TOURING NEVIS May 19, 2015
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My touring of Nevis last year, was a trip to get my propane tank filled at the south end of the island. About a 5 minute cab trip. I also went to the gas station in town, to get dinghy gas. That was a total rip-off. The propane was ridiculously expensive, the gas was worse and the cab ride was the most expensive since NYC. This time we were smarter and propane prices are rock bottom low. The cab we had used to take us on a tour so on the way back, we worked a deal. We got the price down from last year, and Stan a boat buddy from Pensacola also needed propane, so we split the cab fare. Made the price of a bottle of propane almost normal.
We did two tours, one by cab and one by bus. We started with the cab. This was to a sugar plantation that has been restored and turned into a boutique resort. Great restaurant. Reasonable and great food. That is hard to beat in the islands. The grounds were beautiful. There was a swimming pool we could use, but it was overcast and windy. To cold for us tropical types. Wind and water around 80 degrees.
The next day we went to a botanical garden by bus. The ride there was good. They detoured and took us to the gate. The trip back was a little more arduous. We had to walk about a ¾ a mile, mostly up hill. Hill in these volcanic island are serious. We 2 old geezers made the walk and got the bus back to town without any heat attacks. For pictures see my Facebook page.
Weather window happened on Friday and we sailed to Montserrat for the night. From there we sailed on to Deshaies, Guadeloupe. The trip to Montserrat was not what was forecast. 20-25 kts on the nose with 4-5 foot lumpy seas also on the nose. Made for a super slow trip. I was one very unhappy camper by the time we got anchored. I had all kinds of excuses, but the biggest mistake was not sailing the boat right. I did not get the main ready to set, and when I needed it, it was so rough, I was not going out on deck to set it. Therefore, no speed.
The trip to Guadeloupe was almost a perfect sail. 3-4 foot seas and wind around 16 knots. Started out about 0630 on a tight reach. Around noon the wind picked up to high teens and back to a point we had a broad reach. Great sailing. Got anchored with a smile.
Time for a great bakery and more tours. Next week. See Facebook
IT COULD HAPPEN March 17, 2015
Posted by sailingnightwatch in Carabbean, Durbeck, FL, Florida, ICW, Pensacola, Repairs, Restoration, Sailing the ICW.1 comment so far
The trip to the clinic did not happen. The mate woke up feeling like she may beat the cold, so why go. Well I caught her cold yesterday and although am not as sick as she was, I am far from 100%. Plus I have been trying at least half heartedly to see a doc about these spots on my arms. My arms have been in the sun a lot in 70 years, and my lifestyle does not led one to the inside or even the shade. I have looked on the internet, now there is some stuff that will scare you. I see nothing as bad as that stuff, but maybe a little. Maybe in St John USVI. At least there is Medicare and insurance. We will see.
Well, the weather guy is up to his lying ways again. Back into the 20’s, gusting into the 30’s. Just like the last 3 weeks. We are anchored a long ways from anyplace. Everything is between 1-2 miles away. One of those ways is against the wind and the chop of the seas. It is impossible to stay dry. Once wet with salt water, you tend to stay wet. Once you get a cold, you tend to keep a cold. But mine is getting better faster then the mate’s. Oh, the weather guy…, next week.
The weather patterns are changing, so you work at getting ready. Last loads of laundry, last grocery shopping at as many as 3 different stores. Get part you need. None of which are in the same direction.
After being in one location for 6 weeks, you tend to develop new relations. Our Canadian Boat Buddies are scattered around the islands. We will run into them here and there, but our effort to reach Grenada was accomplished. This anchorage we fell in with a group that was heading south for the first time. We are heading a little further north to the Virgin Islands. After a month in the Virgins we will also head south.
Monday is looking good. If the weather is right, we will head straight for St John USVI. We will visit the island more then the 2 days we did last year. Then we will go to the British Virgin Islands and meet my Dock Lord from Pensacola. After he leaves in mid April, maybe my daughter and family will come. With our daughter, you never know until they climb on the plane. We were hoping our son would also come, but coordinating 4 jobs and school is to much to overcome.
Time to get the boat ready to sail. Still no wifi, plus if we leave, it could be a while. Wifi in the Virgins was a hit and miss situation.
