Location: St. Barths
After finishing the 18-hour night passage the previous day, the prospect of spending the majority of the day ashore was rather appealing! Before heading off in the dinghies, we gave the boat a bit of TLC, cleaning it thoroughly up on deck and down below, “something it definitely needed after traveling. Since we start our days pretty early aboard Ocean Star, this was all finished in time for us to be onshore by 9:30 am. We were given the freedom to explore St. Barths in groups, so we spent the entire morning seeing all St. Barths had to offer, attempting to practice our limited French while doing so. We started with the souvenir shops and then walked along to find the boutiques and designer shops – quite a different vibe from all the previous islands we visited. St. Barths certainly lived up to its name as being the fanciest and slightly overpriced; the French, on the other hand, was surprisingly friendly! Our group settled on having lunch at what must have been the only American restaurant on the island, enjoying burgers and, as the restaurant claimed, proper French french fries. Others found a more luxurious restaurant on the beachfront, where they indulged in meals of steak and fish. After maximizing the free wifi in the restaurant, as per usual, we headed back to the boat for the afternoon dive. This was just off the boat at the nearby rock formations, where the open water divers finished their certificate. Showers SeaMester-style took place before donning our best clothes for our meal out in St. Barths, courtesy of SeaMester. Our post-supper squeeze was treated to some of Tyler’s singing, to the enjoyment of the whole restaurant as well! Dessert was found at the nearby Gelateria before wandering onto one of the bars on the waterfront to enjoy our night out.