Arrival in St. Martin

March 26, 2011
The easy sail was not so easy as the direction we were trying to go to get to St. Martin was right into the wind so we had to tack. On one tack our VMG was only about 2 knots. Finally we just furled the jib and used the main with one reef ( overnight) for balance and motored along the course line. What we thought would take 14 hours ended up taking more like 20. We arrived at just after noon on Saturday and just after the Customs office had closed for the weekend. I called the Marina Fort Louis about 1 and was told they were closed until 2p.m. So we anchored , ate lunch, and put air back into the dinghy and put it back into the water. We were anchored in a huge anchorage along the coast of Marigot Bay, on the French side of the island. Then we went into the Marina Fort Louis because the guide book said that the harbor master could help with customs. This Marina does mostly Mediterranean mooring stern in with bow tied to a mooring ball in front. They can also do bow in but to get to the dock one has to climb over the bow pulpit and anchors. They were able to clear us in for customs. We cleaned the salt off the boat before eating dinner and falling into bed.

March 27, 20

11
We had a late breakfast before we walked outside of our marina to the town. Since it was Sunday, there were not many shops open even though there was a large cruise ship in the anchorage. I asked someone and he said that on the French side, the people relaxed at the beaches on Sunday. However, there are no close beaches for us to relax on.

There is an unusual fountain with sculptured birds on it near our Marina. We walked around,

saw many restaurants ( many not open on Sunday), two bakeries, but almost no shops open. The shops look crude with corrugated metal covering the fronts. there is one very nice West Indies Mall in a large nice building with huge skylights and several stories. It looks like it is attached to a new hotel. we were also looking for some internet cafes. One was at one of the bakeries and another was in the bar/cafe in the West Indies Mall. However, my battery needed charging and there were no empty plugs in the bakery, and the West Indies Mall had european plugs. So we will have to buy internet time at our marina $7.00 per day or maybe euros a day.

We found the Marina that connects from the Simpson Lagoon and Bay. Only 2 of the many restaurants in this area were open. We ate in the French one which was very modern and very open overlooking the boats. Businesses take both dollars and Euros, They charge you in Euros and then covert it to dollars for credit cards. There were a few kiosks down by the harbor selling hats, shirts, dresses.Each of us bought one item.

Now that our dinghy is in the water, we can explore more of the area on it tomorrow. In Tortolla, it was recommended that we suspend our dinghy next to our boat out of the water and chained or cabled to the boat to prevent theft. It is held suspended above the water by a halyard using a rope sling. I have seen this in the Chesapeake to keep the slime off the dinghy. At the dinghy docks, they recommended that we also chain the outboard to the dinghy and the dinghy to the dock to prevent theft.