2012-03-05

We’ve been in Grand Case so long that it was time to weigh anchor and sail off to a new destination. The winds on WindGuru were 18-20 with gusts to 25 and the waves were about 3m, all from the east so I thought it would be alright to sail to St. Barths, particularly as the next days forecast even more boisterous conditions. The upwind slog to Île Tintamarre wasn’t quite as bad as the previous day, but once there and with sails set for St. Barths I realized that it wasn’t going to be a pleasant sail at all. I had 3 reefs in the genoa and hardly any mainsail out and we were still heeled over quite a bit and doing 7 knots; but the wind was 27 constant with an occasional gust going over 30 and the waves were more than 3m and breaking with the tops being whipped around. I was worried, not because of the boat, but that both Desi and Agathe would get sick as it really was their first longer sail on the boat but they loved it!
I offered to take a break at Île Fourchue but the wanted to continue on to St. Barths so we sailed all the way to Gustavia and anchored in the outside harbour and took the dinghy ashore in order to clear in and then walk around the island to visit the big attraction: the roundabout over the airport to watch airplanes approach and land.
We got lots of pictures and videos and also provisioned for the next 2 nights at the store and returned to the boat as the sun set; but the anchorage was so uncomfortable that we pulled up the hook and motored to Grand Case and anchored there in the dark. I need to repair my port running light, though – the spare part is on board but I haven’t done the repair work yet.
Desi made a salad to accompany the steaks we’d purchased and both Agathe and I were amazed as she kept on adding items and filling up the huge serving bowl with a portion that would feed many more than the 3 of us. The steaks weren’t as tasty as U.S. corn feed ones but were still palatable and we managed to almost finish the salad as well; the bottle of fine Rioja Riserva certainly helped.