St Barts and Australia Day

We had a fine run to St. Barthelemy better known as St. Bart.  With its sharply contoured rocky hill, a nice port and gorgeous beaches, it has become a world famous chic destination for the well-to-do "in" crowd including the rich and famous, movie and sport stars, actors and singing entertainers. Since we visited here in May 2009, we did not stay long. 

 

This time the harbor was so busy that we had to anchor outside the inner harbor.  It was a little rolly and we were subjected to many boat wakes.  One particularly large wave smacked the bottom of our dingy that was suspended 1 meter above the water on our stern davits.  The impact exploded two 3-pulley Harken blocks.  Emily helped me by sketching how all the parts were interconnected before I went shopping. 400 euros later in parts and one day had it all fixed better than new.

 

We made a quick trip to shell beach and had a bit of lunch ashore.  The beach did not have the variety of shells as we had remembered but the girls still gathered half a bag full for later inspection.   

 

We had time to reconnect and break bread with Doug and Linda aboard Aries Too (their Nordhavn 55) that we had met in Trinidad.  This picture proves that their 55 foot boat (in front) was not the largest one in St. Barts this week.

Finally, this last picture does not mean that we have dropped our US citizenship.  Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British. Two years ago, we were cruising with Cam and Nikki, a couple of proud Aussies.  They introduced us to Vegemite and Emily is still working her way through the jar that they presented to us the day we sailed in opposite directions.  They also presented us with a signed Australian flag.  Today that flag flies above Emily Grace to honor Australia day 2014.  Cam recently told me that after 6 years living together that Nikki had 

“finally got through the trial period ....yes sir eeee she's a lucky girl!!!!”

and that they had gotten married.  This, my friends, is proof positive that a country founded by criminals can produce a few upstanding citizens.

Tom