1:51 AM Fri 19 Dec 2008 GMT
 | | 'It was a good day'
Ian & Andrea Treleaven
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Andrea and Ian Treleaven, on their yacht Cape Finisterre, continue their tales of sailing in the Caribbean.
Don't miss Andrea's story about the dinghy that was determined to escape:
It's a wake up call when something goes off beam. It was our last night in St Kitts, the winds had settled and we were looking forward to sailing the next day to the luxury island of St Barts.
It was dark; we were anchored in a bay with no other boats around. Ian had gone ashore to the Reggae
 | Beautiful sailing in the Caribbean - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
Beach Bar, on his own, to send our last Letter from the Indies'. Thinking it was time he returned, I looked outside to see if the bar was closing and saw our dinghy floating out to sea! I did the 'fish wife call' and got his attention. Realising that he had no dinghy and with no other boats around he grabbed a surf ski and paddle. After falling off before getting the hang of it, he finally reached the yacht (luckily he had left the computer ashore).
By this stage the dinghy was out of sight so we upped anchor to chase it. After circling the bay, we headed out to sea with no luck, so we decided it could have been washed ashore to the other
 | Gustavia Port St Barts - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
side of the bay.
Ian wanted to anchor on the lee shore and get on 'that surf ski thing' again to look for it around the rocky shoreline. I couldn't convince him not to, so on went his life jacket. With a line to the yacht and he paddled off towards the shore.
Not 15 metres later, over he went and I heard
'I'm in trouble now'.
The life jacket inflated automatically and nearly strangled him and then prohibited him from climbing
 | 30 years and still sailing - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
back on the ski. Managing very quickly to let some air out of the jacket, he climbed back on the ski and I pulled him back to the yacht.
This is why I am telling you about this stupid situation - Life jackets and automatic gas bottles! Ian's not a very big man but if he were it could have been a very different situation. He is also lucky, in that his years spent selling and demonstrating life jackets meant he knew exactly what to do very quickly.
We upped anchor again and returned to the sheltered side of the bay but without our dinghy.
Ian managed, after numerous
 | Nikki Beach - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
calls, to get the security man at the bar on the phone. He then ran along the beach and rocks while we followed his torch from the yacht. Finding the dinghy very quickly, he started the motor and returned it to us. A reward gave us a flash of white teeth in the dark; at least someone is having a good evening.
Our next three islands (St Barts, St Martin/Sint Maarten, and Anguilla) are only miles apart but so different, offering a splendid variety, even down to the currencies used.
St Bart is all luxury, expensive shopping and superb restaurants in the middle of a small unspoilt island. Everything a girl could want to
 | Nature all around - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
celebrate 30 years of marriage can be found here. So what do we do? No need to shop for diamonds or pearls, we hire a car and look for the perfect lunch spot.
'Nikki Beach Restaurant' at Baie St Jean has lapping waves, white sand and breathtaking turquoise waters. For the evening we choose 'Caviar Bar' where we relax on cushions, drinking Champagne. The only thing missing is our friends, family and readers. love to you all, thank you for being part of our lives!
Gustavia is the main port/town with every major fashion house (Gucci, Dior) and watch labels (Rolex, Cartier), and
 | Ash trays for the beach - Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
will be wall to wall with super yachts by Christmas. The port is small, so yachts like us anchor far out. One has to be in and ready to anchor early in the day, oherwise you have to anchor too far out unprotected to the big swell.
Our first impression is the sky blue colour of the very clear water how very inviti it looks. St Barts, or to use its correct name St Barthelemy, after Columbus' brother, was initially settled by the French, then the Swedes and then back to the French. The architecture is a mixture of design and colour from both cultures. Then in the 1960s, at the beginning of tourism, the locals grabbed hold of the concept and the island has
 | Pelicans are aways a delight.JPG Ian & Andrea Treleaven |
never looked back.
Around the corner is Anse de Colombier, a nature reserve bay. From now on laid moorings will become more frequent, protecting the ocean floor. Here turtle heads frequently return to the surface alongside the yacht for air. A storm to the north has created a large swell so after another uncomfortable night in rolling seas we set sail to the island of St Martin. We have a fast 25nm reach to enter on the French side; less bureaucracy than the Dutch side.
One island, two countries - 'Saint Maarten' is Dutch and 'St Martin' is French. This is an island like no other island because it has inland water, Simpson Lagoon, and can only be entered by lifting bridges. Since we have come in on the French side, the yacht must stay on their half of the waterway although we, in our dinghy, can go anywhere without passports. Being in here has its advantages, the main one being the good shelter, it has been very windy (a time known as the Christmas winds). To have no worries about the anchoring for a while will be nice.
It is very commercial ashore with an International Airport, duty-free everything and big nautical shops to service all the marinas. These are full of every boat imaginable. Ian has a list of 'fix it, fill it or replace it' items to keep him busy.
Everywhere we go we always look for fellow New Zealanders or Australians and at last in the lagoon we spied a Swan 48 flying an Aussie flag. Owned by a CYCA Youth Academy sailor with his CYCA member family on board, Shane Diethelm has just sailed down from the USA with his new purchase. With him are his parents, Basil and Angela, and brother Tristan.
The 3rd island, Anguilla, is the unspoilt gem of them all and that's where we will be for Christmas Day, with a return to a slower pace.
From the West Indies we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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