A GROOMER FOR JACKIE

0830 hours, April 4th, 2015, Road Bay, Anguilla: We meet a mobile veterinarian in front of the Road Bay Customs and Immigration Office. 

We had been trying since Antigua to find a groomer for Jackie, who was now long past the normal six week period between her haircuts. There were not many groomers on any of the islands and when we found one their schedules were booked weeks in advanced. I had talked with a young bilingual French lady in Gustavia with a well groomed dog who gave me her groomers telephone number. Unfortunately the groomer was French, and like me, not bilingual. Later that week on St. Barth Jackie and I returning from a hike ran into another young French lady on Colombier Beach with well groomed dog. This young, bare breasted bilingual lady used the same French groomer who I had been unable to communicate with on the telephone in my efforts to make an appointment. 

In our internet search we had found a mobile veterinarian on Anguilla and asked if she knew of a groomer. She did and we were able to make reservations. Beth then realized that Jackie was due a couple of shots before we would be getting back to California. We called the veterinarian back and she agreed to provide the shots and drive us to the groomers. Jackie got her shots on the beach and a reasonable trim at the groomers. 

That evening we had dinner at the Barrel Stay Restaurant on the beach at Road Bay. We had one of the best dinners on our trip. I had a local crawfish and we shared an outstanding apple and ice cream dish for desert.  While waiting for dinner we watched another beautiful sunset.

                                                The New Jackie

                                           Dinner View

                                           Crawfish

                                                  Shared Dessert

DINNER AT THE CHART HOUSE

1830 hours, April 1st, 2015, Simpson Lagoon, St. Martin: We sat down for dinner at the Charter House which overlooks the Simpson Bay Marina and our boat tied to C dock. It was a good dinner and a great view. 

We had left St. Barth on March 30th to avoid the north swell predicted to start late that day. Our next stop, Anguilla was also exposed to a north swell. Simpson Lagoon, was the best place to wait out the north swell and geographically in the center of our two destinations. I addition we had a couple of maintenance items which could be best addressed in the Lagoon. Having learned from our previous experience in the Lagoon we went through the bridge first, then checked into customs after we docked. 

                                                   Our Dining View

CASTLE STERNS

1415 hours, March 27, 2015, Colombier, St. Barth: The crew in one of Limitless' tenders notified us that Limitless would be backing into the mooring/ anchorage area to drop a stern anchor. As we were anchored in the center and toward the back of the field they would be dropping the stern anchor next to us. Limitless is a 315 ft yacht owned by Leslie Wexner which I have noted in earlier blogs. The rest of us in the anchorage had a single anchor or mooring, and our bows were pointing east into the wind. Limitless' bow, after anchoring, would be pointing west.

We watched as Limitless dropped her bow anchor and backed down to less than 100 ft from us and dropped a stern anchor from under the boat not visible from the stern. After letting out the stern anchor line and pulling in the bow line the boat reached its anchoring position and work commended on lowering the stern platform. Limitless' stern is about 30 feet above the water which is the level of the pool deck. Railing sections at the pool deck level had to be moved to lower and open up the stern. As the stern lowered creating a very large "swim" platform, a stair way on each side stern ascending to the lowered swim platform, became visible. Railings were then installed around this huge platform. At the aft end of the platform fenders and posts were installed to provide a dock for a large tender. 

Shortly after all was in place a large inflatable from another mega yacht, Blue de Nimes with crew of four and two owners arrived. Limitless' Owners stood at the top of the stair while Blue de Nimes Owner climbed the port stair for formal greetings.  The crew of Blue de Nimes remained on board their tender and two crew members of Limitless stood guard at the platform entrance between the the two stairs. The last time I had witnessed similar formalities was when I was an acting admirals aid for the Chief Of the Navy Civil Engineers, and we were visiting the Chief of the Taiwanese Navy in Taiwan. The current "visit" started just before sunset and lasted a little longer than an hour. Just before complete darkness the entire process reversed including raising the stern after the guests had left. 

About mid morning the following day the entire process was replayed for the same guest. This visit again lasted for only an hour. After the guests left this second time and the stern was again raised to its closed position, Limitless retrieved its anchors and left the anchorage. 

