Happy Mother's Day From St. Bart's

Today (Sunday) we left St. Martin's and headed about 25 miles to St. Barts (officially St. Barthelemy not Bart - "kowabunga dude" Simpson). It is a French island, a duty free port and as it's described in the guide book "the favored hot spot for the good looking, well-to-do, "in" crowd, sprinkled with a spattering of actors, singers and sports stars. It's the Riviera of the Caribbean." So what the heck are WE doing here???

We left the lagoon on St. Martin's at the 0815 bridge opening. It was a long line of boats ready to depart - so we all did the boat dance waiting for the bridge to open - going in circles and avoiding shoals and each other. We sailed for awhile around the island and then, as is the custom it seems, the wind came right on the nose, the seas built and we had another lumpy, slow crossing. Squalls kept popping up. But it was a short distance. We first checked out a little island off the main island - Isle Fourchue, but it was pretty crowded and we didn't see any mooring balls for our size boat. So we went another few miles and came into a nice bay "Anse de Colombier." Picked up a free yellow mooring ball (and got cheered by a French boat anchored nearby with about 16 people on board - as we got it on the first try!) We are officially in the marine park - much of the island is. Our greeting committee was a giant turtle. He keeps showing himself and we keep trying to get his picture. There are a few sea turtles in here of varying sizes.

A beautiful sunset ended our evening and the boats pretty much cleared out of the harbor. There are just seven left. The landscape is very hilly and rocky. We'll probably take a hike tomorrow. This country isn't too concerned about check-ins. They say you can make a few stops before you officially check in at Gustavia.

St. Barthelemy's is one of the "renaissance islands" (along with Anguilla and St. Martins.) Through time it's been traded and sold between the French and Swiss. It is now French. The Spanish also fought for it in the 1600's.

It prospered under the French in the 1600's and was a pirate's paradise with all the bays and coves. The most famous pirate was a Captain Montbars. (Even back them this was the place for the rich and famous!) He was a Frenchman who was horrified with what the Spanish had done to the native population and decided to avenge them - doing well while he did good. He took on an all indigenous crew (who were probably pretty ticked off at the Spanish - so they were fearless). He terrorized the Spanish and became known as "Montbars the Exterminator." He ended up taken in a hurricane (so the story goes) and perhaps his treasure sunk with him.

We never made it to St. Bart's on our last cruise - so this is all new to us and we'll probably spend a few days here in various places. It's supposed to be a charming island and who knows what rich and famous person we might see. We also will be waiting for a weather window to make the long day run down to St. Kitts and Nevis.

Warm wishes to all the mother's reading this and a special hug to ours - Genevieve and Trish!