could back to Sint Maarten to try and make the 3pm bridge - we got into the bay at 2.55pm and to the bridge just as it closed, we called them on the radio but they wouldn't keep it open - boo hoo! We waited and took the 5pm bridge getting back into the French Lagoon just in time for sundowners and burgers at Lagoonies.
The weather was just awful again on easter Monday, we went to Marigot to clear in and have a wander around but nothing was open it was really dreary so it was a relaxing a reading day back on the boat before heading out to the Soggy Dollar bar for sundowners and dinner at Little Jerusalem - what a cheap night with $1 beers and $30 dinner for 3 including wine!! It nearly ended being an eventful night though as when we left the dinghy dock it was really windy so Andrew decided we need to be super speedy, all going well until we didn't see the mooring line on a huge super yacht tied to a ball that was underwater due to the howling gale...... Andrew went flying, but luckily no damage was done and we whizzed back to Askari - James and I spent the rest of the evening laughing hysterically at Andrew who looked like something out of a road runner cartoon (it was of course my fault as I had the torch!!).
Tuesday cleared up and we did a long beach walk to Karakters, however the swell was huge and the beach was no where near as nice as it should be covered in weed, ah well a nice lunch and relax before whizzing James back to the Pink Iguana Bar / dinghy dock for the airport......
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| Big Surf in Simpson Bay |
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| Karakters awash |
We then cleaned, provisioned, topped up with fuel, left the lagoon and tomorrow we head to the BVIs......
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| Leaving Sint Maarten with the big boys |
