For
one night of the year, this place is really special . Very difficult to get to...... very difficult, nearly impossible to get accommodation on land. Very difficult to get a mooring as well. You will definitely have to book at least a year in advance to stand any chance whatsoever. And
because of all these things, I now understand exactly why the super rich and jet set go there. And as we would say in England, NO RIFF RAFF ALLOWED! By Order!

Oh! Let me start at the beginning. It's the run up to Christmas. And before I forget, can I wish every one a very Happy, Healthy, and prosperous New Year. The new computer has just arrived and I'm trying desperately to catch up.SO! Just thinking about all the queuing that is starting to take place in the Tesco and Morrison supermarkets in England. I can still visualise it! An absolute nightmare for all us males. The Christmas shop up. Shoppers, (mostly ladies) filling one trolley till it is bursting to overflowing and simply groaning under the weight of groceries. Then, and this is where most men get their annual migraine; standing in that seemingly endless line at the checkout . Then there is always one. The product where the bar code will not read. The bell rings; the supervisor saunters over. A quick discussion about the product between her and the cashier at the till.
The supervisor slowly strolls over to a microphone, and bending down till her mouth touches it, calls some junior over the Tanoy. It's a wonder anyone can actually understand what is being said. I actually think that they take lessons with a pair of socks stuffed in their mouths. Then comes another quick discussion, and the hapless junior trots off to find the product on the shelf, memorises the price and come trotting back. The endless line of shoppers tempers visibly rising! All thinking, "Why oh why does that she even need that! Just leave it on the side. Then we can all move up one place quicker if it's left behind. And besides, by the look and amount of stuff in the trolley, it wouldn't seriously be missed. AT ALL! But no! everyone waits for the Junior to return a few minutes later, and the endless supply of groceries continues along the conveyor . Just thinking about it gives me the biggest headache you can imagine.

We are so lucky to live out here. So Christmas it is then. We bought a beautiful chunk of meat, not turkey I hasten to add, Fillet steak instead and decided to have a barbeque on the beach. Now doesn't that sound appealing. Yes!

Unfortunately the weather had not been too kind. A bit of rain and quite a bit of wind. Definitely not what you would expect in the Caribbean at all! So the morning of the 25th dawned to a bit more bad weather. Change of plan. It's all going to happen at home instead. What an utter and
total disappointment. Especially as we were having two friends over as well. All morning the weather improved, then took a backwards step. And each time this happened, I changed my mind as to where our Christmas lunch was going to take place. I totally drove Dyana mental
with all the changes. So the upshot of it all was that at about noon..... there was not a cloud to be seen . Beautiful blue everything. So we piled the food, chairs, two umbrellas and the barbi
into the little dinghy and set off for the beach. Oh joy! everything worked well. Except I forgot to pack the meat into the cooler bag!What a total idiot I felt. After a quick dash home, everything was rectified and the cooking went well. Scrumptious and delicious is all I can say. And now I'm so looking forward to next Christmas as well.

For Christmas, lots and lots of the mega yachts arrive. Sometimes there are so many, they have to moor out in Simpson bay. And the airport has been working on a huge new area just for the owners of small, and not so small jets who like to party here as well. Last year they ran
out of parking spaces for them. can you imagine that. "What?... No parking space for my Lear Jet?...... It's just another world entirely.


So, we then had another engagement a few days later. Friends, Marc & Tamara asked us to sail with them aboard their catamaran. And the first stop was going to be St Barts. For New Years Eve. Immediately after Christmas, the huge super mega yachts leave us for St Barts. In
order to get a decent mooring near the Capital Gustavia, you understand. Our sail over was horrendous. Especially for me! Big seas..... big winds.... and big mal de mare! But eventually we made it into a sort of sheltered anchorage. Rolling a bit, but couldn't do anything at all about it! So New Years Eve was upon us. And as many mega yachts as could be fitted into the dock area were just backed up to the dock with only their sterns (back ends) showing. Big security everywhere to stop party goers (like us) simply walking on. I mean, after all, they weren't the actual owners of the boats. The incumbents on board had simply hired the vessels for the week. And this was the peak of the peak in terms of the calendar. We Googled
several of the yacht names that were there, and as the saying goes, if you have to ask how much, you definitely can not afford it! And that's that! But just between you and me, they varied from the very cheepies at a mere $ 500 thousand for the week, and I'm assuming food
would be an extra... up to the more luxurious..... no..... I'm wrong..... they're all just so beautiful. Anyway, the slightly larger ones would be around 750 thousand. Quite staggering there is just so much money around. Oh, and I hasten to add that the cost of mooring
would be totally exorbitant and when you add the cost of the private jet over, you probably would get very little change out of 1.3 million Dollars.

A few days before we left St Maarten, Tamara tried to find a restaurant for us on St Barts for new Years Eve. Well, there was absolutely nothing left. And the one we thought would be the cheapest turned out to be around 400 dollars a head. And even they were sold out! Can you
believe that? So we ate on board and dinghyed in for the festivities. Now call me a name dropper or what, but there was Sir Paul McCartney Jamming with Jimmy Buffet in one bar; Roman Abramovitch with his Super Super big yacht was there , and Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean fame) had also hired a really nice old fashioned looking boat and was mingling in the crowd. I'm positive there were so many more of the rich and famous there, but all would be incognito and letting their hair down. Much as they do at Basil's Bar on Mustique where Mick Jagger amongst many other famous people have a home. He will also just saunter in to the bar and start jamming. You never know who may just turn up and do their thing. Well St Barts is just like this, but on a bigger and much grander scale. So this is where it all happens on new Years Eve. Please click on the pictures which turn into short videos. It'll show the stern ends of the mega yachts and the fireworks at midnight. Enjoy.