The Birds and the Trees

Another post in pictures. These are from the Botanical Gardens in Deshais,  Guadeloupe.

Seeing all the birds there was definitely a highlight.
Many of them allowed us to get very close.

A picture is worth a thousand words

If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then this is certainly my wordiest blog post yet. And with a slow and inconsistent internet connection, one of the most time consuming! These pictures are all from English Harbor, Antigua 

 (pronounced An Tee Ga not An Tee  Gwa).  We started off with a visit to Nelson's Dockyard National Park and Museum,  then hiked around the peninsula. 

Pillars from the old Sail Loft in Nelson's Dockyard

Yet Another Day in Paradise?

A beautiful day. The sun is shining and birds are singing. The waves are lapping gently against the boat. I have lots of fun things on the agenda.

Early morning view 

Would you like the red sweater or the black?

What a difference the wind and waves (or lack thereof) can make. Our next destination is Antigua, almost due East from St. Kitts. We are traveling West to East and the trade winds blow East to West. We wanted to have a calm day to make the passage because it can be very uncomfortable heading straight into the wind. We wished for a calm day, and we got it.

Calm waters as we leave St. Kitts 

Unexpectedly Generous St. Kitts

Three cruise ships were in when we pulled in to the harbor at Basseterre, St. Kitts. All three left in the evening to transport their passengers through the night to the next port. That seems to be pretty standard for cruise ships around here. We often see them pulling out in the evening or cruising by at night, like well lit apartment buildings on the ocean, large floating light shows.

One of the cruise ships on the pier. The yellow building is the entrance to Port Zante. 

St. Barts to St. Kitts

Sailing at last! We were able to sail the entire way from St. Barts to St. Kitts.  Not motor, not motor sail, but actually sailing. That was the good part. The challenging part was the wind. We picked this particular day to go because the winds were forcast to be 14 - 18 knots, a very pleasant speed for Rhapsody to sail in, and less wind than had been blowing the previous days, or was forcast for the following days. We thought we had a good weather window.

Rhapsody under sail, although this picture was taken in the BVI (thanks Bob and Tammy!)

Only $17,000

It is difficult to compete with Dave Barry when he gives a description of St. Bart. He explains well what we experienced there.  Click  here  to read his description then come back, I'll wait.

For those of you who could not get the article, or chose to wait to read it another time, he declares that everything in St. Barts costs $17,000, from the smallest purchase of sunscreen to the rental of a car.We have now adopted this as the standard designation of the cost of everything, particularly in St. Barts.

(Not unlike the standard length of time left on a trip that some of you may be familiar with- no matter how much time is left on a journey,  the answer to the question "how much longer" is always "15 minutes") 

The last time I talked about prices I mentioned the "sticker shock" we were getting at restaurants. I believe that St. Barts has cured that. Every other place is cheap in comparison!

Downtown Gustavia, St. Barts