AT LEAST IT IS PRETTY HERE March 14, 2015
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Still here. I posted a couple pictures of the hills that we are facing. That’s right facing. The trades blow out of the east therefore, we face east. Chris Parker our hired weather man says this is the longest sustained plus 20 knot trade winds since 2004. We have been here 6 weeks and the trades have blown hard for the last 5. The last week they have been blowing harder. We have had gusts of 44 kts. in the lagoon. That is full gale speed. Thank goodness it was only a gust. You always worry about dragging anchor and rarely a day goes by when a message comes on the net that someone is dragging.
Last week was the Heineken Regatta. That is a series of sail boat races that went on for 4 days. They are all at sea and with the weather, there were few spectators out there. Sunday I went over to the Yacht Club and observed the boats coming in through a draw bridge and by the deck of the Club. They have a review of the crews of the various boats as they pass by. They are judged for originality, skin, performance, and more skin. The crowd shouts out a number and a couple girls in Heineken tops and shorts hold up the number like they do rounds at a prizefight. One crew came in all dressed in pajamas with the design on them matched the graphics of the boat. The 10 went to the boat with the topless lady at the bow and the crew in skimpy outfits. See my face book page. One of the boats came through the bridge, swerved towards the deck we were standing on and let go with a barrage of water balloons. They got a 0. It was a big race boat and probably had 15 or so crew on board. In the 20 seconds or so it takes to get by they can through a lot of balloons. I was right behind the girls with the numbers and could duck below the railing. It had a hard Heineken sign on it or I would have gotten wet. The girls were prime targets. It was a good time.
This coming week the trades are supposed to lay down starting Monday with winds running 15-18 knots. We will then head for St John USVI. We will wait there till our guest comes to the BVI’s on the 31st. He will be here a week or so and I am looking forward to his visit. He is a great sailor and has been in the BVI’s several times. Should know some better places then we know.
The mate has a cold, she says a sinus infection. We are going to the clinic on the French side tomorrow. That should be interesting. My French vocabulary is hello, good by, thank you, yes, no and bakery. Sometimes I can count most of the way to 10, maybe. That’s all you really need to know. They do not like to speak English. But if you try even ever so little, they will speak English.
Still no WiFi, but we will try to get this out tomorrow.
March 2, 2015
Posted by sailingnightwatch in Carabbean, Durbeck, FL, Florida, ICW, Pensacola, Repairs, Restoration, Sailing, Sailing the ICW.1 comment so far
SABA
The lady was very successful in putting together a package that included a ferry to the island, pickup for a tour of the island, lunch and return to the ferry. Check out at 8 AM and return at 5 PM.
OK, I can hear people thinking why would he take a ferry when he has a boat. The ferry is a high speed, wave piercing Catamaran. An hour and a half one way vs. a 7 hour sail one way. That is not the worse. The island is pretty much up and down at a very steep angle.
There is almost no place to anchor. To deep. Your only option is to take one of the 20 or so mooring balls. Two problems. The first being you may sail the 7 hours to get there and find all the mooring balls are taken. Secondly, the balls are in poor repair and there have been 3 sailboats break free in the past few months. These are government balls. They get a grant from a major country for the balls but no money for maintenance. A politician is a politician. NO NEW TAXES. Especially to take care mooring balls for those rich cruisers. Therefore I took the ferry and had no wear and tear on either the boat or my brain worrying about where I may find my boat.
The island. Population less then 2000 spread about in 4 towns. The first is The Bottom. Not really at the bottom but 1400 feet up the hill. The next town is St Johns, then Windwardside. Guess why it is so named. Finally you get to Hell’s Gate. This is on the NE corner of the island where the trades blow hardest. It’s claim to fame is World’s smallest commercial airport runway. 1300 feet long perched 136 feet above the sea. The airline uses a twin engine Otter aircraft. Think bush pilot and his plane. See the pictures in Facebook. They do not give the feeling of the heights your at. It gets very little rain so everyone has a cistern for water. Very friendly people.
The electricity for the island comes from 2 diesel generators that are at the port. The port is man made at the SW corner of the island. Very open to the seas. Can hold one interisland ship at a time and the ferry. Has a place to tie your dinghy and let it get bashed into the concrete pier. Before the port, which is not very old, they landed everything on a beach and porter it up steps to The Bottom.
There is one road with a couple short roads off to other places. Years ago a Dutch engineer said it would be impossible to build a road on such terrain. A local taught himself civil engineering by correspondence course and designed and built the road. All by hand with no mechanized tools. The road is all concrete which was carried up and mixed on sight. This was started in the 40’s and completed in the 60’s. It has the steepest inclines and tightest switchbacks I have ever seen. All their vans are Nissans because they have a special differential that can handle the hills. All are standard shift and a lot of time you are in 1st gear. Up or down.
