St Barthelemy (St Barts)
Ernestina
Fri 20 Mar 2020 01:51
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Monday 2nd though to Friday 6th March 2020
We had not particularly planned on visiting St Barts but we did not want to go any further north than Saba at this time and, when we came to leave, the wind direction made it a sensible choice of destination. We checked-out from Saba and
had a good up-wind sail towards the small French island.
En route, we checked the AIS (automatic identification system) on the chart plotter. AIS shows us information for those vessels which transmit AIS, and the plotter works out the “CPA” and “TCPA” (Closest Point of Approach and Time of CPA), i.e. the closest distance we expect to get to a vessel and when this will happen. The calculations are based on the current course and speed of each vessel and are updated in real time as these change. AIS can spot boats well before they are visible, and on this occasion, with St Barts about 10 miles away, I clicked on the triangular icon indicating an AIS vessel that looked as though it was leaving the island. The screen showed “Maltese Falcon”! For those who don’t know this is a very big, very famous, innovative yacht and she and Ernestina were going to pass pretty close to each other. Gradually the Falcon came into view; we slowed down to let her pass ahead and wow!, what a sight under full sail.  Shortly after this exciting encounter we arrived at St Barts and anchored outside the harbour of Gustavia, the main town. Gustavia reeks wealth and opulence; the harbour is full of super-yachts (such as the Falcon) and the streets around the
harbour are full of high-end designer shops. It is, however, all very picturesque, and more importantly the check-in was very easy!
After dinner aboard and a quiet night at anchor we went ashore to explore, visit the chandlers, get some provisions from the supermarket, and for Nick to get a haircut. Amanda found an up-market deli where they wanted €16 for a packet of Waitrose brand coffee that would have been £4; presumably this is where the victuallers from the super-yachts shop with their platinum credit cards! Time for a quick sundowner in a harbour front bar and back to Ernestina for dinner. Early checkout the next morning (with 24 hours grace period) and a motor through a super-yacht anchorage for a couple of miles took us up to Anse Du Colombier at the NW tip of the island. This is a secluded bay with a spectacular beach and a few mooring buoys. It is only accessible by boat or on foot along a coast path from a village on the NE coast. We loaded the paddleboards with gear for the beach and went ashore making camp
in a secluded spot between some rocks. A lovely walk along the coast path took as across the narrow isthmus to the windward side and the Atlantic....................
 The Atlantic on the left and the Caribbean on the right
.......where we found a cosy bar with Wi-Fi. Returning to Colombier we had a relaxing afternoon with a swim, lunch, reading and sunbathing before returning to Ernestina. We then went snorkelling and saw lots of turtles, a ray and a shark. A very quiet night on the mooring buoy before an early start to cover the 50 miles or so to Nevis on the way to Montserrat. We anchored overnight off Ouille Beach at Nevis before sailing the remaining 35 miles to Montserrat passing the rock called Redonda. More pictures from St Barts and Redonda here……………. Nick Clayton |