BECAUSE IT IS THERE .................................

For almost two weeks we have been anchored in the lee of the "Witch's Tit", that hill that begs to be climbed ..................... The French have it marked on their charts as "Mont Fortune" ............And finally that day came, when the wind had dropped and being blown off the top would probably not happen .............. Though on the way up we did pass the skeletons of several goats who all love this kind of climbing .............Right at the very top there were droppings by the bucketful .............. Spectacular views by the bucketful also ............... Check out the video panorama at the end of the posting .......... A good climb with the only danger being the ever-present thorn bushes and cacti ................ Captain Arnd joined us for the hike .............



There is not a lot to say, except maybe some heavy breathing .................. Goes to show how much we are out of practice doing any real exercise .................. Might have to do another mountain real soon ..............



There is something about sailors and rum ................. Look at the old sugar cane mill we found in Grande Case, on the French side ......... We found some rum made in St. Martin ...............Very, very delicious in hand-painted bottles ............. Had a drop or too but nowhere near the sailors of old .............. Read this one .............

Naval History
WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN
The following is from a tale related by the Chief Curator of the National Park Service, and printed in no less an authoritative source than "Oceanographic Ships, Fore and Aft", published by the Oceanographer of the Navy. It has to do with a cruise of the 204-foot frigate USS Constitution, commonly known as Old Ironsides, in 1779. The quote:
On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot, 11,500 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy and harass English shipping.
On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later the Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 6,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.
On 18 November, the ship set sail for England where her crew captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels and took aboard their rum.
But the Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth of Clyde for a night raid. Here her landing party captured a whiskey distillery, transferred 40,000 gallons aboard and headed for home.
On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, no whiskey. Just 48,600 gallons of water.


Booze consumption -- 2.26 gallons per MAN per day (plus whatever they “rescued” from the 12 English merchant ships).......................And did you notice that they arrived back with exactly the same amount of water as when they left ...............

AND ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT WE WENT TO SEE THE FACTORY WHERE THAT DELICIOUS RUM IS MADE IN CUL-DE-SAC, ON THE FRENCH SIDE ..........




And when we finally found the place it was no more than a ramshackle house next to a little painted out-house filled with shelves of delightful bottles and hand painted shot glasses............... Somewhere under the main house is where the stuff is blended ............... ACCESS DENIED ..... took a quick photo over the fence ............. Well, we had to at least try ...........



Saw Ile FOUCHUE and Ile ST. BARTS in the distance ................. Our next destination as soon as our long awaited parts arrive ................



Drinking rum from unknown sources required you to take a look at yourself from time to time ...............And just in case, we ............. You know, fall overboard while celebrating Australia Day on January 26th ........ Laurie has re-made the life rings with brand new vinyl covers ............. Don't they just look awesome ............ The "Queen" has far too many talents to list here ................