Dropped our stinky trash, raised anchor, and opened up the jib in search of the oracle of goats. Down wind for a short 3 mile run to a “new to us” island, Ile Fourchue. We scored the last mooring. The goats were the last inhabitants of this private island, they ate themselves all the vegetation, which is only now starting to come back, but it was a delightful place to stop. Away from everything, not even cell service was abound and the boats that were there too were spaced out and well behaved.  well most of them. Some of the day charter boats come in and are loud and pick up the moorings like they own the place. At least in here and in Columbier we did see dive crews working/inspecting the moorings and anytime a 60+ footer picked up a mooring they would remind them that they were too big and asked them to move off the mooring ball. Snorkeled a bit on the suggested dive sites, was a bit silty with the wave directions and not a whole lot to see, but we tried a couple of places. Friends were more successful spotting a nurse shark under a ledge, but another relaxing day – tho the mountains were calling.

I got this

Entertainment was watching the “Moorings” boats come in, as it is the first stop  to try and to find a comfortable place to anchor or stop for the evening. The charter boats do not have marks on the anchor chain, so you don’t know how much chain you have out, or how well it will hold. Most charters are not normally used to anchoring out either so its always entertaining. One particularly good show was a moorings boat number 1 came in, with a pretty good crew with the understanding of trying to count the chain as it goes down, select a nice spot and get a good hook. Then a hour later another moorings boat comes in number 2 and anchors on top of  number 1. Number 1 lets it ride till it starts to get late and realizes number 2 is staying. Number 1 picks up and moves, this time takes 3 times to get a comfortable hook for them. Then number 2 decides to move as well, and moves into the spot where number 1 had been all along. Oh well. The best show was when an almost 50 foot monohull comes in just before dark, and tried to anchor but doesn’t get the anchor to go down, and gets “looks” and “bitch arms” (you know when you put your hands on your hips and get in the fighting stance) from already moored boats as they were too close. I was one of the ones who thought they were too close. They tried over 3 times to anchor before they decided to try to pick up a mooring ball.  I kept an eye on them for a while watching as they attempted 6 times to pick up the last remaining mooring ball in the anchorage. I thought, did Moorings checked out the captain’s credentials? Oh well, dropped the dinghy and went over to help them in, just barked orders as to what they needed to do and was able to get them safely on the ball for the night.

Sun rise over the ravines

Squalls at night and we spun around our mooring a few times, and some gusty winds in the valleys between the peaks a good reason to have the boats spread out in that anchorage.

We were up early and had saw another boat dinghy to shore and find a trail to hike on, so we had breakfast and followed along.   They were from Canada and made it to the center valley and we wanted to make it to the peak.

Known for stickers and rocks we actually took shoes on this hike. Some thing really strange about wearing shoes for the first time in months, but definitely came in handy on some slippery rocks.

We hiked to one of the tallest points, using both hands and feets to get over some of the slippery vertical sections. Rewarded with some good views and serious gusts of wind we were still hanging on or sitting down when on the top of the peak. Made it back down and over a few more peaks for fun, took a few pictures and it was about time to head back to Saint Marten. Not sure where we were heading we heard from our fiends on the VHF that the southside was a bit rolly and they were heading the french side – we opted for an around the north side of the island run which was a downwind, in just enough breeze to run on the jib alone for what turned out to be an 18 mile run. We had some decent sun on the solar so we were also making water and just taking an slow run to somewhere.

Half way up the hill

Atop Pikes Peak of Ile Fourche

How small we look from up here

Previous hikers left a heart in the valley that screamed of a photo op…

Sunset at Ile Fourche

Closer to the Sun

Somewhere turned out to be Anse Marcel – another new stop for us.

Fun times at the St Barts Bucket Regatta watching all the magnificent machines, old and new, large and larger race around the island for 3 days and lots of adult beverages requires some relaxation time.