Sometime after the road project, they decided they wanted an airport. Again the engineers said “impossible”. The road builder was still alive and built the airport. That was back in the 60’s.
Oh, the ferry ride was something else. The weather here has been bad. Squally, windy and large seas. This day was no exception. We had about a 2 mile dinghy ride to where we caught the ferry. We follow a squall and did not get wet. The ferry followed the same squall as we headed to Saba. The wind was around the low 20’s with 6+foot seas. The ferry ran 20 knots. One of our friends brought his hand held GPS and said it never got below 19 knots. 6 foot seas mean 1/3 of the seas are 6 footers. The rest are either larger or smaller. The larger are usually where 2 waves get together and make a big one. Maybe 8 foot plus. The wave piercing bows on the cat means it goes through the waves. Some of them hit the bottom, some splash over the top. The ride is very shaky. Lots of movement in all directions. You hold on with at least one hand and brace your feet as best you can. By the time we got back, I was tired. That was like 3 hour in a washing machine. But well worth it. The mate was worried about the thing turning over or falling apart. I asked one of the crew how big the seas have to be for them to slow down. He said he had been onboard for 2 years and never remember slowing down. He did say they had canceled some trips but that was because the port in Saba was to rough for landing.
We are still in Saint Martin. Waiting a weather window that may happen around the 9th. Todays forecast calls for winds to 25 knots and 9 foot seas. Yesterday the seas were the same, with 30 knot winds. Monday, same wind and the seas drop to 8 foot. Then it gets rough. By Thursday the wind is back to 28 knots and seas at 10 foot, We have seen 10 footers. Scary in a little boat. We have been in 30+ knot winds. That is not nice either.
We are in a lagoon that is about 3 miles long and around a mile wide. A dinghy ride in this weather means you wear your foul weather jacket or get soaked to the bone. Lots of spray and occasional splash. Think someone throwing a bucket of water in your face.
A STUCK WEEK February 27, 2015
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Finishing up on projects and settling in the lagoon. Been windy and the seas have been high. Therefore we have stayed put. There was a small weather window Wednesday, but there were other things to do and here we are. One outgrowth is that one of the cruising ladies is putting together a discounted trip to Saba island by ferry. We will stay another week to go to Saba. It is basically a small rock. It has a population of around 1200 and is mostly straight up and down. Been written about a few times in “National Geographic”.
We have a friend from Gulf Breeze who is coming for a visit in the BVI’s in about 5 weeks. Therefore, we still have a month for a weather window.
We also have a lot of friends who we have met the past year who are here. They are either going home, going a little further north or heading south. This has meant to many happy hours, too many dinners out, and a rapid depletion of the cruising kitty. Going to have to start saying NO, before the mate forgets how to cook. But we have craved more social interaction and more eating out. Just went from one end of the spectrum to the other. Soon enough we will be off sailing by ourselves, so we will enjoy while we can.
St Martin is a gathering place for several reasons not only for the cruisers but also for the mega yachts. The large yachts use this as a place between charters. It is in the middle of the Virgin Islands to the west and the Leeward and Windward Island to the south. It is also a duty free island. That means no fees and taxes on things that you order for delivery here. You save money on things like Anchor Windlasses. There is also a large number of craftsmen to work on your boat. All this at a reasonable price. It also is a good place to reprovision at a good price. The Virgin Islands have become ridiculously expensive to do anything. The islands to the south usually do not have the facilities or trained craftsmen to do the work. Hence, we are being stuck in a good place.
Still no WiFi. The only drawback to the island. You can buy internet service, that is expensive and the service is still slow. Another reason to go to Happy Hour. Bars have free WiFi.
ON THE MOVE AGAIN…, KIND OF February 18, 2015
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We were happy, kind of in Simpson Bay, other then it gets rollie once in a while. It can be very annoying bouncing off bulkheads and having to always hang on when moving around the boat. Most days we rolled some, but our good luck was running out. Wednesday the mate went to a woman’s luncheon. It was rough going in, but we were running with the waves. As the afternoon progressed, the seas shifted to the south east. They were running 9 feet and began to wrap their way into the bay.
