This was our third time in Iles des Saintes and was chosen for the 60th Party because of its beautiful anchorage and a pretty little village within a dinghy ride.

Ten years ago Stephen celebrated his 50th by racing across the Atlantic in our Contessa 32, Amelie of Dart, in the 2005 OSTAR. That was thirty days, single handed from Plymouth, UK to Newport Rhode Island, USA. For this birthday celebration, Stephen was definitely not going to be alone. Ian had flown in from Canada; Sussanne, Andrew, David and Simone from the UK; Steve and Maggie from Guernsey and Sephina, Bubbles, Yabajaba, Sotto Vento, Legend, Babe and Satika diverted their yachts to join us in Iles des Saintes. A party to remember was in motion.

Amelie arrived in Pain du Sucre a week before to check in and to finalise arrangements. The following day we lunched at La Fringale and met with Bertrand to agree menu choices, drinks of course and table planning for the birthday evening. Stephen took M out to sea around to Marigot Bay (a common name on most of the Caribbean Islands) which has the only fuel station on the island. Luckily it was open because Peter from Yabajaba later discovered it doesn’t open until 2.30 in the afternoon.

Wednesday saw M and crew beach spotting for the birthday lunchtime picnic. It turned out, our best option was the little beach closest to the anchorage.

Next day the first of the yachts arrived, Sephina. We lunched at Hotel du Bois Jolie (“hotel”) and Stephen received an inspired birthday present which was a website for Amelie. Once Stephen has mastered Joomla, we will send an email link to you all where you can find our previous blogs plus the bonus of extra photographs, including those from the parties! 

Stephen and Clive decided they would commission Mini M, our tinker tramp for dinghy sailing. Debbie and Ju had a girlie trip ashore whilst Clive and Stephen rebuilt the rudder so that Mini M could get her wings again. Meanwhile the girls attempted to extract euros from a health booth that looked just like an ATM, but was actually a prescription dispenser; got friendly with a dog that followed them into a Tabac and they arrived home following a delicious lunch ashore.

The girls’ exuberance on greeting Bubble’s entry into the anchorage was probably fuelled by the bottle of wine ashore and the bottle of bubbly on returning to Amelie. This access to alcohol was not to be repeated ashore later that evening when it took an hour for the bar to rustle up a bottle of wine……not a visit to be repeated.

We hadn’t seen Bubbles since it was Leo and Karin’s new Oyster 625 which replaced Duchess on June the 5th, 2014. It was great to catch up with them as we hadn’t seen them since leaving Antigua last April. Leo’s famous bear hugs were better than Debbie remembered and Karin’s lovely demeanour and smile was so welcoming.

Saturday saw the arrival of Yabajaba and Sotto Vento into the merry throng and thirteen of us supped at the hotel that evening. The party’s French was not quite up to getting clarity on our order with the French only speaking waitress. During the ensuing chaos of delivering the main courses, Peter hung on to the duck that was delivered to him (in place of the tuna he had ordered) and Clive had to wait for half an hour for his duck to be freshly prepared. It was a French Fawlty Towers experience.

Next day, Babe, Serendipity and Legend arrived and Debbie rose to the occasion (with the help of girl power) by preparing a tasty pasta lunch for twenty-one friends on Amelie. The party had begun and lunch didn’t finish until late in the evening.

The Birthday……the day kicked off with a Champagne breakfast for all on Bubbles, kindly provided by Karin, Leo, Simone and David. The spread was magnificent and a hearty start to the day was had by all. The beach we had spied for our picnic had filled up with all shapes and sizes by the time we arrived at 11am. Knowing Stephen as you all do, last minute changes was the order of the day. Reconnaissance in M found an alternative beach but landing dinghies there was not going to be easy. It was a bit of a trek from the dinghy dock but in the event, Ju and Debbie staked our claim on the original choice using our massive Oyster flag, soon to be joined by two others. This was met with a mixed reaction from our fellow beach dwellers whose French muttering caused us great  amusement. In true style the Amelie BBQ was fired up for sausages (which went down a storm) together with the rest of the picnic and the odd can of beer and bottle or two of wine thrown in. Eventually we lost the shade of the trees and everyone retired to their boats for a couple of hours before the evening event.

