St. Martin – Life on Lady

Bye Bye BVI, Hello St. Martin

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mom’s out there!

Sorry for the 2 week delay in posting. The day of my last post was also the day our friend Ian arrived, so I haven’t been in the mood to write blog posts.

We had a lovely time with Ian. We spent a lot of our BVI time relaxing onboard and did a little diving and snorkeling as well, plus had several meals ashore (most, courtesy of Ian). The weather (both atmospheric and sea) wasn’t cooperative for good diving or snorkeling, but we got some in anyway. The dive-able days followed days of wind or rain, which stirs up the water and decreases visibility. Still, we all love dubbing around in the water whenever we can. We ended up back in Benures Bay on Norman Island a couple of times. One time we launched hookah and dove the eastern point of the bay, something Dave & I had not done on our prior stops there. There was a lot of turtle grass strewn with boulders that had some healthy coral and sponges growing on them, and plenty of fish. It’s fun to look for little fish among the grass and in the boulder crevices. As a bonus, that side of the bay had good visibility. Always nice to be in the water.

We were eyeing a weather window for the weekend of May 4th to cross to St. Martin. Ian assisted us in our preparations by helping us clean our hulls. It sure goes faster with three people and the hookah. Earlier in the week I had posted in the USVI and BVI Cruisers Facebook groups, asking if anyone was heading to St. Martin on the same weather window. Wild Rose responded; they’d been thinking of making the same type of post. Indigo Lady worked her way over to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda and cleared out of the country just before lunch Saturday. Then we moved up to Gorda Sound on the northeast end of Virgin Gorda and laid a track out through the reef, which we were going to have to navigate at night, before backtracking and anchoring next to Wild Rose on the west side of Prickly Pear. They dinghied over to meet us in the afternoon and we planned our departure time and radio check-ins. Then we each set about our night crossing preparations and napping.

Indigo Lady and Wild Rose hauled anchor around 12:00 AM Sunday. Wild Rose opted to go around the north side of Virgin Gorda while we passed through the reef following the track line we’d laid earlier. In hindsight, we wouldn’t go out through the reef again at night. It is a very well buoyed channel, and the buoys are lit, but they also flash at different times. It was distracting. We successfully got through the reef and out to the open ocean just as Wild Rose was coming around the corner. They hailed us shortly thereafter to let us know that there were fish pots around and they had narrowly missed one. Yikes! We kept as watchful an eye as one can in the dark. I’ll spare you the suspense; we each had a close call, but neither of us snagged a fish pot. Phew!

The crossing was quite rolly/bumpy, but there wasn’t a lot of slamming, for which I was thankful. Other than fish pots and rolling, which smoothed out a bit as we neared St. Martin, it was an uneventful crossing. I enjoyed starting out at midnight knowing we were cruising into daylight, and it was comforting having another boat with us. We were anchored in Marigot Bay (French side of St. Martin) around 3:30 PM Sunday afternoon, 15.5 hours from anchor up to anchor down. Wild Rose was anchored shortly after us. We’d arrived too late to clear into the country that day, so we ran up our yellow Q-flag, tidied up the boat and rested. Monday morning we met up with Wild Rose to clear into the country, then we went to a fabulous breakfast spot they’d found on the Dutch side last time they were here- Zee Best. It was delicious! We chatted for quite a while, taking the chance to get to know each other a little better. Eventually we each headed off to tend to our own things. Hopefully we’ll hook up with them again before they continue their trek south to Grenada for hurricane season.

Shortly after our arrival in St. Martin, we had another “small world” experience. I received a text from our friends Roxanne and Craig on Seas the Moment. It was a picture of Lady at anchor in Marigot Bay. They are here, too! We met them in Bimini, Bahamas in 2021 and have run into them each cruising season since. We arranged to have dinner together at a restaurant in Marigot. Joining us would be Tom on Imiloa. We met Tom in Charlotte Amalie in January. Turns out Roxanne and Craig know Tom because he was the broker who helped them buy their first catamaran years ago, which was a Voyage 440 just like Indigo Lady. Tom, himself, had also owned a Voyage 440 in the past. We enjoyed a lovely dinner and a lot of conversation. Again, we will hopefully hook up again before they each head off to their hurricane season locations.

