C'est la vie!

At 8:00 am the next morning, we found ourselves sailing along on a close reach heading for Ile Fourchue, a popular marine park just outside of St. Bart's. Since we started at Grand Case, rather than St. Martin, our angle to the wind was improved keeping the 20-knot easterly more on the beam, and making the 6 ft. to 8 ft. seas far more comfortable. We found a happy balance with one reef in our main and just the staysail and managed to average a steady 6 knots for most of the 27 miles.

As we were getting closer to Ile Fourchue we decided to alter course slightly and pass to leeward of Table Rock, rather than to windward as per our original routing. As I was watching our progress on the electronic navigation system it showed us sailing THROUGH the rock, whereas looking outside we were well to starboard of the rock. We both looked at each other a bit perplexed not understanding why the charts were off. Perhaps our GPS signal had interference? We were both glad it was daytime and we had a good visual. That was the first time we had observed this issue and hopefully it will be the last time. Scary.

As we approached the anchorage we were both looking forward to once again joining our friends on Field Trip, as we hadn't sailed together since Salinas, Puerto Rico well over a month ago. It's always nice to have a buddy boat nearby and we have become good friends, as our paths seem to be flowing in tandem towards Grenada. We picked up a free mooring ball and saw a beautiful crescent-shaped beach surrounding us with clear blue water.

Speaking of scenery, another French boat arrived and took the nearest buoy to us. Of the group of four aboard, the 50+ captain was the only one sans clothing. Seems to me that would be a bit awkward onboard, but that's just me. To each his own. We were much more interested in Field Trip's new boat bottom which had recently been painted with a copper anti-fouling paint. Walter decided it would be a good time to finish up our bottom cleaning. He hooked up the air hose to our air tank and went to work while I kept an eye on the pressure gauge from the deck. We later snorkeled over to check out the paint job onField Trip's bottom and marveled at how spotless it was with not even a tiny barnacle growing anywhere. I think we may want some of this paint for our next haul out.

Idelic anchorage at Ile Fourchue near St. Barts.

Next morning we were welcomed by now the entire crew of the French cat running around naked. I have to give them credit, they don't seem to have any embarrassment with other boats around. C'est la vie! We dinghied into shore and hiked up to the top of the island ridge to get in a little exercise and see the windward side of the island before sailing on to St. Bart's. We saw beautiful flora, rock-cairns, and views of both sides of the island that made it worth our while.

It was hot. St. Barts in the background.

Once we got back to the boat Field Trip, was ready to head over to St. Bart's a bit earlier than planned. We think it was the French gentleman joined by the rest of the crew, parading around on their boat that might have hurried their departure. We weren't too far behind as we headed across the channel to Anse de Colombier, our next destination.