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Feb/Mar.2006 |
To Nevis and St.Kitts ( The Swiss Team)
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The Author: Hildegard & Nelly |
After a snowy departure from Zurich we - Nelly, Hildegard and Spartan, arrived in St. Marteen on 26 Feb 2006 at 15.00 o'clock. Toni welcomed us at the airport and took us on board the Little Swan in the Great Bay, Bobby's Marina, St. Marteen.
The next day we got our supplies and sailed direction Anguilla, where we lowered our anchor in the Green Cay bay. On Tuesday, late afternoon we anchored in a beautiful bay where Spartan donned his snorkel and dove into the water. Unfortunately, we could not stay, as the police asked us to leave the bay and stay over night in the harbor of Anguilla. At Toni's request we had a real Swiss dinner of "gehacktes und H?rnli". |
Bluewater Sailing |
In Marigot Toni had to refill the water tank. In the meantime Spartan, Nelly and I went on a shopping tour, since we wanted to prepare a special dinner for
Spartans' birthday. We set sail already at midday and sailed to St. Barts. St. Barthelemy is the St. Tropez of the Caribbean! We explored the quaint little village of Gustavia with its old fort
In Colossal Bay Spartan and Toni went for their first dive. Arriving in Saba, a hilly, green Island, famous for its diving sports, |
Toni was keen to climb the highest Dutch mountain! His Swiss crew waited aboard the Little Swan. Spartan took the opportunity to do his favorite sport, free-diving. He went down to a depth of 24,7m. Once we had arrived in St. Eustasius, Orania Bay, we visited one of the local diving bases, where Nelly and Spartan booked a dive. After a lovely lunch at the hotel Golden Era, Nelly and Spartan donned their diving equipment. They saw soft corals, turtles and one nurse shark. Again we hoisted the anchor and sailed to St. Kitts to the Sandy Points bay. Finally, we got to sail closed to the wind. |
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| Caribbean Sailing |
At a typical Caribbean sandy beach, complete with palm threes, we set the anchor. The following day we wanted to check-in in Nevis, but the Harbor office was still closed. At short notice we changed plans and went on a tour of sleepy Nevis. Back on board we navigated to the long waited diving reef - without checking in. When we got there we found that a local diving boat full of divers was moored at the buoy. So we set anchor in the sandy ground. |
Sunset |
Our skipper and his dive guide went for a dive. After a short time we had a visit from the Harbor Police. They waited impatiently for the return of Toni and Spartan. When they finally were back on board the police demanded the boat papers and found that we hadn't checked-in in Nevis. They were nice enough to escort us back to Nevis. Toni was taken ashore with all our passports. After intensive negotiations the fine of $ 1.500.00 was waived - thanks Toni. Happier then ever to have Toni and our passports with us, we anchored again at Pinneys Beach. After all this we first had to have a big Sundowner drink
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Our last day at sea we spent sailing back to St. Kitts, Basseterre. Unfortunately, rain and a cold wind made for an uncomfortable journey. Arrived in Basseterre, we spent our last evening in a local restaurant enjoying our goodbye dinner. On Friday, the 10th of March we left shortly after 8.00 AM. Toni took us to the St. Kitts pier with his Dinghy were we made our goodbyes.
Thank you Toni, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip!
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