Gustavia - St Barts Island
Stargazer of Southampton
Susie and Adam (both think they are skipper)
Wed 13 Apr 2011 00:32
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12:04.11,
17.54.31N 62:51.51W This morning we were up bright and early to head to
Gustavia which is the main town on St Barts which is another of the French
islands, it was only an hours sail from Ile Fourchou so we got here by half
nine. There was a nice light breeze this morning so we decided to sail off
the mooring buoy rather than put the engine on - it's one of those things you
learn to do but once you're out sailing you get into a routine using the engine
to get in and out of everywhere. . . . so we thought we'd practice -
I don't know why but there is something really nice about just putting up the
sails and slipping away silently to the next place. . . . . . .
We've spent the day having a look around Gustavia,
it's a really small place and quite sleepy - its very quaint but quite smart,
with lots of little posh french shops, there are some nice old buildings.
It is a small port but mainly pleasure boats, we've only seen one fishing boat
and it isn't big enough for ships. I am not sure who buys all
the Rolexes and designer clothes that the shops are selling as there doesn't
seem to be enough people here!
We are anchored just outside of the harbour - the
water here is amazingly clear and blue. About 500 metres from where we are
anchored are some little rock islands that we're hoping to go and dive around
tomorrow. I am hoping that we'll be able to do some good
dives - when we were walking around the harbour in town just off the quay
we saw lots of a fish called Tarpon hiding under the boats - some of them were
2ft long - hope that we see some on the dive sites and that they're not just all
hiding in the harbour, I've never seen them in the water on a dive so it was
wierd to see gangs of them sitting around about 2ft away from
land.
Went for a walk up the hill to the site of an old
fort just out of town - and found this (below) wandering about on the path
up to the fort - never seen one with orange feet before -
I love tortoises could have spent half an hour just watching his determined
progress up the path, tortoises always look old, I think it is the face that
does it. He wasn't that slow though, by the time we had spent 10 mins
looking at the view from the top of the hill tortoise appeared at the top and
ambled off into the grass.
 Here are some views around the very well
kept town - it almost feels un-Caribbean since it is just a bit too tidy -
Some French people we knew who are sailing over here said that St Barts is the
Monte carlo of the Caribbean, can't comment on that as have never been to Monte
Carlo. . . but it is quite a nice sleepy little place (although with some
very expensive shops) - especially a good change from busy St
Martin.
High street. . . .
 Me modeling a very big anchor
 Old Clock tower
 Church
 The entire town and harbour from the old site
of Fort Karl
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