Satika arrived in the afternoon with Steve and Maggie flying in just in time for the party in La Fringale. It needed Clive’s electronic wizardry to get the laptop talking to their audio system in preparation for dancing after dinner. We enjoyed aperitifs and delicious hors d’oeuvres. Stephen had prepared seating cards for the Exe, Dart, Teign and Otter tables which the ladies drew at random to determine their first tables for the evening. Everyone changed tables once to mix up the proceedings. Having pre ordered the food the restaurant coped pretty well with making sure the tables got their food and wine at the same time. This was in contrast to a birthday party there the previous year, where some tables were on coffee as others were getting their starters! We toasted absent family & friends with Debbie delivering a prepared speech which as in the previous occasion terrified her. Once fed and watered the dancing kicked off with eclectic mixes of new Caribbean and Golden Oldie music. David excelled himself with his water bearer trick while dancing and wiggling with a bottle of water on his head. Others tried but failed to emulate his stunt. Debbie, Ju, Wendy and Paul’s hip swinging to the Dollar song caused much merriment to the bystanders. During our discussions with Bertrand he informed us that he would have to inform the Gendarmerie to avoid any trouble with the neighbours. Lorraine’s party (a mere youngster) last year had caused quite a stir. Wow what a way to celebrate your 60th! The day finished in true Amelie style with the hardy crowd quaffing a magnum of South African bubbly on Amelie.

The Babes run their own calendar and we started the next day with “Not Shrove Tuesday” pancakes to celebrate. Stephen even managed a beer to wash down Paul’s great creations. We lost Satika, Sotto Vento and Serendipity to their schedules and we lunched ashore at the hotel with Sussanne, Andrew, Steve, Maggie, Trish and Paul. We managed this without any hijacking of meals! Leaving Sephina for a quiet night the rest of the fleet dined at Au Bon Vivre, a very pleasant restaurant next door to La Fringale.

The following day Maggie and Steve had an Amelie day, snorkelling and chilling on board. We celebrated Alan and Jean’s wedding anniversary with champagne on their boat and BBQ steaks on Amelie for fourteen. 

Stephen spent the next day ashore catching up with Steve and Maggie who were leaving the next day for Guernsey.

Friday the 13th passed without incident and Amelie, Babe and Sephina sailed up to Marie Galante to rejoin Bubbles and Legend.

That evening we learned that our chef was looking for a new wife, took a shine to Debbie and showed us his dance steps. Also amusingly whilst describing his menu he warned us off the salads as (quote) “they are crap”. Retiring via Chez Henri, a delightful beach bar, it was arranged for Karin to give us all yoga lessons on the beach the next morning. Stretching developed into a competitive Boules match with Alan displaying his prowess with the silver balls. He was our unbeaten champion. Impromptu picnic, wine, beer and a Valentine’s cake kept us from fading from hunger as we topped up the alcohol levels. That night we had a meal ashore and said our goodbyes to Legend, Sephina & Babe with Sussanne and Andrew joining us on Amelie. We enjoyed a gentle sail to Guadeloupe to drop them off for their flight back to the UK,  returning to Marie Galante in time for sundowners and Cheese Fondue on Bubbles.

Bubbles and Amelie did an island tour with French only speaking Eddie. We only learned what we did about the island by what we saw, since what we were listening to was incomprehensible. He even managed to disappear whilst we lunched at L’Eden Voile and found us wandering back towards the boat, Leo wondering if he was going to be reunited with his camera case. This was not a problem as we hadn’t paid him at that stage. That evening Leo and Karin were introduced to Battle Yahtzee whilst enjoying a light supper on Amelie.

Leo joined us for a full English breakfast and then an easy day was called for…….our first since well before the birthday.

There was an abortive attempt to clear out on Wednesday. The Customs was closed for the Mardi Gras and meant that we ended up leaving for Deshaies on the Thursday.

Lo and behold we anchored (eventually) next to Babe with Hannah close by. We enjoyed four days wining, dining and spending time with Paul, Trish, Bea, Mick and Ollie.

Checking out was far simpler here and we left on Sunday for Montserrat. 

That was the party that was!