Our position is 17:57.382N 62:54.278W

Nobody got up early on New Year’s Day, so it was very quiet ashore when we got there and obviously everything was closed. We had decided to finish the walking tour outlined in the tourist information. We seemed to have already covered about half of it but were keen to walk up to the lighthouse and visit the site of the 3^rd fort – Fort Gustav. We also walked along the road to a viewpoint that looked down on the airstrip. We had watched the planes coming into land from the boat and their wheels seemed to graze the car rooftops just before the disappeared over a ridge. On the ridge the planes weren’t as low as they had seemed but landing in a strong cross wind must test the pilots.  Taking off was not much better, as the hills on the other side of the bay at the end of the runway meant they had to turn quite sharply as soon as they were airborne.  The anchorage in the bay is restricted by the need to leave the area off the end of the runway clear, but not many boats go there as it is on the windward side.

We were up reasonably early on Monday and Ted went ashore to clear out so we could join the general exodus to St Martin. We had decided to make at least a lunch stop at Ile Fourchue, about 4Nm off the West cost of St Barts.  Our plans were given a nasty surprise when, after getting the anchor up, engaging forward gears had no effect on driving the boat. As we were being rapidly blown downwind it was time to quickly unfurl the jib and sail back and re-anchor so the problem could be addressed. Ted donned swimming things and mask and snorkel and went under the boat to re-engage the prop shaft with the gearbox. An hour and a half later it was fixed and we could leave – albeit slightly gingerly – and set sail to Ile Fourchue. Maybe the ommission of a couple of spring washers when the unit was reassembled after work on the sterngland in Teneriffe was the cause of the problem ,but why just now was a mystery.

 The sail to Ille Fourchue was uneventful, apart from some confusion about an awash rock on the approach to the anchorage, but we were tied up to one of the marine park moorings in time for lunch.

Ile Fourchue is uninhabited. Once it was the home of goats but they ate themselves out of house and home and the vegetation is only just starting to recover. We rowed ashore to go for a walk round and admire the views of St Barts before returning to the beach for a swim. We have decided to spend the night here as the mooring is secure and the sea relatively calm and go on to St Martin in the morning.

View from the ligthouse, site of Fort Gustav                                              The cannon were glass fibre reproductions - not in great condition!

There were many of these on the walk to the lighthouse                                 View of the anchorage

The planes do miss the cars                                                                               and my head!

Not the biggest airport in the world but very busy                                      Symbolic statue of an Arawak.The stone underneath his foot is shaped like the island

Swedish clock tower - was the bell tower of a church                Ted trespassing on government property to gain a vantage point for a photo

destroyed in a hurricane

and the photo he took                                                                                   Picking up the mooring on Ile Fourchue

View of St Barts from Ile Fourchue                                                              St Martin from Ile Fourchue

In places the vegetation is only just recovering from the goats                         and in others it is almost impenetrable