About 4 pm I get a call on the radio to pick up the mate. They had there luncheon in the lagoon that is attached to the bay. The lagoon is quite large and always choppy. Today was very choppy. Means you get wet from the spray. I picked up the mate and a friend who was hitching a ride back to their boat in the bay. Going into the bay you pass through a channel and under a draw bridge. The waves in the channel were about 3 feet. Going into them they are quite bumpy and very wet. I told the ladies they had not seen anything yet.
The bay had 4 foot swells coming into it and a strong breeze to help blow the spray. After getting to the boat one has to get from the dinghy to the boat. The boat was rolling about 15 degrees from side to side. We get on our boat via a ladder on the side. So, while the dinghy is rising and falling with the passing swells, you must time your step to the ladder when the boat is fully rolled to you and the dinghy in on the top of a swell. Then you can step on the top rung of the ladder and step on board. When your timing is right. This is one of those thing you have to do right or can get seriously hurt. Well we make it onboard with no more then a few swear words.
About 3 am the seas are still building and the wind blowing and then it decides to shift from the south to the north. The wind shift is fast enough that you wake up from a fit full sleep from having your body constantly rolling back and forth. But you wake up knowing thing are not good. One grabs some clothes, and goes to the cockpit. This is not good. It is raining but not hard, the wind is out of the north and has dropped from the mid 20’s to around 10-15 knots.
The islands we are in are in the trade wind area. The wind blows from the east, +/- 20 degrees. It blows this way day in and day out. It does not change other then velocity. People understand this and anchor knowing the trades will be steady. This is the heart of the tourist season and the anchorage is very crowded. Because there is very little swing, people anchor very close to you.
Now, we have had a slow 80 degree wind shift during the afternoon and now an quick 180 degree shift. Behind me were 2 boats that after the shift would be trading fiberglass. The last one to anchor picked up and moved. We ended up in front of a day charter boat by about ½ a boat length. That was way to close, but I was not moving in the middle of the night in a crowded anchorage. I did stay in the cockpit till 5 am insuring we did not drag and get mixed up with the day charter boat. By 5, the wind and squalls had passed and the wind showed signs of moving back to the east.
That afternoon we moved into the lagoon. It is pretty flat, but we are a long ways from anything. Thank goodness gas prices have fallen about $2/gal. The dinghy which gets great mileage, still needs it’s 3 gallons twice a week. Other problems, no WiFi. And we can not make water. The water is very clear, but the towns dump their sewage into the lagoon. The fecal count is suppose to be astronomical. Thursday we plan to go out into the bay and anchor for the day and run the water maker.
We are still trying to get to Saba Rock. It is an island that is very unique. Then we must do an overnight to the BVI’s and meet a friend for about 10 days of so of sailing. We are really looking forward to that visit. Then our daughter and family may come. She was looking for something reasonable in St John’s USVI. That is an oxymoron.
You will get this when I get it off. Remember, no WiFi on board. Oh, the new windlass worked like a dream.
STILL HERE February 2, 2015
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We should finish our projects this week. That will be good. I would like to move on, but where. Saba Rock still beckons from the horizon. The mate found there is a ferry that goes there in the morning and returns at night. Now she has to find the price. I would like that because you have to have a perfect weather window to get ashore. You also have to tie to a mooring ball. It is to deep to anchor. They have only a few balls and you could make a day trip and have no place to tie up and have to turn around and come back.
I also wanted to go to Anguilla. That is a British island about 12 miles north of St Martin. I would like to go, but the fees are ridicules. I am not a rich man and we would only spend a day or two there. I could always go back to St Bart’s. That’s right, I am not a rich man and we did about all you can do for nothing. Besides we will be back in May.
We could always move on to the BVI’s. Medium fees on getting in, but very few anchoring places. Almost all require you to be on a mooring ball. Nice balls, just $35 per night. That is every night and we do not have to be there till the end of March.
If everything goes perfectly, we should finish our projects late this week. We will then move to the French side of the island and anchor there for a week or two. Many good restaurants and I know where the bakery is at in town. The prices here are not to bad. The only problem is the bay we want to stay in is open to the north. With the cold fronts you have been spinning off the east coast every few days, generating large swells from the north. They roll right into the bay with no place to hide.
The bay we are at has nice clear water for the water maker. But it is rolly. The last few days the wind has been from the island, which is east and the stern faces the swell which makes you pitch. That is not as bad as rolling. There are suppose to be 9 foot swells coming onto the island, from the north this afternoon and evening. That size they will rap around the island and enter our rolly bay with waves from another direction. That gives you a wash machine effect. Wonderful.
