St Bart’s is absolutely beautiful! We anchored in the anchorage with a ton of scope out so that it wouldn’t drag (This isn’t our first time at the rodeo!). We hung around onboard, a little sluggish after our night sail so some of us slept in, some just hung out and Krisann and Joe went for a short snorkel as we were anchored near a nice large rock that looked promising for snorkelers! They had an amazing snorkel – too bad I was a little scared to see all the fish, (500 different varieties they tell me) turtles and nerf (nurse) sharks that they saw while snorkeling! Maybe next time.
By early afternoon Captain Thom and I were ready to go in to the marina and check in at customs. Mark drove us over in the dinghy and dropped us off at the dock so they could keep the dinghy to bring everyone else over later that afternoon.
We finished checking in and went to an outdoor cafe for a beer, use the internet and wait for the scooter company to open so we could make a reservation for the 8 of us for the following day. I was having a great chat with the couple next to us who were from Edina, Minnesota. They were on their catamaran (working remote) but came into the restaurant for lunch. It was fun to chat with some folks from back home – wow…I sound like I’ve been away for far too long!
Anyway, Thom got up to go make the reservation when my phone rang. It was Joe telling us that the dinghy wasn’t running well. That the engine would start revving on its own, then die. They said they were making their way to the dinghy dock (slowly) so Thom went to the scooter shop and I went to the dinghy dock to wait for them.
To make a long story short, we eventually decided to get the dinghy back to the boat for Joe, Mark and Thom to work on. Krisann, Erin, Troy and I stayed in St Bart’s for a girls night out (yes, Troy is a man married to Erin but he’s awesome and fits in so no worries on qualifying for “girls night out”). We had hoped that the guys would join back up with us but they weren’t able to get the dinghy fixed. We knew what was wrong with it and it worked slowly if driven slowly so the decision was made to keep it as is until we returned the boat in a couple of days.
The 4 of us had a nice dinner ashore and then looked for a way to get back to our catamaran. Fortunately, we saw a really nice boat dropping off some passengers for dinner. They were already untied from the dock and ready to head out when we caught up with them and asked for a ride to our boat. They were very nice, helped us aboard but were strict that we sit in the front and not come back to the cockpit at all. They later told me that a friend of theirs told them about some people they helped, in the same predicament as us, that actually pulled a gun on them. Oh my…not us! Anyway, they took us right to our boat, tied up to our catamaran and we stepped onto our boat with ease. The guys were so nice, I tried to give them a $20 tip and they wouldn’t even take it. Here’s a picture of Nick, one of our hero’s:
