22/12/2010
Little Fredlet enjoyed the new point of sail, and we covered the 50 miles from Deshaies to Jolly Harbour, Antigua, arriving shortly after lunch. One look at the entrance, the customs jetty, and we decided to save our time and money, and continue to St Barts, after a few hours rest.
We anchored around the corner in Five Island Bay, a beautiful big and protected bay, which we had almost entirely to ourselves, from where we watched the sunset, and, saw our THIRD Green Flash since we left home! Behind us, the full moon had risen, heralding the winter solstice, and creating a golden loom over the water.
After a light supper and a rest, we hauled anchor at midnight, and set off on the 80 mile leg to St Barts, taking advantage of the quieter 15knot breeze, and the full moon!
Unknown to ourselves, we were about to witness a once in 400 year heavenly spectacle! A total lunar eclipse, ON the Equinox! Our huge bright yellow moon slowly morphed into a big red/brown orb; the night turned dark, and all the stars brightened! An hour or so later, the whole process was reversed, and we watched the full bright moon setting in the west, shortly before the sun rose in the east. We could only imagine all the pagans, Stonehengers, Inca’s et al, sacrificing goats, chickens, as well as the odd child or virgin, to appease the gods, beseeching them to restore the heavenly bodies to their normal routines!
This little heavenly display played havoc, of course, with our watch keeping schedule.
Little Fredlet enjoyed the new point of sail, and we covered the 50 miles from Deshaies to Jolly Harbour, Antigua, arriving shortly after lunch. One look at the entrance, the customs jetty, and we decided to save our time and money, and continue to St Barts, after a few hours rest.
We anchored around the corner in Five Island Bay, a beautiful big and protected bay, which we had almost entirely to ourselves, from where we watched the sunset, and, saw our THIRD Green Flash since we left home! Behind us, the full moon had risen, heralding the winter solstice, and creating a golden loom over the water.
After a light supper and a rest, we hauled anchor at midnight, and set off on the 80 mile leg to St Barts, taking advantage of the quieter 15knot breeze, and the full moon!
Unknown to ourselves, we were about to witness a once in 400 year heavenly spectacle! A total lunar eclipse, ON the Equinox! Our huge bright yellow moon slowly morphed into a big red/brown orb; the night turned dark, and all the stars brightened! An hour or so later, the whole process was reversed, and we watched the full bright moon setting in the west, shortly before the sun rose in the east. We could only imagine all the pagans, Stonehengers, Inca’s et al, sacrificing goats, chickens, as well as the odd child or virgin, to appease the gods, beseeching them to restore the heavenly bodies to their normal routines!
This little heavenly display played havoc, of course, with our watch keeping schedule.
We checked into St Barts by noon, knackered but elated. The upside was, that unlike all the Cruise Liner passengers, who we learnt later, had to pay mega dollars for tickets to be in this corner of the globe on this night….. we enjoyed it as Free entertainment while on night watch!St Barts is known as the French Riviera of the Caribbean. It is the ultimate show off playground of the SERIOUSLY wealthy …. Those whose wealth exceeds most countries GDP ! This showplace, seemed to us, to be unaffected by the global financial decline and meltdown. All the Superyachts, both sail and power, all the Big Names, and Chartering “wannabe’s”, on show .
with their big beautiful toysMary and I felt quite honoured to be able to show these poor misguided folk, what a REAL cruising yacht looks like, crewed by real old farts, in faded t shirts, instead of Hunks and Hostesses, wearing pristine white uniforms and gold braid!
I mean, Uplights to show how tall your mast/masts are, Downlights to turn the ocean into an Aquamarine wonder world, Wet Bikes and Jet skis for all the kids, the odd helipad , 35ft rubber duck tenders, powered by twin 350hp outboards, smaller tenders for the big tenders ..,the list is endless, but so it appeared, was the money!
Yet back in St Maarten, which is the refueling and restocking depot for the Superyacht industry, we were told that the numbers were down, the marina’s empty in comparison, local businesses that service and supply this market, are suffering. Where has it all gone? The answer it seems, is that when the USA catches a cold, the Caribbean gets pneumonia ! Not all is as it seemed in St
Barts! 
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