Christmas in the Caribbean by Deckhand, Tyler

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

First time caller, long time listener, and the first guest blogger for Colorado Sails!

Needless to say, I’m beyond excited to be writing to you all from the bay of Grand Case in St. Martin. We had a whirlwind week here and I have a week more to go during my trip. I have a whole list of things I want to tell you that Margie and Joe are NOT putting in the blog, but I’ll save that for next week 😊

DECKHAND LOG

12/21

After an overnight flight from Denver, stopping in Atlanta and ending up at SXM around 230pm local time. I was ecstatic to see the parents after several months apart. They were waiting, like good hosts, in a bar of all places.

We headed to Making Connections from there and piled into the dinghy with all my luggage. Margie tasked us with bringing several items to them from Denver, including but not limited to a brand new SodaStream (cue eye roll).

After getting some shorts and sandals on, we headed to St Martin Yacht Club for cocktails, snacks and to watch the big boats come in and out of the Lagoon. From there it was off to “Lagoonies” for dinner and drinks. Needless to say, after an over night flight I was wrecked and checked out early to prep for Wes and Piper the next day.

12/22

Our morning started with crepes at Creperie du Lagon. As dad says “the French don’t mess around with food”, and as someone who has eaten their way around the world, even this little island paradise stayed true to its French roots.

Mom, Dad and I headed off to “provision” (you don’t call it grocery shopping when you do it in a dinghy) and prepped for the week getting some much needed meat, cheese, juice and other bits and bobs. Don’t worry, the booze was already stocked.

Wes and Piper were on the same flight that I was on the day before, so we swooped them from the same bar and beat some rain back to the boat. After welcome cocktails aboard, and they got settled, we took off for dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Izi Ristorante Italiano.

12/23

10:30am – Remember the bridge I mentioned before, where we watched other boats go through? We were now staring it down and it looked MUCH smaller. Joe didn’t bat an eye and powered through as we were out on the open ocean. Destination – St. Barth’s for Christmas!

We were hammering into the wind the entire way at 16-17 knots, gusting up to 20 knots, and averaging less than 5 knots of speed. It was pretty brutal, but everyone made it out alive and no one lost their cookies. We arrived at Colombier, a little bay around the corner from Gustavia, the main area of St. Barth’s, around 2pm.

Once the Captain and the first mate cleared customs for us, we celebrated with cocktails and dinner aboard the boat. Margie and Joe had provisioned Snapper back in the USVI. They fired it up on the grill off the back of the boat for our first night in St. Barth’s.

12/24

Everyone awoke to the beauty of the bay around us, as well as 11 Superyachts. We were trying to calculate the amount of money sitting in the bay and figured there was about $1.5-2 billion worth of boats next to us. We love our little Making Connections though!

First things first. We headed to the beach as we heard there was a hike up and over the hill. The bay has an abandoned Rockefeller property above it, and overlooks the north end of St. Barth’s down below. We did the hike and walked down into the small town of Flamands.

After the hike, we decided to trek into Gustavia, and it was a longer, 2 mile dinghy ride around the corner. As we rounded the corner, my mouth dropped. Not only were there 11 Superyachts around us in the bay, there were countless more in the bay of Gustavia, including Eclipse, one of the world’s most expensive yachts owned by a Russian billionaire; go figure.

Gustavia was amazing and just what everyone said it would be; Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana stores everywhere. After shopping, only looking, and hanging out at a bar or two, we were on the hunt for Christmas Eve dinner. If you know one thing about my parents, they eat dinner no later than 530pm, so to find dinner around then when nothing in St. Barth’s opens till 7pm was tricky. They were willing to relent and do dinner at 6pm at an amazing Pizza place I found. Pizza and wine from Christmas Eve. I’ll take any year!

12/25

Christmas Day – We awoke to Santa somehow missing the boat (pun intended). We didn’t have a tree, but did leave out a Daiquiri for him, so not sure what the deal was.

Wesley and Piper decided to do a romantic beach day while Mom, Dad and myself headed back to Gustavia to look for ice and some other necessities. Unlike the states where you can get whatever you need on a holiday, everything was closed up (which we all agreed is how we should be living our lives). We ended up having to buy (expensive) ice from a bar and of course hit a Boulangerie for a couple baguettes.

After a lovely day, Dad fired up the grill and made some amazing steaks, with some great wine. We missed all the friends and family, but we made the most of our Christmas aboard!

12/26

After some consternation, the couple days before, the four of us decided that we wanted to do a scuba dive the day after Christmas. Our dive company came and picked us up on our boat and whisked us around the corner. With several other divers and several teachers, we had our own dive master, Reneu, who would be shepherding us around the dive, Red Donkey. With some of us a little anxious as we hadn’t dove recently, we plopped into the water and made our way. We had a lovely dive with just a couple hiccups, but everyone made it back safe and sound.

We arrived back to the boat and Piper had brilliantly made us a little happy hour hors d’oeuvres. A few cocktails were had after a successful dive, and we had a smorgasbord of food, such as sausages, egg rolls and shrimp, to end the day.

12/27

Back to St. Martin we go!

