Another Great Day Of Scuba Diving In St. Barth

Friday morning at 9 AM dive operator John Servetto of St. Barth Big Blue took us out to Le Pain de Sucre for our first dive of the day. However, the high winds and rough surf prevented us from diving that site. John took the boat back closer to shore within the marine preserve near Les Gros Islets. We entered the water, submerged, and once on the bottom we made a short underwater swim to the wreck of the Dakar. The Dakar sank in 1998 during hurricane Georges and sits at about 45 feet depth. We circled the wreck then we swam back to the reef to complete the dive. The second dive was also at Les Gros Islets. The average depth is less than at Le Pain de Sucre, which usually means more bottom time for the diver and more light for photography. Visability underwater was excellent today and sunny conditions made for enjoyable photography. I also used my fill flash quite a bit today, so this batch of photographs is quite colorful. It was a fun day of diving, my last for this trip.

Of Art and the Architectural History of Gustavia

This morning we walked from our villa to the far end of the town of Gustavia, to near the Hotel de Ville, the main government building of the Collective. (A Collective is sort of like a Department of France.) Nearby the modern Hotel de Ville there is an old 18th century building known as Wall House, built when the Swedes ruled the island. It houses a museum which usually has exhibits of the island’s history. But currently there are two displays quite different. One is a show of watercolors by the contemporary enigmatic Italian artist Francesco Clemente. Some of these show Caribbean people carrying baskets on their heads, but others were inspired by words from Homer’s Illiad, and often incorporate lines from that poet, in English, right on top of the images. Many of these beautiful watercolors are done wet paint onto water-logged paper which produces a flowing and dream-like world in the medium. The second exhibit at the Museum showed architecture in Gustavia from the 18th century through today, and charts how the West Indies style grew, disappeared and then reoccurred locally. Some of the buildings featured in the exhibit are unique wooden and stone structures unlike anywhere else in the Caribbean. The exhibit illustrates how modern architectural styles replicated the look of the original stone and wood houses until the real estate price boom of the late 20th century. Then modern materials and styles were used in construction. –Dan

Brigantin Building

Wall House, the town museum

Architecture Exhibit

Dinzey House, the only remaining all-wood house in Gustavia

Watercolor of Gustavia ca 1798.

Another Spectacular Day Of Scuba Diving On St. Barth

Wednesday morning I returned with my dive operator John Servetto of St. Barth Big Blue to the "Non-Stop" wreck, which I last visited two years ago. In the afternoon we dove Les Gros Islets, which is always easy and fun. John took the first photo of me. From the web site worldsbestdives.com: "The 200ft Nonstop, which was a luxury motor yacht, sank during hurricane Hugo, during September 1989. After unsuccessful salvage attempts, Nonstop now lies upside down. Many varied hard and soft corals have taken hold on the steel hull and the wreck is teeming with a large variety of reef fish."

Dinner: Maya’s At Public Beach

Last night we returned to Maya’s at Public Beach. It’s right on the water and because it’s still windy we sat at a table in the middle of the restaurant, instead of seaside. Jim particularly liked the Burgundy wine we started out with, a Chorey Les Beauanes by A. Guyon, 2012. Then he had Fusilli au crabe, a chewy pasta with generous chunks of crab meet in a cheese sauce. Dan ordered a simpler salad of mache, tomatoes and avocado which was very fresh. For a main course Dan had a grilled dourade, which was accompanied by fried plantain strips. Jim liked his Creole spiced red snapper, also served with rice and plantain. Desserts were the familiar pound cake with orange syrup and a moist chocolate cake. Though the menu was simple, the food is good and the venue remains extremely popular. We noted upon leaving that the restaurant now offers valet parking probably to cope with the tight parking spaces where many a car has crashed into the low cement walls lining the walkway up to the entrance. -Dan

Nice Underwater Portrait

My diving operator and friend John Servetto took this photograph of me the other day.

Dinner At Le Repaire

Not wanting to stray too far from our flat last night, we walked to Le Repaire for dinner. Dan had an endive salad with a tasty tapanade served on croutons. Jim enjoyed the fabulous lobster salad with exotic tropical fruits. It tasted as good as it looked. Dan ordered chicken "a la grandmere," served with mushroom gravy and delicious mashed potatoes. We shared the passion fruit panna cotta and double-dipped on desert with a cup of caramel ice cream from the ice cream parlor.

Cloudy Day for an Island Paradise

For lunch, we returned to one of the most comfortable restaurants on the island, Santa Fe in Lurin. It has a beautiful hill top site overlooking the ocean. Though today it’s been both windy and mizzling –to use my dear friend Carole’s Scots expression for light rain—on and off. I ordered a Caesar salad and a baby artichoke in a broth to start out. A strange spoon was served with the artichoke; part tablespoon and part fork (see pics.) I told Jim the spoon’s mother was a regular spoon and its father a fork, thus its hybrid form. (You can forgive my weird image since I’m sometimes a poet.) Jim had penne pasta in a light tomato sauce. But the best of the first dishes was my lightly grilled mahi-mahi, very tender and complemented by a tomato sauce and pesto. It was served on a round bed of mashed potato. The dessert was even more imaginative: profiteroles in the shapes of miniature swans, with a delicious chocolate sauce.--Dan