St Barths, French West Indies

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 9 Feb 2014 01:32

17:54.0N 62:51.5W

 

Saturday 8th Feb

 

We crept away from Antigua at 0500 hours and in no time at all were flying along under the staysail and reefed mainsail at 7+ knots with some 15 to 20 knots of wind from the east helping us on our way.

 

The seas had been forecast to be big and they were all of that with the big rollers running at an angle to the wind driven surface swell and so we had a rolly ride, but we covered the 80 miles in good time arriving outside Gustavia a little before 1600 hours.

 

There were several excitements along the way starting with the stunning sight of humpback whales breaching which is where the entire creature erupts from the ocean up into the air almost vertically.  Rob saw 4 of these whilst frantically calling Sarah back up on deck.  She, poor thing was suffering again from both seasickness and the side effects of the tablets she takes for this, which make her very sleepy and had gone below for a sleep.

 

She tried again for her much needed respite, but no sooner had she gone to bed than the fishing rod bent over to signify we had caught something.  So back she came on deck to slow Serafina down and help land what turned out to be a very nice sized tuna. This was an energetic blighter and we clean forgot to do all the bleeding etc. that we had researched, but we had the first of the tuna steaks that evening and they were probably the best ones we have ever had.  I have to pay tribute to Sarah for her role in all of this as she not only helps land the fish, but once I have gutted them she undertakes the far more complex role of filleting or cutting them into steaks for the fridge – all whilst sitting/kneeling on a pitching rear deck.

 

As usual the anchorages at St Barths were packed and the ones just outside the capital Gustavia were very rolly – more so than usual we felt.  But despite these conditions there are loads of huge super-yachts anchored outside the harbour (16 today) though God knows why as we do feel this island is very over-rated and the rolling is nearly intolerable.

 

We have only anchored in this spot as immediately behind where we are positioned is a large group of rocks which form a bird reserve and also the home to some outstanding snorkelling as Sarah discovered two years ago!  So our plan is to clear-in through customs and immigration in the morning and go for a snorkel before moving on to the well protected bay on the north end of the island for a more peaceful night.