With winds calming down a bit, and it being a close haul on a starboard tack (don’t know what that means, but apparently, it’s when the wind is about 60 degrees off your right side) it was perfect for sailing. We had winds around 13-14 knots for the 20 miles sail and averaged around 6-7 knots. We even got to put the sails up and let the big dog eat (as Jim Martina says.)

It was a lovely sail as we put St. Barth’s in the rearview mirror and made our way back to “the mainland.” We made amazing time and landed on the north side of the island at Grand Case. We had actually been here in July with Tradewinds and so it was lovely to go back to some of the other places we had seen while walking through. My parents have talked about Grand Case in the blog, but it is truly an amazing little town. One way street that runs through the main drag and quite possibly, one of the best stretches of restaurants I’ve ever seen. Seriously, you can’t miss.

After a drink at Captain Frenchy’s, to be revisited the next day, we went back to the boat cleaned up and had a lovely dinner at Quai 58. Another location my parents have talked about in another blog, but just a really cool bar by the dinghy dock with awesome “bar food”. I say “bar food” cause we had some amazing cheeseburgers and some really good linguine with fish. A great way to cap off our first day in Grand Case.

12/28

After grabbing a cocktail at Captain Frenchy’s the day prior, it was Wes and Piper’s idea to spend a little more time there. Little did we know it’d turn into an all day affair. A truly amazing beach bar that would rival any others around the world, it was the perfect place for 1-6 beers, a couple cocktails and A+ people watching. We even had Ross, our favorite Tradewinds Captain, and his first mate, Ana, come meet us for a drink. It was great to see them and catch up. My parents, Wes and Piper had seen Ross when he came to Colorado back in August, but I hadn’t been able to see him.

After a full day, we headed back to the boat to get ready for dinner. Le Cottage was our destination, a truly amazing French restaurant in Grand Case (sensing a theme?). The food was incredible and the waitstaff was amazing. Good wine, some good food, and amazing setting for Wesley and Piper’s last meal with us before they took off the next day.

12/29

Wesley and Piper’s last day. Needless to say it was a somber morning as we were bummed to see them go. I’m going to be here until 1/7, so my parents can’t get rid of me yet!

After seeing them off pretty early as they needed to go get COVID tests to get back into the states, the Captain, First Mate and Lead Deckhand headed to the Coffee/Chocolate shop for some fast Wi-Fi and to replenish my take of books and movies.

As we got back on the boat I realized it was just the 3 of us and panicked that now all the attention would be on me. After settling down, we made a lovely dinner of grilled chicken, salad (with Persimmon! Highly recommend if you can find), and had an early night in.

12/30

After a full week, it felt like I needed a break from my vacation, and the weather obliged. We had a pretty lazy morning/afternoon, just hanging around and reading our various books (We were all trying to read the same book and Tyler and Dad fly through it. Mom says – I’m on Chapter 2).

We did try to get a little activity in and go snorkeling at Creole rock. A known great destination for snorkeling and scuba diving and just a quick dinghy ride away from the boat. On the way there, we get pummeled with large swell and wind, even to the point we hit a wave and I swear I flew 5 feet in the air and landed back in the dinghy (probably was 1 foot, but I’m writing this). Mom was the first to bite and say “let’s go back”. Dad and I didn’t protest and turned right back around.

Needing to get something active in, Dad and I went ashore and stretched our legs, grabbed a little bite to eat at a kebab shop, and walked around Grand Case, as well as provisioned some seltzer water and more beer (essentials!)

Dinner was steak, potatoes, and cabbage! We’ve gotten pro at all sharing the responsibilities with Dad on the grill and Mom and I sharing the sauté duties inside.

12/31

Glutton for punishment, we decided to give the snorkeling at Creole Rock another shot. With much calmer swell and calmer wind, we ventured out around 9 am to head back. Once there, we all hopped out and got to explore some amazing snorkeling. Lots of different kinds of fish, including a goofy looking trumpet fish, and lots of cool coral to check out. Even after getting hammered by the hurricane a few years ago, the coral is starting to make a return. After about 20 minutes, the parents packed it in (which I was more than ok with) and we headed back to the boat.

After some impromptu Bloody Mary’s, I realized that I hadn’t been up this early the whole trip. It was 10am and we had the whole day ahead of us. What did I do with that extra time you ask? I took a nap. And it was lovely.

After nap time, went to the Coffee/Chocolat shop and I went exploring. I’ve walked this stretch countless times and I just love looking in the little shops and seeing the locals. I snagged a baguette from the Boulangerie because it’s been a couple days and I’m fiending.

I write this to you as the sun sets over Grand Case and the bay we’re sitting in. We’re spending tonight having dinner at L’Auburge Gourmand, a favorite of ours from back in July, and ringing in the New Year from whatever little beach bar we find.

It’s amazing to be here with my parents right now. They’ve worked so hard to have this journey for themselves. It’s amazing to see them take on this new challenge, be uncomfortable, learn, and do, it all together.

We wish you and yours a happy and safe New Year in 2022. Love you all!

Tyler

Piper took this photo of the four of us prior to our dinner at Le Cottage, one of the only times we "dressed up."