The passage from Barbuda to St. Barthelemy (St. Bart's or St. Barth’s) is approximately 65 nm in a WNW direction, which meant we could finally get relief from the pounding upwind sailing we’d been doing up to this point working our way north. We were very much looking forward to an easy and fast downwind run. YAY! Of course, the wind gods have a sense of humor and not long after our daybreak departure from Barbuda flying only the genoa, the wind collapsed to less than 10 kts. Feast or famine!  

Seeing our boat speed drop below 4 kts meant we would not arrive at St. Barth’s before dark unless something changed. The forecast had been for 18+ kts of wind and we expected we’d get better wind as the morning progressed, so we waited. By 0900 winds were still light so we gambled and put up one of our big spinnakers which excel downwind in light winds. This got us moving better and by mid afternoon we were finally having that terrific downwind sail we had hoped for in wind of about 15 kts – putting us back on schedule for a daylight arrival in St. Barth’s, albeit a bit later than we preferred.

Another catamaran that had passed us earlier motoring with their genoa was quickly caught and left behind. Once we passed them they also decided to deploy their spinnaker. Then the wind gods must have noticed that we were having too much fun and a squall approached us from behind. We watched the cat we had passed douse his spinnaker as the squall caught up to him. We had seen other squalls pass just to the north or south of us through the day and expected this one to similarly pass quickly, so we decided not to try to douse the spinnaker and ride it out instead, hoping the higher winds wouldn’t be too high as it caught us. The wind came up quicker than expected and it was a good thing we weren’t in the process of taking down the spinnaker as that would have been impossible in these gusts.     

The wind was in the upper 20’s for about an hour and we flew along at 11-13 kts., topping out at 16 kts. We even landed a dinner-for-two size cero mackerel at the height of the squall! St. Barth’s was now getting closer and closer and Dave dreaded trying to take down the spinnaker in this much wind. But maybe the wind gods are a benevolent lot after all and the squall finally overtook us and the wind died to almost nothing – just a few miles out from our intended anchorage. Perfect! The spinnaker came down easily and we had a short motor to the anchorage, arriving at 1600. Plenty of daylight left to clean the fish and get out the grill….

The morning following our arrival, February 14th, we went into the town of Gustavia to attend to customs and immigration and embarked on one of our trademark self guided tours. St. Barth’s is a fascinating place. This tiny island (8 square miles) is a dry and scruffy home to some 6000 permanent residents, most of whom are descended from Norman, Breton, and Swedish settlers. But it is very French today and is administered by the government in Guadeloupe.

The main harbor town of Gustavia is reputed to be one of the most charming and beautiful ports in the Caribbean and it did have a certain flair. The existence of this excellent natural harbor must be why anyone ever settled the island in the first place as there doesn’t seem to be many other reasons to settle here. But sometime along the way the rich and famous started coming and staying. It’s obvious that there’s a lot of money here – multimillion dollar megayachts ring the harbor, docking stern-to and seeming to be in constant competition to see which can be the most opulent. High end designer shops line the streets. Le Carre d’Or is the Rodeo Drive of St. Barth’s.  "Beautiful people" are everywhere and the place seems immune to Caribbean poverty. It was all done up for Valentine’s Day with flowers and hearts throughout. It is very, very pleasant and appealing, but we were left wondering what attracts all the wealth to such a small, dry island? We concluded the money is here because the money is here.

After our walking tour, which included buying some fresh baguettes and rum, we returned to the boat and after lunch made another short trip to shore near our anchorage to visit the Inter-Oceans Museum. This small museum was described in our cruising guide as having over 7000 seashells on display. No luck for us as the sign on the door indicated the museum is closed on Mondays. Mondays? Closed on Mondays? We squinted through the glass doorways and windows to glimpse the museum’s contents, which seemed impressive enough. We’ll find a chance to stop there another time as we would be moving on to visit another anchorage and snorkeling destination within the 24 hours our clearance permitted (we cleared in and out simultaneously).

Around 1300 we moved a short distance to Anse du Colombier, a part of the St. Barth’s Marine Reserve, and picked up a free mooring ball. This was a very lovely bay at the NW tip of the island, but the snorkeling was not remarkable. A big 'cuda took up residence beneath the boat and hung out there the rest of the day. Donna figures it was looking for some shade….