One day, we rented a car so Dave, Ian and I could drive around the island, which doesn’t take very long. It was a very rainy day, so touring by car was better than sitting on the boat playing ‘hatchlisthenics’ (jumping up to repeatedly close, and later reopen, the hatches). It was a lovely drive until we hit traffic in Philipsburg, the capital of Dutch St. Maarten, and in Simpson Bay (cruise ship port. It was crazy! We managed to find a fabulous lunch spot slightly off the beaten path with a parking spot to boot. Score! The circumnavigation of the island took us less time than we’d anticipated, so we had time to kill. We visited the Parotte Ville Bird Sanctuary where we fed the birds as they landed on our arms and heads. It was worth the $10/person. After a failed attempt to have drinks at a local brewery (closed!) we ended up at the Dinghy Dock Sailors Bar, then poked around in Budget Marine where we finally found security chain for dinghy at a reasonable price. (Dinghies are frequently stolen in the Caribbean, so we lock her to the docks we park her on during the day and hoist her into her lift each night back at Lady. We wanted to replace our thin cable and lock with a more substantial chain.) After our wonderful dinner that night with Roxanne, Craig, and Tom, we unloaded our purchases at the dinghy dock where Dave had to bail out shin-deep water. Told you it rained a lot. Thankfully, Ian found a 5 gallon bucket nearby, which expedited the task. We parked the rental and returned to Lady.

After we returned the rental car the next morning, we hauled anchor and headed up to Creole Rock for a snorkel. The leeward side (away from wind & seas) was uninspiring, and it was too rough on the windward side to swim around to that side. Alas! We crossed the channel to anchor in Grand Case Bay where we had a less than satisfactory BBQ dinner. Well, my chicken was fine, but the boys’ pork chops & ribs were tough and not very flavorful. The rice and beans were dry. Sometimes things just don’t pan out the way one hopes. We did spend a quiet, calm night in the lovely anchorage, though. After breakfast on Friday we hauled anchor and popped down to Friars Bay for a snorkel. Again, not scenic, but there were lots of boulders and canyons between them to poke around in and we had a lovely, long swim. From there we passed Marigot Bay to check out Baie Rouge (Red Bay) seeking ‘The Arch’ and ‘David’s (aka Devil’s) Hole.’ Red Bay would make a lovely day anchorage, but there was too much surge this day to safely snorkel The Arch and Devil’s Hole. Dave and I will try to come back another time before we leave. We turned Lady around and headed back to anchor in Marigot Bay. We had a lovely final dinner ashore at a restaurant on the French side of the Lagoon, again, courtesy of Ian. (Thanks for all the meals ashore, Ian!) Ian enjoyed St. Martin enough that he’s thinking of taking his wife, Linda, here for a vacation.

Yesterday morning we all went ashore for a light breakfast and then Dave & I walked Ian to the taxi stand and bid him farewell. We then walked around Marigot Market, an open square market with many tent stalls set up. Most sell tourist kitsch made in India or China, but hidden among the kitsch are some real local delights. We purchased, from the artist herself, an African face made of painted coconut fiber on wood. It will look very nice in our living room back home. We continued on to walk through the farmers/fish market, picking up some local produce, and we enjoyed a live performance from a well-known local band called Remo and the Barbwire Band. We returned to Lady for lunch and an afternoon of relaxation.

As I conclude writing this, I’ve just finished the 6^th and final load of laundry. Dave has spent the day making water, attaching our new security chain and lock to dinghy, and troubleshooting our leaky holding tank (still no solution, but he thinks he’s getting closer). It’s hot and humid. Thank goodness for the breeze! We will take a dip in the ocean to cool off, then likely retire to our hammocks for the rest of the afternoon.

I’m not sure if my next post will backtrack to some stuff we did in the USVI that I haven’t written about yet, or if I’ll continue writing about our time here in St. Martin. It will depend on my mood this week. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!

