St. Martin, Sint Maarten,Two Nations, One Country,Dutch and French

Up early again and headed to St. Martin. The wind was light so we motor sailed the whole way. Not so much fun as sailing, but needed to enhance the wind if we wanted to get there with any daylight. The first night we moored out in Simpson Bay and went into the Lagoon by dingy to check depths as our chart indicated very shallow areas, but we found lots of water and in the morning went through bridge into the Lagoon and anchored on the French side west of the "Witch's Tit". Therefore we checked in the French side of the country.  Here we hope to get a number of projects on the boat done. Not the least of which is,12 Volt refrigeration to go with the wonderful solar panels.  We arrived during Easter Week festivities so not much was open for a couple of days so we explored the area to see what and where things were located.

The Witch's Tit

Carl up the mast to run new VHF cable

St. Martin is an island split in two with one side French and the other Dutch each with its own language. It is reminiscent of Europe. There is no industry or real agriculture on the island. It lives on tourism. That said, it is a fun place to be as well as a great place to repair of upgrade your boat. On the Dutch side there are 3 big marinas which cater to the mega yachts, and there are chandleries, riggers, sail lofts, and hardware stores all over. There are also great places for provisioning your boat.  The French side is great for fantastic French wines with buys under $4.00 US, cheeses and of course Baguettes and pastries.  The wine locker overflows.  We make our list of projects and get started.  The  afore mentioned refrigeration, no more hauling bags of ice and 30lb. blocks.  Also a new VHF with AIS included, Xantrec battery monitor system, as well as Nimble Navigator and Radar to complete the navigation electronics.  These projects entail Leslie hauling Carl up the mast numerous times and Leslie sending out a plea for an electric winch, never found! She now has great upper arm muscles.

Diane arrives after a wet dinghy ride

Karakter beach bar

 What do you do here?   We had to check out activities as Diane was flying in 3 days after we arrived.  We got the refrigeration in the day before Diane’s arrival so the beer and the Rose (dry French) would be cold….  Somehow the project’s time got reduced as we explored and played for 10 days.  There are great sandy beaches, many beach and lagoon bars, happy hour is $1 to $1.50 beers, resorts, and water sport places. A favorite pass time is to go to the Sint Maarten Yacht Club at about 1600, when happy hour starts, and watch the mega yachts go through the bridge.

Watching Mega yachts go through the bridge

back blast from airline taking off

 Another is to go to Sunset Beach, which is at the end of the airport runway, and watch the planes land right on your head and take off with their jet wash pelting you with sand and sending hats and towels into the ocean. 

plane landing right over Sunset Beach

We are now members!!

One of our favorites by far is Karakters, an old school bus parked right on the beach with chairs, umbrellas and a fresh water shower.  Lovely place to end the day.   We took a day off to visit St. Barts, 15 miles from St. Martin and found lovely French restaurants and of course the topless beaches. 

Shell beach St. Barts

We spent many days exploring Marigot on the French side of St. Martin.  We climbed up to Fort  Louis, and surveyed Marigot Bay and a fleet of Opti’s.  We shopped in the open air market and found wonderful spices, even TSA will let these pass.

Ft. St Louis

Leslie at the Market

A hike to the Rasta Farm showed a cooperative agriculture project in progress.  Carnival was to start on the 19^th of April so we took the local bus to Phillipsburg to see the sites.  Diane also had a fun time looking in all the fancy shops on Front St.  Luckily a shop keeper took pity on Carl and gave him a beer.   Diane’s 10 days ended all too soon and we saw her off on a jet plane, heading back to Philly.  

Simi sound truck

Mario's Bistro Great food and service!

With Diane’s leaving we must now concentrate on the projects.  Even with projects to do there is so much to distract.  We spent the first Sat. doing a beach cleanup at Nettie Beach and taking the local bus to Phillipsburg again to see the Carnival Parade on Mon.

Dinner at Mario's Bistro

Beach clean-up grooup

  There are lots of knowledgeable people living on their boats in the Lagoon so we had advise and help as we needed it.  It just seems like projects take longer than you think, even small ones esp. if you are missing a screw or nut as it is a mile dingy ride to the chandleries or hardware store.  WiFi is not as easy here as in other islands as there is really no WiFi available for anchorage except very expensive so we must go ashore and find a place.  McDonalds has one of the best on the island much to Carl’s delight.

We caught up with our sister ship Puurfect with Dave and Linda aboard.  They had been tied to a dock since April 1^st, doing all the same projects plus more as they were getting ready to do the ARC,Atlantic Cruiser Race, and had to be in BVI by May 1^st for the first leg to Burmuda. They decided to leave on Fri. the 26^th of April but we were nowhere ready to go so we bid them good-bye and fair winds. 

Dave and Linda preparing for the ARC

BBQ party on Rocketeer

 We met a couple on a large Cat named Rocketeer, this was an interesting boat as the steering station was in a front cockpit in the trampoline area and none in the after cockpit ,it was only for socializing.  She was 50feet in length and designed and built in FL.  We spent an afternoon with Glenn and Graca on Explorer Is. careening and cleaning and mending our dinghies.  Took a picnic lunch and explored the island that is in the Lagoon.   Prior to Hurricane Louis in 1995 the island was a big white sandy beach with palm trees.  Now it is an overgrown Dog Run. Glenn and Graca introduced us to our daily hike, up a mountain. 

Daily hike to the top of the hill

We ended their stay here with a large BBQ on their boat.  On the Thurs. nite that we initially thought we were leaving we ended up at a wine tasting thanks to the crew of La Luna.  $10.00 gets you 6 different tastings and then you pick and drink.  We all had brought tapa’s and the owner had made a delicious salmon mouse.  We ended this nite with a free meal at the casino and Carl losing $20.00 to Black Jack-he lost 4 hands.

Wine tasting

Wine tasters at Casino

Major projects for this year are done, can’t believe how time flies. It is definitely time to see the next island.

Visitor on board after a rain storm, must have rained frogs