Location: Gustavia, St. Barths
We arrived at our port of call, St. Barths, at 6:00 on an overcast morning. Watch Teams One and Two heroically lowered the sails, put sail covers on, and lowered Irv into the water while Watch Team Three rested their weary eyes. Everyone got a couple of hours of nap time, and then all were awoken at 8:30 for breakfast. At around 9:15, we did an extensive Boat Appreciation, making Ocean Star shine so that she’d look beautiful when docked alongside the mega yachts in glitzy Gustavia. After BA, we hauled up the anchor and headed for the dock where we’d spend the next three nights. However, the simple stern-to-docking process turned into an all-day event (or at least it seemed so to our tired selves). As we approached the dock, we were met with a squall, so we turned, headed back out through the channel, dropped anchor once again, and waited out the rain and wind. When the skies cleared, we raised the anchor once again and finally made our approach. As we docked, we were met with another inconvenience. Capt. Kris wasn’t satisfied with the way that the starboard anchor was holding (keeping our stern from bouncing into the dock during swells), so we unattached the stern lines, circled in the harbor, repositioned ourselves, dropped our port anchor, and successfully docked. After a bit of fiddling with the dock lines to get the alignment perfect, we were free to set foot in St. Barths. We eagerly packed our backpacks full of shower items, clean clothes, and Euros and walked the perimeter of the harbor to the free showers on the other side. Clean and happy, we had some time before and after dinner to wander the streets of Gustavia, eating Gelato and gazing at the expensive jewelry and designer clothing in the windows. We had an eventful day, and in the end, we’re sitting in the harbor of yet another beautiful island, waiting to see what it holds for us. (And congrats to Ben, who learned what his Army job would be!)