Mike goes to the Customs building quite early to check us out and also to the market to buy some lemons. He comes back with the greenest lemons I have ever seen. Johanne and I are convinced he has bought limes but on reflection they are not quite that dark. At a dollar each (he tells me) the market lady must have seen him coming until I look into the bag – there are 6. My husband shouldn’t be let loose to shop but I don’t let him off as I think I it is a deliberate ploy!
We leave Marigot around 10 am and head towards Grand Case and the north of the island. Although this seems a long way round to St Barths, you can normally get a better angle with the wind, as it can be a bugger to get to.
We motor sail at first, with just the main up, and it is a bit bumpy. Unfortunately Johanne starts feeling sea sick within half an hour, and despite a sea sick tablet and some of my ginger infusion, she does eventually succumb and pukes, in a less than lady-like manner, over the side.
She continues to feel ill all the way to Ile Fourchue where we stop for a latish lunch and a swim. Feeling much better she dives in. The bay is completely deserted – there are not even any goats here anymore as they ate all the vegetation and starved to death! After a few minutes, and with encouragement from Mike and I, she removes her bikini and is skinny dipping. Mike is the next one in, and to my amazement, he goes in starkers too. He comes out much refreshed then Steve goes in, yet another one stripped to nothing! While all this is going on, I am making sandwiches.
Photo: Mike and Johanne – skinny dipping!
Photo: Johanne and Steve frolicking in the water
After lunch, I go skinny dipping alone, armed with a noodle to keep me company – and afloat.
Clothed once more we head to Gustavia. We are nearly there when the reel goes out. Major excitement! Mike gets his new stand-up reel ‘em in thing and I run to get the club, gloves and the new dehooking thing just in case it’s a dreaded barracuda. It ends up being a yellow snapper, a lovely looking fish but one that is not sensible to eat as it can carry ciguatera, just like the barracudas. The hook comes out easily and after being photographed, Mike lets him go and off he swims.
Photo: The one we let go
We moor up right next to the Capitainerie, and having secured the boat we discover that there is no shore power, so it’s the noisy, smoky generator for us this evening.
Johanne and I get changed and before you can say ‘shoes’ we are in the Stuart Weitzman shop! They have a 60% off sale so suddenly everything looks very tempting. Johanne is a shoe person so she is especially excited by this. She falls in love with a pair but decides to leave it over night to see if she still loves them tomorrow!
Wandering around the rest of the shops doesn’t take very long really, as most of St Barths is closed. Most establishments, shops, restaurants and bars close for the whole of September and part of October. However, I manage to find the pink St Barth sarong which I loved from last time and buy it as a reminder of both visits.
In the early evening we all have a drink and Steve takes the role of being today’s barman - I ask for a Baileys on the rocks and boy do I get one – it’s huge! Spluttering with laughter I tip it into a measuring jug and discover that he has tried to give me over half a pint of the stuff! I tip most of it back into the bottle for another day.
I make Garlic Chicken Caesar Salad for dinner but it is a real disappointment as the avocados are still hard, and the chicken, which felt suspiciously firm when defrosted, turns out to the the oldest, toughest boiler I have ever eaten. It’s a good job the wine is good.
We watch three episodes of the first series of Gavin and Stacy as we chew our way laboriously through the sinewy poultry. Just before bed we glance at the photos I took of everyone in the water. Steve is horrified as I managed to get one of him doing a somersault and there is a very clear view of a very white bottom. He makes me promise not to put it in the blog. I may be tempted to milk this one for all it’s worth!!
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