Caribbean Cafe Society
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Bamboozle
Jamie and Lucy Telfer
Fri 22 May 2009 21:08
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!
![]() Downtown Gustavia ![]() Lucy enjoying cafe creme and a giant local
croissant! |