St Barthelemy 17:54.3N 62:51.4W

Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Mon 21 Mar 2016 14:56
Well we knew that there were a few superyachts over here but we didn't realise the scale of the racing. We left Statia early in the morning for the passage across to St Barths and came across at a steady 6-7knots arriving at about 11.00, I know the Solent gets crowded but I think this beats it hands down, you could see the masts from about 7 miles off. Luckily we came in during a lull in the yachts crossing the entrance so weren't run down by any 100ft plus yachts coming downwind under cruising chutes!  We were too busy dodging them to take any photos
Finding space to anchor was the next challenge, the marked anchorages have mooring buoys as well so you have to find a clear space in between boats at anchor and boats on moorings and hope the wind doesn't change while your ashore, it could be mayhem.  We are underneath the approach path for small aircraft arriving at the landing strip, and its busy - possibly the owners of the yachts leaving after the racing.
Having settled and had lunch we went to clear in with the harbour and were very impressed by the harbour master not only clearing yachts in but controlling the steady flow of mega yachts and their mega tenders coming in to moor.
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