During that night it occurred to me that what we had witnessed was probably little different than when a medieval lord of one castle lowered his draw bridge to accommodate a visiting lord from another castle with his security troops. While the visit took place the visiting lord's troops remained out side the castle. 

The high freeboard of cargo ships have not been a deterrent for Somali pirates. And,  as I opinioned in an earlier blog discussing the high stern on Steve Jobs' 257 ft. Venus, line handling is much more difficult on closed stern boats than on open stern boats. While in Gustavia the day before we watched a nearly 180 ft closed stern ketch, Seahawk, maneuvering to stern tie to the quay wall. The wind was 20 nmph from the SE on the port beam as the ketch backed to port after dropping a bow anchor to windward in the harbor. Both the ketch and the harbormaster had large tenders assisting in the maneuvering. One of the harbormaster tenders passed a line tied to the quay wall on upwind side (port) of would become the stern tie berth. The line was passed to crew on the ketch on the starboard side of the stern. Crossed stern lines to provide more leverage on a stern tie is common. In addition to the freeboard being about 10 feet above the water the transom was raked. The passed line by the time the ketch crew was able to start securing it was rapped under the raked transom and the captain on a second level at the helm station unaware of this problem continued to back. The crew sensing a problem tried to ease the line so it could be flipped around the back of the reverse transom some 10 feet aft of the stern deck. As the line was eased it was sucked into the props and the engines stopped still 100 feet from the quay wall. Thanks to a great toss of a monkey fist to get another stern line to the quay wall and quick action of the tenders pushing against the starboard hull, there was no damage. 

The probability of this happening would have been significantly reduced with an open stern boat with cleats at the aft end of the stern. In my book good architecture is where form follows function artistically. Castle sterns inhibit proper line handling and do little to improve a boats security. 

                                          Opening Stern

                                          Visitors Arrive

                                                   Seahawk Just Before Line Was Passed

ST. BARTHHLEMY

0930 hours March 26, 2015, Gustavia, St. Barth: Hertz delivered a rental car to us at the Ferry Dock along the quay wall. This was the first Island we had driven on in the last four months were we were driving on the right side of the road, including St Thomas in the USVI where they drive on the left. 

The strong influence of Caribbean styled architecture seen in Gustavia is less on the rest of the Island with the exception of the cove Anse a Galets on north side of the island, west of the airport. The rest of the architectural styling is mixed, but includes several modern, and mixed modern styled homes with traditional elements and accents. Although there are many very expensive homes on St. Barth the short air field will only accommodate prop planes. Most flying to St. Barth have change planes in St. Martin, Antigua or St. Kitts. 

Baie de Saint Jean, at the east end of the airfield hosts two of the three most known exclusive resorts on St. Barth, Nikki Beach and Eden Rock. Nikki Beach on St. Barth is one of several international locations for Nikki Beach, beach clubs combining elements of entertainment, dining, music ,fashion, film and art into one. The London Observer called Nikki Beach, the "Sexiest Place on Earth". I am not sure I would go that far, but certainly a fashionable and fun  place to be. The music and audience the day we were their could be heard all along the sand on the beautiful Saint Jean beach. 

The Eden Rock Resort, combines: a restaurant, On The Rocks, on top of a large rock outcropping extending into the middle of the bay; a beach restaurant, The Sand Bar; hotel suites, Villas on the Rock; and the remainder of the Resort, The Eden Rock. The the atmosphere was fashionable and the architecture and decoration, eclectic. With the world famous Chef Jean-Georges the food at both restaurant have top reviews. The architecture of each of the Villas has been uniquely designed to fit its location on The Rock. The day we were their a photographer was engaged in photographing models with parts of this charming Resort as backdrop. 

East of Saint Jean Beach is Point Milou with the Christopher Hotel, Villas and Spa. Unlike Nikki Beach, and Eden Rock who work to be at the center of where it is happening, the Christopher takes pride in seclusion and privacy. The Resort is at the end of a narrow road that winds down a steep hillside with elegant homes overlooking the the Resort and ocean. The Resort has two restaurants on each side of a pool and deck area, Mango Plage, and Taino. As it was now approaching 1300 hours we decided to have lunch on the sand at the Mango Plage. Jackie, wearing the colorful "necklace" we bought her on St. John's, was welcome in this most exclusive resort!  The lunch was superb. 

