The previous night wasn’t great – I will have to remember to anchor as far inside of the sheltered area at Île Fourchue next time because the waves wrap around and cause occasional harmonic rolling when too far outside, as I was. The “starfish” sleep method worked, but I didn’t sleep as deeply as I could have. Nonetheless it is a nice place and I would have remained had I not needed to clear in to St. Barths today so I got underway at about 9AM and sailed, hard on the wind, to Gustavia and anchored far outside amidst the mega yachts. This was a mistake, since it really is a long way out with a commensurately long dinghy trip, but it is also where the boats go fast and the constant wakes of the cruise liner’s tenders and other boats made it uncomfortable. I noticed this since I spent a good hour trying to get the dinghy outboard started. I think it was only flooded as after I removed and cleaned out the spark plugs and let the 2 cylinders air for a bit the engine fired right up again. I dinghied in, complete my clearance and paid €17.50 and was then free to choose whatever anchorage I wished. I got some bread and food at the grocery store and dinghied the long way back to the boat (luckily this time with the wind behind me, so I didn’t get wet) and decided to change anchorage position to the place where I usually stayed. I was about to anchor there when a boat pulled in ahead of me and stole my position but I found another location and dropped the hook there. Unfortunately, it was far outside as well and the waves slapped at the back of the boat so, after connecting to the internet and trying to download my pictures, I weighed anchor again and then sailed to Anse Colombier, where I found an inside mooring ball which is very calm and from where I am writing these words.
Coming into Colombier a dolphin jumped out of the water right next to my steering position. My reactions were good – turn on the autopilot, grab and turn on the camera and wait for another surfacing. The first surfacing was close and I pointed and shot but no camera click came when I pressed the button. I looked at the camera and the damned lens cap was still on! I got that removed and subsequently only saw the shadows of the dolphins as they swam underwater next to the stern but then they didn’t pop out of the water again for a photo opportunity.
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