Travels with Shelby
High seas/rain cancel the New Year's Eve fun in soaking St. Barts
So we had these great plans for sailing through the Caribbean the week between Christmas and New Year's aboard a super yacht with friends kind enough to include us on their annual sojourn. It has always been a stylish odyssey that climaxes in St. Barts for a wildly fun New Year's Eve celebration that is legendary.
Alas, Mother Nature has rained on our parade. The seas are swelling to dangerous levels, waves washing across the main road into Gustavia, St. Barts' quaint commercial center and shopping mecca. Captain Keith Moore of the 190-foot Lady Sheridan is receiving daily reports on the rough waters, and today he said that a Smart Car rolling into Gustavia was caught by a wave and was lifted 10 feet into the air. It's a dicey adventure at best for the mega yachts.
So, the captain has put the kibosh on St. Barts. After all, there aren't enough Transderm Scopolamine patches in the entire Caribbean to stave off that level of sea sickness. At one point, the seas were raging between nine and 12 feet.
We won't get to see Hugh Jackman's rippling biceps as he practices yoga on the beach or catch a glimpse of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, who typically spend New Year's in St. Barts. The Bulgari, Cartier and Hermes boutiques are surely crying as the yachting big spenders with their gold and black American Express cards are headed elsewhere.
Not to worry, we have found plenty of fun and calm waters, heading north from St. Martin to the British Virgin Islands rather than south to the French West Indies. For starters, our hosts, Sheridan and John Eddie Williams, arranged for an outing to the Willie T. The 98-foot schooner anchored on the shore of Norman Island in the BVIs is one of those too-raunchy-to-miss hot spots. So we climbed aboard our luxury dingy and motored over to the rockin' bar/restaurant that literally rolled with the dance moves.
The open-air joint is famous for its wild partying that begins as soon as the bar opens at noon and goes into the night, the level of debauchery escalating by the hour. The video display of party photos (lots of topless women) is testament to just how wild this place can get. Body shots, anyone? How about a few dollops of whipped cream on the belly to facilitate the fun for the gals stretched half naked across the bar?
Actually on our visit, it was more about grinding on the dance floor to DJ spins and slugging down rum punches rather than stripping. (Patrick Swayze just thought he knew something about dirty dancing.) I could've sworn they were making babies through their swimsuits. Nasty! And while there were guys ceremoniously jumping off the back deck of the bar as is tradition, the females did not — even with the standing offer of a free drink for any woman who goes overboard without her bikini top.
An endless parade of Caribbean cuties, locals from neighboring islands and yachties pack this place day and night, making for a colorful egalitarian experience where camaraderie is oiled by the constant flow of happy drinks. The bartender estimates that on any given night more than 300 rum punches are consumed, and then there are the hundreds of beers and other mixed drinks for keeping spirits high.
Back to the Lady Sheridan, it's now raining cats and dogs. NF!
Oops. Just learned that the airports at St. Thomas and St. Martin are closed thanks to the bad weather, which means Lady Sheridan guests that were expected to arrive this afternoon might not make it.