Hopefully next week we will be able to tell you about a new harbor on the other side of the island.
FAT AND BROKE January 27, 2015
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I love that island, St. Bart’s. After a week we are satiated with pastries. We also ate twice at our favorite restaurant, found another at the ”beach”, found another beach that is 100 percent seashells. We also shopped and walked from one end of Gustavia to the other.
About the “beach”. It starts at a cliff, goes about ½ miles runs into another cliff with a resort perched on it, follow by another short stretch of beach. It ranges from about 20 feet wide to maybe 80 feet. The sand is tan and nice and soft. Not much beach. The water is crystal clear. The land side is either resorts, restaurants or shops of various kinds. It is a bust if you are used to the beaches at Pensacola Beach.
There are a couple of unique features of the beach. One is cultural the other is the island airport. The runway ends about 10 feet above and 200 feet from the waters edge. You can land both ways, from the water side, up hill or from the hill side, down hill. You can only take off down hill. The aircraft are mostly airlines of the one and two engine variety. The type you would expect to see in Alaska flown by bush pilots. You can also see the small jets of the rich and famous. When taking off, you get to your roll up point pull up hard and turn left , hard. That helps you miss the hill on the other side of the beach. Remember cliff, This one has another resort on it with the rooms facing the runway.
Landing has its own little excitements. Less then a mile from the end of the runway you pass over the saddle of this hill at 1-200 feet, dip down, pull up hard, touchdown and slam on the brakes. One of our boat buddies said it is an memorable experience.
The cultural feature, French women occasionally go topless on the beach. Perfectly acceptable. Some are young and attractive and some are my age and not so much. It is a rare occurrence, but we are batting 100%.
Along the beach and a block inland you can find all kinds of interesting shops from typical beach shops, art studios to very expensive boutiques. I am not a shopper, but it makes it fun and interesting.
We left St. Bart’s and went to the Ile Fourchue. It is a very rugged private island that no one lives on. You can go ashore and hike. Hiking is of the up and down variety. There are about a dozen boats on mooring balls and that is it. It is a sanctuary for everything. And the night is the best. It is dark. I mean really dark, like a cave. But there are billions and billions of stars. So many you can not find the stars of the night that you are used to. It is an amazing, beautiful experience.
The next day we sailed to Simpson Bay St. Maarten. We will be here through most of February. We are here for repairs and additions. Minor repairs and a big addition for me.
Simpson Bay is one of the most rollie anchorages we go into. It is close to the shops we need and that is good. We do have WiFi. Ohh soo sslloooow. Lets see if it will work.
ST BART’S II January 19, 2015
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Yea we were here in May. This is my favorite island. When we were here in May we were outside of the tourist season. Only the local beautiful people were here. Now is tourist season and everybody is here. Looked out the hatch this morning and behold a cruise ship. It was anchored about a half mile away. Cruise ship people are my age or more. Not in the best of shape and have partaken of too much of the food they feed you. You can pick them out like you can we cruisers.
Gustavia is the main town on the island. It is 10 blocks long by 10 blocks wide with a harbor taking about 1/3 the area, out of the center. We have casually walked the entire length going around the harbor. Put 1500 cruise ship people into town and it fills it up. Tomorrow we have a large cruise ship and a mini cruise ship in. We are going to try to get a taxi to the beach I mentioned last week. Got to go early for 2 reasons. First, we learned last time to get the best pastries, you have to be early to the bakery. Secondly, got to beat the cruise ship people to the taxies.
There was a yacht anchored near the cruise ship The yacht was maybe 100-150’ shorter then the cruise ship. The yacht was easily in the 300’ plus range. It is the biggest I have ever seen outside a magazine. They had a 40 mahogany tender. That is the dinghy the guests take to shore. It had an outside seating area and an inside seating area. Nice boat. Probably cost two to three times what my whole boat cost. God only knows what the big yacht cost. There are probably over a dozen of these world class yachts here. Most a lot bigger then were in Antigue.
We also found our favorite restaurant. Same menu as in May. We will do dinner again. Eat the same thing. Looking forward to that. It was really good. It is the mates belated birthday dinner. Saturday was her birthday and we were in Barbuda. Her birthday afternoon was spent getting ready to leave at 4 in the morning.
Barbuda is a gem. It is poor and unspoiled by development. It has the largest Frigate bird rookery in this hemisphere. We took a boat tour there Saturday morning. Something you will not soon forget about your birthday.
