When I say mega, I mean MEGA!
The short trip to St. Barth’s from Fork Island was pleasant and we soon found ourselves navigating around a huge number of mega yachts at anchor in Gustavia. When I say mega, I mean MEGA, helicopters on deck included. When we made it to the area where the “poor folk’s” boats lie, we had a bit of an issue finding a place to anchor. The bays not only have a huge number of boats but also have a ton of mooring balls to complicate the process of selecting a spot. After working at it for a while though, we finally found a relatively open area, although in much deeper water than we typically prefer. We’re not going to bump into anyone though so it will have to do.
After making sure the boat was settled, our first task was to clear customs at the Port Authority. This is where the French Islands really have it going on. The office had several computer terminals and in self-serve fashion, you simply type in all of your own info, print off the completed document and then bring it to the desk. The two gentlemen working at the office were pleasant and cleared us in promptly. The only downside to the whole procedure is that vessels are required to pay to anchor in Gustavia. In our case, with a little boat, it is 9.50 Euros per day! OUCH. We did pay for a few days but will be looking to move to one of the other anchorages on the island ASAP. Sadly there really aren’t that many. Now that we’re all legal though, we’re looking forward to doing some exploring.
Yes, just about all those AIS hits are Mega Yachts.
And yes, that is a helicopter on this boat’s bow.
I like the look of this one.
One of the strangest that we have seen. A staysail schooner trimaran?
The marina, where we went to check in, is quite nice with excellent dinghy docks!
At our friend Carl’s suggestion, we made it to Le Select after checking in to St. Barth’s.
Celebratory beers!
As usual, we were treated to a spectacular sunset.
Wow, where do all these people get the money?! Just goes to show, though, that you don’t have to be rich to enjoy the same things they do. It’s just experienced in a smaller boat .. lol!
Love the last picture of the sunset … that’s a magazine photo!
No matter how big the boat, we all get to enjoy the same sunset!
Having a bigger, more complex and more expensive boat means:
– There’s more stuff to break, and therefore to fix.
– You can’t take care of it yourself. Everything’s gotta be farmed out.
– To pay for it, you’re either working crazy long weeks when you’re not on board, or you’re doing something that might attract attention from securities regulators.
If you’re swimming in cash, though, by all means go for it….
Swimming in cash or drowning in debt.
French and Euro = EXPENSIVE!!!
Sure is beautiful there!
Did you go “around back” for the t-shirts???
Around back?
Wow! Who owns a boat like that really? Georgeous sunset though 🙂
You’d be surprised who owns boats like that, Andrea. The two biggest yacht’s in Vancouver’s harbour are each owned by car dealers. And they’re HUGE yacht’s. Both of them have year-round crew employed – 12 people on one of them. Granted, one of the owners owns a dozen or more car dealerships but the other guy just owns one and his is the boat with the biggest crew.
Now I know why cars are so expensive up here in Canada!
Mike, did you happen to get the name of the big one with the helicopter? I always try to get the name and then look them up online because I like to see what the interior looks like and you can often find who the owner is.
That one looks a lot like one that was getting work done in the North Vancouver boatyard recently, the Attessa IV (330 feet!!!). I don’t think it is the same one though as a friend spotted it in California a week ago.
When I was in the BVI in 2009 we saw two amazing yachts. The Martha Ann and Xanadu. Both were for rent for around $600,000+ for the week. THE WEEK!!! Yikes!
I did not get the name and although the one with the helicopter is huge, it really doesn’t stand out amongst all the others. There are so many.
Once, I returned to my boat (South Jersey Marine, Cape May) to find they had moved one nearly that large in behind me. The anchor was over our salon!
On the positive side, they were having a party catered that night, so they assigned 2 guys to wash and detail our boat, and coil all the lines. Very cool. We weren’t invited–obviously–but I did have fun listening to “owner tales” from the crew.
That is awesome. Do you think that if we went and anchored right beside one that we might get the same treatment?
😉
Been following you for a few weeks. Great adventures. Looks like you and and your pal Steve Martin should have a beer.
http://www.whosay.com/stevemartin/photos/113289
We’ve missed him thus far. 🙂
Great photos Mike. Are you using the Go Pro Hero 2 you were talking about a while ago? If so, how do you like it? I gotta say again, your photos are awesome!
The second last photo in today’s post was taken with the GoPro. The rest are with the Canon D10. We have been playing with the GoPro… it has a lot of potential.
Been following and enjoying your adventures for some time. You liked Akula. We saw the boat up north this past summer at the east end of Long Island (NY). She was underway and had so much teak deck furniture on top of her pilothouse that it is probably worth more than your boat! Shortly thereafter, I saw full page ads for Akula in the yachting magazines as the boat is for sale. As I recall, the price was a mere $14.5 million US.
Keep on having fun and reporting on it for us vicarious cruisers!
14.5? Is that all?
🙂
Hey Mike,
I like Akula too! It’s for sale for a cool $14,750,000 @ http://www.bluewateryachting.com/yachts-for-sale/luxury-yachts/amels/akula
Maybe you can dinghy over and ask for a interested buyers tour. If you go, bring the GoPro.
Best,
Matt
We need to make some different friends!
hehe