JClass Finish

The party the final night was excellent, we had anchored in the mix of boats, right in the middle of the local live aboards whose halyards (ropes) continuously bang against the mast all night long with every wave / wake that rolls through. We dove on our anchor and yep, we are definitely over many of the anchors that belong to the boats behind us, depending on the wind direction. Waking up the morning after and the anochorage had all but cleared out by 9am. We were lazy and did just about nothing, but we did manage to get a snorkel run to nature park where all the dive boats were taking folks from land.

Noticed a lull in dive boats and dinghies so we made our way over and checked it out. First went left toward the Atlantic, then back to the right closer to the harbor, crystal clear water. Can see down 30+ feet at the bottom, lots of little fishes and pretty decent coral life. As we were swimming toward the harbor a dive boat came in and used the same mooring that our dinghy was tied to and motioned us over as they had united one our lines and it wasn’t really secure.  They suggested we just tie to the cleat on the dive boat (super nice) which we did. They were giving the pre-tour speech to the boat guests and we continued on with our snorkel. As we were getting closer to the harbor out of the corner of my mask I see a fish being chased and turned just in time to see Barry the barracuda catch a fish 1/2 its size by the tail. (the fish was 1/2 its size by length but almost wider). Sinking its backward slung teeth into the fish, the fish squirmed and tried to get a way, in a moment of panic, Barry grabbed another bite that included biting off the tail section of his breakfast. Breakfast was still trying to swim away but without a tail wasn’t getting anywhere fast, then Barry was back again for another chunk and then another, in no time only a 1/4 of the fish remained (which was the head and to Christine’s horror was still alive). We slowly backed away and while keeping an eye on Barry and Barry keeping an eye on us, well I was cold anyway so enough of this for the day. As we swam past the dive boat, just mentioned to the deck crew – hopefully quiet enough not to spook the guests that the dive was great and the barracuda just had lunch.. Rest of the day was spent lounging around.

Amongst all the boats anchored in close proximity, the anchor we were over was to RAN Sailing  which we had met in Chatham Bay back in December on our way up from Grenada. I waved to them as they were heading in.

Our neighbors had cleared out and it was our turn to go do the formalities and clear out of St Bart’s, we had the uninhabited island of Ile Fourche on our agenda as a stop on the way back, just a few miles away from St Bart’s – but needed to get our clearance to enter back in the Saint Marten. Customs office was busy with all the race boats checking out, but made it through after just a short wait. Decided to walk to the supermarket to see if we needed anything, we ran into Malin of RAN sailing at the grocery and chatted about their plans which turned out to be similar to our “proposed” itinerary so we will probably be bumping into them a few times in the next month – be sure to check out their popular video blog.

Lazy day for our lazy ways, a quiet evening and dinner on board, out like a light bulb while reading what the internet had to offer.  Tomorrow we motivate and seek out new spots in these parts.

Last Day of Racing before the celebration, second only to the new years spectacle.  The awards ceremony ran a close second with fireworks, cold beverages and a DJ.  We celebrated with the crew from Contrary Mary, met some new comrades, chatted up with some of the racers and whooped it up!

After you buy your batch of $5 drink tickets you head to the bar and you can either get a pretty expensive beer for $5 (which should cost $2) or you can get a super duper strong mixed drink.  Which do you think we got once we discovered they were both 1 drink ticket?

Of course we were famished and luckily I spied a food line.  Hmmm, I bet there are food tickets so I went to investigate.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to the ticket booth they were “sold out” of food tickets yet there was still a ton of food.  So, I grabbed my partner in crime and meandered over to see what I could grab.  After a little smooching, puppy eyes, and a lots of smiles, Princess and I walked away with two huge plates full of shrimp and burgers for the boys. Score!!!  The rest of the night might be a little vague but evidently I felt the need to commandeer a chair in front of Perseus, probably only got away with it because we were being silly swabs.

Pics that take your breath away – so spectacular!

JClass Start

Just like that, they are gone

Good Start for Maltese

Pretty Kites

Hey you, got get that line

JClass Finish

Another great day of racing monster machines on the water.