Side Trip to Isle Forchue and Another Fish Story

Half way up the windward coast of St. Kitts we decided that the wind was not cooperating again - it was from behind us. If we continued on our planned route to Marigot Bay, St. Martin (the French side) it would take until after dark to get there; if we changed our plans and took a side trip to St. Bart's we would arrive there about 2PM. Needless to say we opted for the side trip to St. Bart's, 'yellow flagging' it at Isle Forchue one of St. Bart's marine parks. The sail was still not ideal, but at least the wind was more favourable and the seas remained flat. We were still using the AC generator to charge the batteries.

Griff decided to try fishing yet again. Another fish story about the one that got away. Griff was using the hand held fishing reel that we had bought on Union Island as a souvenir of the Grenadines. As usual he was relaxed behind the wheel when suddenly he felt a large tug on the line. He gave a huge pull to set the hook and said "this time I got him". Next thing he knew, the fish grabbed back - in spades!!! He grabbed for the line, which was whizzing off the reel, but before he could get a good grip on the reel it got yanked right out of his hands, went flying across and out of the cockpit and hit the lifeline and stanchion on the side of the boat. The only thing that saved it was the fact that the handle broke and the remaining piece got hung up on the lifeline. Needless to say that was one big fish that got away. (Griff here - it must have been absolutely huge - honest!!)

The other thing that happened on this trip as well as the trip from Dominica was that two large cargo ships/tankers came very close to us. The one from Dominica passed behind us, went along our starboard side, crossed our bow and then headed back the way it came along our port side. The one this trip came up on our starboard side, meaning she had the right of way except we were sailing therefore we should have had the right of way. However, since she was much bigger than us and moving faster we gave way so that she would pass in front of our bow with room to spare.

We finally got to St. Bart's which is a French island. As with other French islands if you don't go into the major centres they don't seem to mind if you 'yellow flag' your stay. We sailed past Pain de Sucre (Sugar Loaf), an island just off the main harbour of Gustavia and went to Isle Forchue. This is a privately owned island that is also a marine park. They have mooring balls in place and when we arrived we were all alone in the bay. Later two other boats came and moored as well. We went snorkelling to check the state of the mooring and also just to snorkel. The mooring was good - large rope in good shape attached to a large cement block. Although there wasn't a reef to swim around the shore had lots of boulders with corals and fish. Maybe not as spectacular as the Tobago Cays, but there seemed to be a larger variety of fish and we didn't have to fight the surge of the surf.

We spent a quiet night and headed to St. Maarten the next morning. We decided to go the Dutch side since that was where all the businesses were that we needed to access. Next blog is on St. Maarten. We haven't had any recent comments so if anyone is still reading our blogs stay tuned!