Gustavia, St. Barths to Marigot, St. Martin

We've spent a lovely few days anchored out at the north end of St. Barths in the Anse de Columbier Bay which is a nature reserve. They have put out a number of nice mooring buoys free of charge to encourage folks to use them instead of anchoring. From what we saw, the local turtle population appreciates it! We snorkeled among them for several days and really enjoyed the reef structure as well.

The sunsets were fantastic as were the BBQ's off the aft deck. We made all sorts of great meats on the grill. Especially memorable were Tracy's pork ribs. Yum! We also enjoyed great wines in our wine 'cellar' (aka under the deck) from Spain (thanks Melissa!).

A highlight was having the Stad Amsterdam come anchor for a night alongside and today, on the way to St. Martin, we sailed neck and neck for 20 miles in the brilliant Caribbean sunshine. Sean radioed the captain to compliment him on the performance of her crew. Glorious sailing alongside a magnificent example of a nice square-rigger.

It doesn't get much better than this...