                                           Nikki Beach Club

                                           Eden Rock

                                          Villas at Eden Rock

                                           Beach at Eden Rock

                                           Pool at the Christopher

                                           Lunch at the Christopher

                                          High End Residential

                                                   St. Barth Airport

COLOMBIER

0700, March 25, 2015, Gustavia, St. Barthelemy: We raised our anchor after a rolling night. We had remembered advice given us by a couple that had been to St. Barth several times,  "the best place to anchor in Gustavia is Colombier". Colombier is about five miles north of Gustavia. It is a full "C" shaped cove open only to the west with a reef extending on the south,  enhancing the protection from the SE, and S and providing good protection from SW swells. This, as well as the natural protection provided from the east and north from the "C" shape, make this an excellent anchorage. Protection from SE conditions is poor anchoring outside of Gustavia. The swell when we left Gustavia was from the SE, shifting from the E the previous day,  which had caused our rolling night once the wake from day traffic had subsided. 

Colombier is a beautiful cove with a great beach and great hiking trails. None of the roads on St. Barth extend to Colombier leaving only two mountainous trails and a 30 minute uphill hike to connect to the road system making the cove remote by land and without restaurants or shops.  Yet at 20 nmph by dingy, it is only 15 minutes from Gustavia. The best of both worlds. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the next four days and nights in this beautiful cove. 

                                         Colombier Cove

                                          Beach at Colombier

                                          At Anchor in Colombier

                                          At Anchor in Colombier

                                                  Hiking Trails at Colombier

GUSTAVIA

1600, March 24, 2015, Cocoa Point,  Barbuda: I talked with Chris Parker about the forcast for the next week. He predicted that a northern swell would reach us within a week and last several days. A northern swell would make the already rolling anchorage at Gustavia, our next stop, unbearable. We needed to leave for St. Barth the next morning to have the time to see all of the Island we wanted to before the swell arrived. 

We had just left Codrington and paid a taxi driver to bring us back to Cocoa Point on a very bumpy dirt road and Customs and Immigration was scheduled to close before I could get their. When I called the taxi driver he assured me that he could arrange Custom and Immigration to stay open longer which he subsequently did. I returned in time to watch our last sunset with Ed and Cheryl and prepare for the trip the next day. The passage to Gustavia on St. Barth was 5 hours in with a 5 ft. following wind and sea. Although our chart plotter had saved our "trail" in we waited until 0900 hours to have good visibility to make our way back through the reefs and coral heads. 

The most expensive real estate in the Caribbean is on St. Barthelemy, and the most magnificent town with the best example of Caribbean Architecture is Gustavia. Like Terre de Haut in Les Saintes St. Barth has poor soil and as a result there were never any plantations. A French colony firmly established a foot hold on the Island in 1659 when 100 French Protestants, who had fled Normandy and Brittany in France because of persecution by French Catholics, resettled on St. Barth. The natural port known today as Gustavia, has always been the Islands principal asset. 
Soon after the colony was established it was attracting pirates to have their ships restocked and repaired. In 1784 King Louis XVI of France gave St. Barth to his friend King Gustav III of Sweden. The Swedish had no other possession in the New World and St. Barth is the only Caribbean Island with a Swedish heritage. The Swedes took their responsibility for St. Barthelemy (named after Christopher Columbus' younger brother) seriously. They renamed the port in honor of their King, Port Gustavia, and turned it into a free port. They built roads and constructed three forts for defense. In 1878 France bought the Island back from the Swedish and it has remained under French control ever since. 

Everyone that we had talked with about taking our boat to Gustavia all had the same observation, "the anchorage is crowded and rolling".  We heard advise that if we anchored in this spot or in that spot we would get less roll. After looking at this spot and that spot I think "the anchorage is crowed and rolling". With only deeper water left it took us three tries to get a rolling spot where we would not swing into the shore or someone else. We had east wind and sea conditions. The problem was not the swell it was the constant pleasure, work boat, and ferry traffic from St. Martins only 6 nm away. We left our rolling boat to visit Gustavia. 

