17:53.957N 062:51.389W

 

Our stay in Bermuda turned out to be a little bit shorter than we expected, not because we didn't enjoy the place (it is lovely!) but because we got the most fantastic weather forecast for our trip on south to the Caribbean.  Not wanting to kick the proverbial gift horse in the teeth after spending a couple of days in and around St Georges and a full day touring the island we hauled up our anchor and headed back out into the Atlantic.  Sad as we were to leave so soon it proved well worth it!  As we went out through the reef we unfurled the sails and set off on a broad reach in about 15 to 20 knots of breeze and.....five days later, some 900 miles down the track, still on the same tack and having hardly had to touch the sails at all we caught our first sight of the West Indies or Anguilla and St Martin to be precise.

 

For most of the trip we were heading towards Antigua but with just a day to go we decided we really wanted to drop in to St Bart's first.  This is the really civilised French bit of the Caribbean and has more in common with St Tropez than St Vincent.  We are anchored just off the little harbour of Gustavia (the name is a throw back to a brief period of Swedish colonial history) which is surrounded by lots of cafes and restaurants and believe it or not more swanky shops than Bond Street!  Hermes, Cartier, Dior, Louis Vuitton and a large number of uber-fashionable clothing brands that I wouldn't even recognise are all represented so there must be a lot of very rich visitors to this tiny island. Given the good coffee, great croissants and crystal clear azure waters I am not surprised that many choose to idle away their winters here.

 

We will probably move on in the next day or so looking for the more "genuine" Caribbean experience of Reggae and Rastas along with a sail maker to tidy up the leach of our mainsail who doesn't charge in Euros!