Then we walked on their beach which is miles long and you pretty much have it to yourself. The beach is famous because it has a pinkish cast. This is caused by millions of very tiny pink clams that was up and get pulverized by the surf. It is really nice. The town is small, poor, very clean and very friendly. Everyone has a chain link fence around there house. This is to keep the wild donkey and the horses that roam free on the island out of your house. The horses do belong to people, but they just let them roam free.
Why no development? There are two widely diverse reasons. Politics and attitude. Not the thing to be discussed in this blog. But interesting.
St Bart’s was hit by an cat 2 hurricane this summer. The island was on the edge and the only thing that can be seen are a couple boats up on the rocks and not matching new shingles on some of the older homes. Most homes here have red tile roofs. There is definitely a French look to their architecture. I am happy for them not being hit hard. This is a beautiful unique place.
JOLLY HARBOR, ANTIGUE January 13, 2015
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Well, never heard from either the manufacturer or the local service guy about my water maker. Looking at my numbers I may be within there tolerance for a year old system. I just think the tolerance is a little broad. But who am I.
We are in Jolly Harbor. It is about 15 miles NE of Falmouth Bay, where we were. We have been here since Wednesday. I was very happy to move, even though it was only 2-1/2 hours to get here. It is enclosed on 3 sides with an inner harbor that has a marina and the town.
Friday we went to St John, the island capital and its largest city. We went by bus and went out to a store that is a small scale Wall Mart. The grocery is bigger and better with top quality products. The general store section is mostly clothes and a pharmacy. There was a strip mall across the street and we got some shopping done there also. We have been out for over a year and things like drawers ware out. Shower curtain, other general household stuff. We loaded our selves down. The big store has a grocery only in the town of Jolly Harbor. We went there Saturday to fill in a lot of stuff we did not get in St John. This store has all the meats that Publics has. Also all the fruits and vegetables. The boat is restocked. Should last till we are in the Virgin Islands.
Other than that, we have been sitting out another session of Christmas Winds. Winds gusting into the 30’s and a lot of rain squalls. They last maybe 5 minutes and then are gone. Open up the ports and hatches and wait about 15-30 minutes for the next one. Button up the boat and wait till it is over. It takes about as long to close and dog all the ports and hatches as it dose to rain. There are many times when I will hail the mate to stop closing everything and start opening back up. This can go on all night. But we are lazy and just button up, put the fan on and go to sleep.
Tomorrow we go to town, check the email at a restaurant (no email in the anchorage) pick up the laundry and pull anchor. We will go to Five Island Bay. It is about 15 minutes away. There is nothing there. We will ride around in the dinghy and explore the bay.
The next day we will sail on north past St John to a little bay and stage for going to Barbuda for a couple days. We are hoping the winds and seas have subsided enough to make this possible. It looks like we will have a weather window that will allow us to then get to St Barts. My favorite island. It is French. It is the Paris of the Caribbean. It is where the beautiful people go. That is why you will find me there. Can’t stay there long, it is very expensive, but worth every penny. I am still looking for someone who will donate to me enough big bucks to allow me to maintain the lifestyle that I was meant to have. The people there seam to spend most of there time at the gym, go eat a fufu lunch. (that is a lunch that is not enough to eat but looks pretty and taste great). Then they go back to the gym. They must, they all disappear. You have to live like that if your going to be a beautiful person. Then about 8 pm they start gathering at their favorite haunt for a fufu dinner. I do not do the gym, I have a boat. Hard enough. We have done the fufu lunch and dinner. Both excellent, not enough to get you fat and will lighten your billfold about as much as the dinner weighs.
There is a beach on the NE side of the island that we want to visit. Supposed to be one of the best in the world. Do not know if there talking about the beach or the people. I will check it out and let you know. If you do not here from me again I found a young rich starlet or supermodel that wants to take care me for the rest of my life. Bigger yachts, jets, fast cars, cool clothes. The normal stuff of St Barts.
From there it is on north, I think. The mate has been reading about an island to the west, called Saba. It is a old volcano that raises from the sea bed to 3000’ elevation, almost straight up. There are only 2 places you can get ashore. One by kayak, the other you have to pick up a buoy because it is too deep to anchor. 1200 population, 20% students at a med school. They provide fresh gens into the gen pool. We will see. We have some acquaintances that stopped there. Said is was very interesting. Google it.
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