This most charismatic French Caribbean Town's charm is enhanced by by the beautiful super yachts that were stern tied to its quay wall. The price of this dockage assures that only the most expensive tie up here. The south end of the harbor was reserved for smaller day boats. Here it felt more like a high end fishing village. Where the boutiques in Le Bourg were fashionable, those in Gustavia  were at the cutting edge of style. Most of the restaurants viewed parts of the charismatic and charming Gustavia scene but in other ways were more like the cutting edge restaurants in Beverly Hills, which cater to the same international upscale audience. Although there were lots cars in Gustavia, many upscaled european cars, there were also the motor scooters we had seen in Le Bourg, here mostly driven by the young.  The atmosphere was alive, vibrant, international, fashionable, and expensive. It was not hard to understand why this was the place to be and to be seen.

                                          Crowded Anchorage Outside Gustavia

                                         Gustavia Harbor

                                          Super Yacht at Quay Wall

                                         Day Boats at South End of Harbor

                                         Sidewalk Restaurants

                                         High Fashion Boutiques

                                         A Mix of Motor Scooters and Cars

MAGNIFICENT FRIGATES

0920 hours, March 24, 2015, Cocoa Point, Barbuda: We picked Ed and Cheryl up at their boat and together we rolled our dingy up on the beach next to the Cocoa Point Lodge Gate House, and locked it off to a palm tree. The taxi the Gate Guard had scheduled for us the day before arrived within a few minutes.  

Barbuda's single town, Codrington, is located in about the center of the Island on Codrington Lagoon. The taxi driver took us to the town dock where we were able to hire a tour guide with boat to take us to the Frigate Bird Colony at the north end of Codrington Lagoon. 

The Magnificent Frigate Birds have the largest wing area to body mass ratio of any birds. With a wing span up to 7.5' they can almost continuously soar only rarely flapping their wings. These birds, which live as long as 44 years, primarily feed on fish but cannot swim. They fly head first toward its prey picking it out of the water with their bill, never touching the water with their wings or feet. Their second source of food is stealing from other birds which has earned them the  British name of Man of War. 

Barbuda is thought to be the largest Magnificent Frigate breeding colony with about 5,000 birds. To attract females the males,  which have shiny black plumage, inflate their scarlet gular throat pouch and vibrate their outstretched wings. The female choices the male and they form a kind of seasonal marriage. The males gather the sticks for the nest and the females builds the nest, in the case of the Barbuda colony, in mangroves. There is only one egg hatched and both take turn incubating it off 41 to 55 days. Both feed the chick for the first three months by gathering food and opening their mouths and allowing the chick to stick its head down their mouths and take the food from their throats. After the first three months the female only feed the chick for the next eight months. The mating season is just once a year. With the time it takes to hatch and raise a young chick the Frigates can only mate every other season. The females start breeding at 8 to 9 years and the males at 10 to 12 years. 

The females are territorial but the males travel great distances. There have been males tagged in Barbuda that have been sighted in the Magnificent Bird Colony in the Galapagos. In the case of hurricanes the Frigates protect themselves by flight above the storm. These Birds have been living and fishing in the Caribbean for some time. Columbus noted the Frigates in his early trips. 

These birds live up to their species name, Magnificent Frigate, in every way.

After visiting the Frigate Colony our guide, who was traveling with his young son, took us to a beach grill and bar which fronted both the Lagoon and the Caribbean, on the west side of the Island. This beach bar was part of the Lighthouse Bay Resort which sits near the north end of an eleven mile beach pink toned white power sand with turquoise colored water out several hundred yards. Our group were the only ones on the beach and the only lunch guest for that day. 

                                         Adult Female in Flight

                                          Adolescent Male and Female

                                         Puffed Male and Chick

                                          Baby Chick

                                         Singing in the Choir

                                         Adult Male and Female in Flight

                                          Ed, Cheryl, Beth and our Guides

                                         Pink Toned White Sand Beach

                                         Only Other Guest for Lunch