Gustavia

It was just a short motor sail to Gustavia on the main island of St. Barts. We hoisted the main while anchored like two other boats did. Even though this is a reasonable thing to do for power if the auxiliary fails, none of us was used to hoisting the main while at achor. It gave us confidence that the two cats that left before us raised theirs. Ron, the skipper of the day, took us to Gustavia.

After a short search, we found a yellow mooring ball in the anchorage at Gustavia about a mile north of the inner harbor, where Sunsail boats were forbidden for insurance reasons. Beth called the Harbormaster, but had trouble understanding his strong French accent on the scratchy VHS radio. We assumed we were in the correct place and jumped in the dinghy to check out the harbor and clear Customs.

Checking in after a long dingy ride was very easy compared to Anguilla. It was a holiday so some shops were closed including the tourist center. WiFi was advertised but did not work at customs. A money exchange a couple blocks down the street had a computer running the Chrome Web browser (which interested me) so we used it to check the weather and our mail.

After a great round of drinks at Le Select, we hailed a taxi gave us a tour of the island. Beautiful vistas!!! We stopped long enough in St. Jean to do some shopping and access the free WiFi there. This was the only free WiFi we noticed in the islands.

We began looking more carefully at the weather because our initial report had stronger northern swells arriving. The reports we received via Web did not mention swells at all. Tonight ESE wind at 10 kt. Showers possible Friday. Clear Saturday.