Sint Maarten

It took us less than two hours to make the 14 mile passage from St. Bart to St. Maarten. We used only the genoa and with winds 120 to 150 degrees off the starboard bow and did better than seven knots with 5 to 7 knots of apparent wind.  A squall came up as we approached our destination with apparent wind of 25 knots  which boosted our speed to over ten knots!  Fortunately it passed before we had to furl the big sail.

Here are three cruise ships in Phillipsburg, which we visited by bus from Marigot last winter. 

Phillipsburg has a big boardwalk (behind the cruise ships) and many stores to serve the needs of hordes of tourists.

St. Maarten is the Dutch side of St. Martin. Last year we were moored in a marina on fore and aft moorings on the French side, having entered the lagoon  under the drawbridge over the cut from Marigot Bay into Simpson Lagoon  (a VERY large body of water covering several miles with hundreds of boats on anchor and dozens of mega yachts at docks) and took our dink to the Dutch side many times.  We checked in with the French Authorities, flew the French courtesy flag and left under the drawbridge over the cut through the Dutch side. 

This time we followed the reverse process, with entry on the Dutch side, and hence flew a new courtesy flag, for us, the one of the Netherlands Antilles.

A funny thing happened on our first night. We had arrived in Simpson Bay, outside Simpson Lagoon shortly after noon and anchored to await the 5:30 pm opening of the bridge. We found we were the last of about seven boats in line to enter. And we apparently were not going fast enough to satisfy the bridge tender. About 150 yards from the bridge, seeing the bridge coming down, Roger yelled  on the VHF: “Don’t you see us; we are coming in!”  “Too late; see you in the morning,” was the irrefutable reply.  So we anchored again, nearer the cut, and entered at the 9:30 opening the next morning, anchoring between three marinas that cater to megayachts.  Here is the view from the bridge looking outside the lagoon; we were anchored where the pirate ship is.

And here is the view in from the bridge, ILENE in the middle.

Of course, dinghys and kayaks can go under the bridge even when it is closed.

The kayak picture shows two of the three megayacht marinas that surrounded us.  We anchored in eight feet of water with 70 feet of chain out.

The third marina was La Palapa with more of the same.

Despite all of this accumulation of multimillion dollar mega yachts with big crews, the economy is more dependent on tourists who arrive by boat at Phillipsberg and by air.  Our anchorage was under the takeoff flight plan.

After clearing customs and diluting the oil in our dinghy fuel tank (it runs so much better without too much oil), we dinked over to the French side and had a nice lunch with Bob and Laura Fleno of the Harlem Yacht Club. Bob is an honored Past Commodore of the Club.

Their boat, “Thai Hot”, is a 40 foot Island Packet. Roger had sailed with him from Bermuda to New York a few years ago, and Bob had sailed with Roger from Virginia to Tortola in November 2010. It is always fun to see friends from home and compare stories. And the he next day we had the pleasure of introducing the Flenos to our favorite restaurant, on the French side, Bistro Nu. 

We had a great meal  including, gratinee, pate, leek vinaigrette, steak Tartare, frogs legs, veal kidneys, and a cheese plate and crème brulee for desert, and two bottles of Cote du Rhone – definitely an “off diet” meal.  We exchanged SIM cards and they gave us some books.

The Girl Scouts have a saying: “Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold.”  We have made a lot of new friends but these were golden days.

We also spent a lot of money both at the great supermarket and at the chandlery.  Sint Maarten is a duty free nation and prices are lower here than elsewhere in the Caribbean so it is the place to stock up and we left a lot of money. On our primary shopping day Roger counted up the number of times he got into the dinghy and got out somewhere else: 17 “trips.”  We finally have the complete collection of paper charts and replaced the hot water heater, the boat hook and the dinghy running lights. We also got fins for the bottom of the outboard engine to improve the dinghy’s performance, at Bob’s recommendation, and small screwdrivers and WD-40.

We had a full day of rain and high winds. When they hit 30 knots we veered and heeled but our anchor did not drag.  It's nice to feel secure! During that day there was little that could be done so Roger worked on plotting out the various ports and anchorages for our trip from St. Thomas to Florida -- a lot of them.  The wind forced the postponement for a day of our high speed ferry ride and day tour of the tiny nation of Saba.

Laura Dekker, the young Dutch solo circumnavigator, ended her loop here in St. Martin (where she began almost a year ago to the day!) on Saturday, January 21. She had arrived out in the Bay and awaited the announced 3 pm special personal opening of the bridge for her entrance. We normally seek to avoid crowds but got caught in the excitement and joined the throng who watched her steer her  38 foot “Guppy" to the dock and stand on deck with a justly satisfied look.

 Lots of fans about on the dock and in dinghys.

We had one more memorable meal at Tropicana, where we dined last year. Roger studied it to try to learn how to make a salad as pretty (and as tasty) as this.

We arrived here on January 14 and plan a short sail to our next nation, Anguilla, tomorrow, January 23.