This lighthouse towers above Gustavia, capitol of the Island of St. Barts, where visitors are required to check in.

My mama spoiled me.  Birthdays, among other holidays, were never “just another day,” but a big deal.  One of the earliest birthdays I remember, –my fifth? — there was a magician at the party, performing for a dozen or so of us.  At the very least, there was always a birthday cake, a special dinner.

These carved stone steps are part of what made this trail one of my favorites on the trip.  Only Guadaloupe, another French territory, had nice trails and a more vibrant, tropical rainforest terrain.  No surprise Guadaloupe is my favorite island since we started in September.

I take into account where we are at the moment, lovely Columbier Bay, St. Barts.  It’s a glitterati island where if you’re lucky, you might find a burger for $12.  There is no internet closer than a dinghy ride and a mile walk or more.  It’s a rainy morning, a windy day.  I know if I asked to be someplace else for my birthday, Wayne would’ve obliged, but I’d rather go where the wind takes us, and fill in what’s missing, later. I needed to get away from St. Martin, where we spent the last month, and especially the cesspool known as Simpson’s Lagoon.  No one swims in the lagoon, and for good reason.

hese signs cracked me up.  We didn’t see any iguanas,  but we did see a tortoise.

On my St. Barts birthday, while it rained, I made bread. We’d been out of bread for a couple days, and weren’t close to a grocery or patisserie (bakery).  While the bread rose, Wayne gave me a massage … and more (aka “romance followed”).  The rain stopped.  We went on our hike.  It was a gorgeous trail, clambering through hills, steps cut into stone, panoramic ridge crest views of and long, sandy beaches, and aquamarine waters dotted with rocky islands.  Morning doves and butterflies flitted by.  We encountered a tortoise, and saw a handsome rooster, though it will be tough to beat Wayne’s experience with the one on Stacia (click here to read about that).  We walked along then hung out on the beach.  Back at our boat, we ate good stinky French Camembert on the bread baked that morning.  We snorkeled.  Turtles surfaced, repeatedly, near our boat.  Dinner was tasty, a red beans and rice dish with chunks of BBQ chicken from the night prior.  Wayne did the dishes, breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was a good day.

Tortoise on his way to grab a piece of grass.  We encountered him on the Columbier Bay to Flamands Beach trail.

Truth is, as much as I love our sailing travels, as wonderful as my husband is about making it my day, what I want most for my belated birthday is to hear birthday greetings, voice to voice, from my Mom, my Dad and my brother. Getting a voicemail “Happy Birthday” duet from my parents at work when I moved too far to celebrate in person is still one of my most treasured birthday moments.  Mom’s singing voice is great, Dad’s… not (sadly, I take after Dad in this respect).  But the duet brought loving tears to my eyes.  I saved the voicemail until the voicemail system was replaced, enjoying stumbling over it when it was time to review saved voicemails.

View of beautiful St. Barts Flamands Bay, taken hiking the Columbier Bay trail.  Note the prevalence of cacti.  Not sure  if they’re native or not, but they’re sure happy here.

Phone calls to my loved ones, along with the rain check dinner, will come.  Don’t know exactly when or where, but it will be great when it happens.  In any case, this year still beats the heck out of my last birthday, a cold, January day, “between jobs” spent mostly alone and between jobs in Everett Washington.