Mardi Gras St Barths style.
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Thu 6 Mar 2014 19:08
After a peaceful night, well relatively when the dinghy commotion died down, we were up at a reasonable time and had a leisurely breakfast in the cockpit watching the Capitainerie go round in his launch checking the yachts in the bay and asking some to move as they were anchored in the fairway (the buoyed passage way into Gustavia). He takes his job seriously, we had watched him give a group of lads who were dinghying in the port too fast a telling off, that had them cowed and repentant. We were also entertained by the yellow submarine that was taking people out to the reef to look at the fishes. It is a glass bottomed boat and Sarah was very disappointed that it didn't actually submerge, otherwise she may have been tempted to purloin it as a replacement tender for Stream.
The carnival parade was due to start at 3pm, so after lunch we dinghied ashore and went in search of wifi. We were very lucky with our choice of bar, we managed to get seats over looking the streets where the locals were gathering for the afternoon events. They were all dressed in amazing costumes. There were some in those you would associate with Mardi Gras; skimpy and involving feathers and sparkly things in strategic places, luckily it was a warm day. Some of these were creative; a group of girls had made theirs out of different bread rolls and loaves, they had a sign in their headress;" The OLD BAGuettes." Numerous super heroes were in attendance including Rastaman, Capt America, Batman and Catwomen, as well as figures from well known play station games. All the main horror characters we represented, as were pirates, the armed forces, naval uniforms, animals, etc.There was a strong contingent from the flower power era. Also the traditional palms were much in evidence. There was even the Jamaican Bobsleigh team with the bobsleigh: Cool Running! People of all ages were dressed up, including babies and toddlers in nappies, one of our favourites was a 6 month old harlequin and a musketeers who was just starting to walk, with sword and big hat! All the costumes had the French flair and were worn with confidence and style.
A jazz band wandered down the street and into the bar as a warm up for the afternoon and was much appreciated by the clientele and those gathering on the street. It was nice to see people of all ages joining in the fun and whole families dressed up and enjoying the atmosphere. Much drinking was happening, including a flapper with a jug of pimms and a ghost buster with a tank of something. But it was good spirits and bonhomie. The only slight concern was the gendarmes stopping one man (one of the few of colour) concerned about his baseball bat. But he went back all smiles.
The parade did not disappoint. On the first float was Vaval the Carnivale king, well an effigy that would be burned on Shell Beach on Ash Wednesday evening. There were goats on the next one followed by an African drumming band with spectacular headdresses and Carib dancers. Next was a float dressed as a filming crew filming African dancers in the jungle; lots of grass skirts and shaking. The dancers ranged from about 6 to 40 and were really good and managed to keep going until past 5 pm and then had a break before parading in the opposite direction. Montbars the Exterminator had his float, another was Invictus full of Roman Gladiators, the pineapple girls with their pink, yellow and purple feather headdresses did a grand job despite their DJ. The pyjama parade drummers came in the middle of the parade and were greeted by roars of approval from the crowd, who joined in with them as they stopped and played on the corner for an extra five minutes before they went along the front. This doesn't cause a problem with the parade because the onlookers just fill the gaps and walk along the streets with the parade. It was a great spectacle and we really got into the mood. However, we were a little taken back by the last float; 'Wake Up St Barths!' Which had the Jouve Jump Up team from St Martin and were as awful as they had been at 5am on Saturday, but it was a live band rather than just a computer.
We followed the parade around the harbour, many break off to perform extra parts for the crowd at different sections. The bars that are open do a roaring trade. One of the restaurants had designated itself the first aid centre for the parade, we had noticed them preparing earlier in the day. As we wandered passed we realised this meant drinks and snacks rather than plasters and bandages!
As we got back to our dinghy we came across the African drum band taking a rest on a back street and having food. They were still in good form and it gave us a chance to look at their costumes, headdresses and drums up close. Then it was back to the boat for some food. As we sat in the cockpit we could see and hear the parade on the return journey to the commercial dock.
As we sat in the cockpit we were slightly concerned (if Darrell had had his way it could have been a Tuesday night grump) at the appearance of several yachts with no lights on coming in at speed to anchor between other boats and then having to up anchor as they were too close. One or two could have been dismissed but twelve! We weren't sure what the hurry was, as customs was closed for the night and they had missed Mardi Gras!