Caribbean Cruising Season 2023 Recap

We’re back in NH. We rolled into our driveway around 2:30am last Saturday, the 17^th. Our New England boat, Dumbledore, has been launched. We’re working on getting him ready for a 4-6 week cruise along the coast of Maine starting sometime in July. Until then, we’re visiting family and friends, and getting in a bunch of appointments.

Between January and mid-June, we put on a lot of miles and visited a lot of islands. Here’s a recap.

Miles traveled (nm): ~1300
Countries visited: 9
Nights at anchor: 89
Nights on mooring: 42
Nights in marinas: 16
Nights under way: 5
Nights ashore: 7

We started in the Berry Islands, Bahamas, on January 8^th. After that we went to Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Martin (both the French and Danish sides), St. Bart’s, and ended at St. Kitt’s. We stayed in 46 different anchorages, 6 different mooring fields and 6 different marinas. We took road trips with friends to Santo Domingo, DR and Old San Juan, PR. We made overnight passages from Rum Cay to Mayaguana; from Turks & Caicos to Luperón; from Luperón to Rio San Juan; from Escondido to Puerto Real, PR; and from the USVI to St. Martin.

We did a lot more “making miles” than I would have liked, but we did finally get to the actual Caribbean Sea, which was our target this year. Next season we plan to confine our travels to the area between St. Kitt’s and the Spanish Virgin islands. It will be lovely to spend multiple weeks in each country next.

Thanks for following my adventures. I will post about our coast of Maine travels this summer, but perhaps not as frequently as I typically do.

Stay safe and take care of each other!

We fell in love with St. Martin!

The three buddy boats departed the USVI at 10am on Tuesday, May 16, for the 95 nm run to St. Martin, our last overnight passage this season. It was a bit bumpy for a while once we cleared the protection of the BVI land masses. There wasn’t a lot of slamming, fortunately, just rolling in confused seas. Those eventually settled to the wind and a single wave set, on our nose, of course. From there on out the trip was uneventful, and though our bows got an occasional light splash, we never buried them. We averaged just over 4 kts while we were in the current, over 5 kts when not in the current, and only dropping to 4 kts when we had to clear our propellers of sargassum. Making a night passage with buddy boats is wonderful! It’s nice to know there’s company, or help in a pinch, but it’s also just fun to enjoy a little radio chatter on those long, dark night watches 😊.

We were all anchored in Marigot Bay, on the French side of St. Martin, by 7am. We couldn’t check into the country until 8am, so we had a little time to tidy up, run up our Q-flags, and rest. St. Martin is the smallest, two-nation island. Two-thirds of it is French and the other third is Dutch. For cruisers, checking in on the French side is easy and free, so that’s what we did. Once cleared in, one is free to cross between the French and Dutch sides by land or by dinghy at no cost and without needing to present a passport. So, at 8am we loaded into our dinghies and went to Ile Marine, a local marine store, to use their check-in computer. Once we figured out the non-qwerty keyboard and the French names for countries and anchorages, with the help of the nice man behind the counter, we were in! We continued into town for a walk about and breakfast. We found a lovely restaurant that specializes in eggs benedict, but I opted for the French breakfast of half baguette with butter and jam, croissant, fruit juice and tea. Welcome to St. Martin! Then we did walk about a bit so Caretta and Wild Horses could buy local cell plans before returning to our boats to rest after the long passage.

