St. Barts to St. Martin

Thursday, April 19, 2012

We had a lovely sail from St. Barts to Marigot Bay in St. Martin with 15 knots of east wind.  We left about 8a.m. and arrived just after noon.  As we passed by  Phillipsburg, which is on the Dutch side of the island, we saw only 2 large cruise ships there.  As many as 10 can be there at a time. At Marigot Bay, we put out a lunch anchor as the Marina takes a lunch hour between 12-2.  The French have their leisurely lunches unlike most of the other islands.  The stores don't close at four but stay open usually until 7 p.m.  After lunch, we obtained a location in the Marina Fort Louis.  One end of the boat is attached to a mooring ball and the other is tied to a dock.  Most boats have their sterns to the dock but since we have a canoe stern, we put our bow to the dock.  We therefore have to climb over the anchor to get off the boat.

Lynn and Dan went ashore exploring the Marigot Bay harbor.  They found nice gallery of a local artist.  I went to a bakery to get some of the wonderful pastries for which the French islands are famous. We went to the Port Royal lagoon area for a dinner at Le Village where we had terrible service!  There are many restaurants there competing for your business. Luckily the food was good.  While walking around Marigot Bay, they noticed that St. Martin has much more trash along its streets than St. Barts.  Trash, empty bottles and cans abound in vacant weedy lots.  In the countryside we saw recycle bins but not in the town area.

Friday, April 20, 2012
The next day, Lynn, Dan and I took a taxi to the Ile of Pinel beach area and rode the wooden "ferry boat" over to the island.  We had a delicious lunch and then  lounged at the beach.  Lynn and Dan enjoyed playing in the water and getting some sun.  The water is beautiful and the beach though crowded with beach chairs and umbrellas is very clean.   Then it was back to the boat for dinner on board.  That night our refrigerator compressor stopped working so we could not cool down the freezer/refrigerator.  We usually do this twice a day for 2 hours each time.  While we were gone, Charlie had put more antifreeze into the generator and checked the generator oil.

Saturday,  April 21, 2012

Lynn and Dan went ashore exploring again finding a museum giving the history of St. Martin.  Since Lynn and Dan were to fly out today, we had a snack on shore at a French cafe at the harbor.  They took a taxi for the airport and Charlie and I had lunch at the cafe, seafood crepes.  We planned to leave for our overnight sail to St. thomas about 2p.m. but forgot about the marina office being closed between 12-2.  We did not leave until 1510 (3:10 p.m.).

I'M SORRY THAT HERE ARE NO PICTURES.  I LEFT MY CAMERA BATTERY CHARGER AT HOME SO I CAN NO LONGER TAKE PICTURES. I MAY BE ABLE TO ADD SOME LATER FROM LYYN AND BETH.