4/5th April - Anse de Colombier, St Barts 17:55.520N 062:52.168W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Tue 9 Apr 2013 20:26
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"Anse de
Colombier, St Barts - 4th April"
This is a beautiful bay, which used to be owned by the Rockfeller's. The house on the hill above the bay is just visible but the turquoise summerhouse sitting on the headland is plain for all to see. It looks rather like the top of the Eiffel Tower. We stayed happily on this mooring, it is sheltered from the swell outside the bay and gave us the opportunity to fix the calorifier tank which has been leaking. This took some time as we needed to dry out the contents of the cockpit locker, wet sails etc as well as fix the leak. All seems to be well, the pump is back on and the water circulating. The major test will be when we run the engine and the water heats up but so far it is all looking good. After our hard work we enjoyed a fabulous snorkel along the rocks close by. We saw so many different fish, including my favourite bright blue and purple parrot fish. The coral is in a poor state but the eel grass is recovering, now that people can pick up a mooring instead of anchoring which destroys the growth of the eel grass when anchors plough through the sand as they set or are pulled up. We had the delightful experience of watching a turtle feeding on the eel grass and then surface to breath before diving to feed again. He had glorious markings on his flippers and his shell was mingled shades of green patchwork. Another amazing sight was just below Whisper the sand was littered with large starfish. As we returned to Whisper looking down at the starfish I then looked up to see that just below the surface there was an enormous shoal of tiny blue coloured fish. Later in the afternoon when back on board after a second swim, we could also see through the crystal clear water which was full of tiny fish again but this time much larger fish looking for their supper caused quite a turbulence, the small fry leaping about as the great shoal twisted and turned to avoid the hungry mouths of their predators. Later we took the dinghy ashore and went for a short walk along the beach and back. It was a very pleasant and gentle day. "Anse de Colombier, St Barts - 5th April" We had planned to move our anchorage today, but changed our minds after breakfast. The swell had died down and it seemed an ideal opportunity to re-thread our signal halyard. I volunteered to go up the mast having checked that I would be able to reach the pulley on the spreader! I tried to pull myself up to lighten the load for Noel winding furiously below. By the time I reached the spreader I was puffing. The line threaded easily and amazingly did not get tangled, the two ends tied together I then called to Noel to let me down and the job was done all in a matter of minutes. The next task was to syphon water from our forward water tank to the main tank. These tasks completed we felt that it was time to enjoy some recreation. Snorkels and fins attired we had a great time looking down on the world below us. We found the turtle feeding again and this time I had my camera with me and he posed happily nibbling at the eel grass. We saw lots of fish again, including four cuttlefish. I took many pictures but it is not easy underwater, then inevitably the battery went flat so I cannot check the quality until I am able to recharge it, when we next run the engine. It is not so warm today and rained at lunch time. Noel started to collect water, but as quickly as it had started it stopped. Later in the afternoon several other showers passed overhead and our 'water collector' was very pleased with himself having collected 10 free litres! The rest of the day was spent very lazily. Photographs: "Turtles" |