We spent seven nights at anchor in Marigot Bay, off the town of Marigot. It provides very easy access to restaurants, shops, groceries, and more, all within easy walking distance. It is also a short dinghy ride through an interior lagoon to get to the Dutch side. We filled our days with boat chores, rest, socializing & trip planning on Indigo Lady, and trips ashore for fun, food and provisions. Dave and Barry assisted Mike on Wild Horses in diagnosing some ongoing electrical issues he’d been having. They put their heads together, and after a couple of marathon sessions, were finally rewarded with solutions. Mike and Victoria took everyone out for breakfast one morning as a thank you. So sweet! I indulged in too many croissants and baguettes during our stay, but oh were they good! We went ashore after dinner one night for drinks (and for some of us, dessert) and live music at a restaurant Mike & Victoria had found. It was two guys, one on harmonica and one on electric guitar, doing an amazing job covering a bunch of familiar American tunes, as well as some French ones we did not know. They were full of energy and we enjoyed ourselves very much! We dinghied to the Dutch side to a couple of marine stores one time. Another time we took our dinghies through the lagoon to the Dutch side and out into the open ocean on the south side of the island. We were hoping to land at a beach bar where folks watched people line up at the end of the airport runway and get blown around by the engines when the jets took off. We braved the big waves only to find there was no safe way to land on the beach. Oops! So back we went through the big waves and into the lagoon. At that point we really needed drinks, so we stopped at the Dinghy Dock Bar & Restaurant for snacks and libations. Fun place!

Perhaps the most fun activity we engaged in was an escape room. I discovered that there is one on the Dutch side of the island, housed at the Dutch Blonde Beach Bar. When I ran the idea past our buddy boats they were all in! So I set it up (once I learned they allowed dogs). The real trick was getting there, because we couldn’t take the big boats and it was too far to dinghy or even to dinghy part way and then walk. So I called Dutch Blonde and got the owner, Sunil, and asked if he had any ideas. When I told him we were concerned about public transit with a big dog, he offered to drive us for only $40 round trip for our whole crew plus Ocean. Sweet! Sunil met us in Marigot with his 9-passenger van on a Saturday afternoon. What a great guy! Between the trip there and back he gave us a narrated tour, plus history and politics of the Dutch side. He even stopped at a scenic vista so we could take pictures. He also told us the story of how he ended up in St. Maarten (spelling for the Dutch side) owning a brewery (with no past experience) and opening a restaurant/bar with escape rooms. He knows how to tell a good story.

The escape room was awesome! We were captives on a pirate ship and had one chance to escape while the pirates were ashore plundering and pillaging. We did not succeed in escaping (we got close), but we had a blast trying! This one was challenging. There were three rooms to get through with lots of locked things to open and fun puzzles to solve. Only Victoria and I had ever done an escape room before; the rest were newbies but got right into it. It was fun to see how everyone gravitated to certain tasks. We had so much fun, we were barely bummed that we didn’t successfully complete it. At the end, the guy who resets the rooms let us ask questions about the parts we didn’t finish so we could see the whole picture. I look forward to coming back next season to try another room!

After the escape room, we stayed for drinks and an early dinner. They make amazing, Thai-inspired tacos that we all enjoyed. I had a pina colada, but everyone else enjoyed the locally brewed beer. Sunil chatted with us for a bit, and even shared a shot with us of some yummy, fruity thing his bartender concocted for us- on the house! Then it was time for Sunil to bring us back to Marigot. We left him with hugs and much thanks.

Before departing St. Martin, we wanted to sample another anchorage for a couple of nights, but there was nowhere to clear out of the country from our intended anchorage. We inquired at Ile Marine about clearing out a couple of days early with post-dated departure papers. They said it was no problem. So after a delicious lunch ashore on Wednesday, May 24^th, we went back to Ile Marine to clear out and get our papers post-dated for the 26^th, our intended departure date. Then we all hauled anchor and headed north to Grand Case Bay. The next day, everyone climbed aboard Indigo Lady and we cruised a little over a mile to a dive mooring at Creole Rock for lunch and a snorkel. There were lots of rocks, very few sponges or corals, but tons of schooling sargent majors! Dave & I saw one sea turtle. Andrea and Barry saw a spotted eagle ray. Mike, Victoria, Andrea and Barry saw an octopus that Barry noticed. Bummed I missed that one!

We wrapped up our stay at St. Martin with drinks on Indigo Lady followed by a final dinner ashore for some great barbecue. We had only sampled what St. Martin has to offer, and we know there is so much more to enjoy next season. For now, this would have to do. The next day, we would all depart for St. Barthélemy (St. Bart’s), which is where I will pick up next time. Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!