Aboard Lady

St. Martin to St. Kitts

St Martin to St Kitts   Offshore between Simpson Bay and Basseterre

The winds were quite strong, and often NOT from the prevailing east and, due to a big storm far to the north, 10 foot swells from the north were also predicted, so we ended up spending almost another week in Simpson Bay Lagoon, where the water was much flatter.

We spent our time doing boat maintenance - here's Charlie at the Island Water World (local yacht chandlery) dinghy dock - going to buy more boat parts.  When we went to Bobby's Marina for drop and pick-up of laundry, this lovely dog always greeted us.  She is one of almost a dozen that have been given a new home by the marina management.  They are so spoiled they were not really interested in the doggy treats we would bring with us!

It wasn't all work though - we did manage to get to the beach and enjoy the Karakter Beach Bar a couple of afternoons.

Our friends Stan and Dawn (Dreamweaver) and Leslie and Tom (Farhaven) and Peter (Kynda) arrived at the lagoon.  We all got together for a meal on Lady one night.  Another time we girls took the dinghy to Marigot on the French side, where we browsed the markets, and had a delicious lunch at a lovely patisserie.

Valentines Eve, three couples got together at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club, where they had a lovely party, and we won prizes for identifying famous lovers.  It helped that I know all Henry VIII's wives.

Finally on Monday February 15th, the winds and swells were more favorable for the trip to St Kitts.  We departed the lagoon, along with a number of other vessels and sailed close-hauled in the south to south-east wind.  We did not think that we could get to windward or the island of Statia (aka St. Eustatius), so we eased off, and sailed to leeward of that island, surprised at all the oil tankers.  Turns out that there is a refinery on the island, so they have crude oil coming in and refined products leaving.  The only possible anchorage was too exposed for our liking, and the cruising guide indicated that moorings might be missing, so we took a picture of the waterfront, some of it in ruins from previous storms, and sailed on.

Approaching St. Christopher  (St. Kitts) from the north, we sailed past Fort Charles on Brimstone Hill.  As we sailed along the western shore, we could see the remains of old sugar mills - about every mile or so there was a tall pillar sticking up, a chimney or wind-mill ruin.

As we entered Basseterre marina, an interesting craft was leaving.

Dockmaster Chuckie and Assistant Dockmaster Charlie helped us tie up, and we headed over to the cruise-ship Port Zante to clear in.  We were able to get through Customs, but Immigration had left, so we were told to come back the next morning to finish formalities. 

We had talked on the radio with yacht Seraphim on the way down.  They arrived at Basseterre shortly after us, and we made friends with Tom, Tom and Brigitte, all from Florida, who had gone through the Simpson Bay Bridge that morning ahead of us (the blue boat) and were on their way to Antigua.

Saint Barthelemy

Saint Barts. Various anchorages    February 4th to February 8th, 2010

We arrived at the port-of-entry, Gustavia, and check-in at the Capitainerie was SO EASY, compared with most of the other islands.  The French official, who wore polo shirt and slacks, rather than white shirt and tie that we see most everywhere else.  We completed the entry using one of their computers, and it took very little time - such a difference from leaving Anguilla!  We had a drink with Joe and Joanne, and saw them off on the ferry back to Anguilla.

Next morning we explored Gustavia on foot.  There are lots of mega-yachts tied stern-to on the quay and others out in the anchorage with us.  There were swells coming in, and the gang-planks on their stern were rising and falling quite alarmingly.

The streets were crammed with cars.  Some of them are quite small.

It was interesting to see the local church, with a large anchor outside.

Lots of the houses and other buildings have red roofs - the whole place is very delightful. We stopped in at a local museum, installed in the old Wall House.

City Hall is a new building, next to  the old Wall House.  Both of them are right on the harbor, so you can visit by dinghy if needed. 

We had been advised by a number of friends that we should go to Le Cafe Select for lunch.  It was a lively place, with visitors from a cruise ship anchored near us.  Jimmy Buffett was there last year helping them celebrate their 60th anniversary. We enjoyed our cheeseburgers in paradise.

It got hot in the afternoon, so we headed back to Lady, pulled anchor and headed to Anse du Colombier, a recommended anchorage.  We hoped that it would be less rolly that the Gustavia anchorage, and it was.

Next morning seas were rolly, but we bravely launched the dinghy and dragged it up above the surf line and hiked over the hills and along the cliff path to the village of Flamands.  There were huge swells coming in top the northern bay from the north.  The path was quite narrow, and  we took care not to fall off the cliff.

We got to the village after about 45 minutes.  It had a couple of nice hotels, a number of villas, and a small grocery store, where I was able to purchase and mail a card to my mother.

It seemed as though the breakers were even bigger as we walked back along the cliff path.

We were glad to see that our dinghy was still safe.  Lady  was rocking and rolling, so we decided to move anchorages, and headed to Ile de Fourchue.  There were a number of other boats in the anchorage, and some of the brave young people swam ashore to explore the uninhabited island, but we did not - we just swam from the boat, but we could tell that the swells were building again as the water was becoming cloudy from all the sand being picked up.  where we spent the night - the swells picked up again and it was not a very comfortable night.

So, we headed back to Gustavia and had another day there.  We had met some other cruisers, Dawn and Stan from Dream Weaverwhile we were at Anse du Colombier, and we had dinner together with them and other friends from Farhaven, Lesley and Tom, at Eddys - yummy asian tuna three ways for me!

The boat motion at anchor was still considerable from the swells, to we decided to give ourselves a break and head back to the lagoon at Simpson Bay. 
 

Anguilla

Road Bay, Anguilla    February 2nd to February 4th, 2010

We cleared the Simpson Bay Bridge at the 0900 opening on February 2nd, 2010 and headed past the beach, Maho Bay, around Marigot Bay, towards Anguilla, arriving at Road Bay late in the afternoon, but time enough that blue Customs and immigration office was still open.  The immigration officer was able to arrange for a rental car for us for the next day.  We checked out a couple of the local bars, and met some cruisers and another couple who were on vacation, and ended up all of us going out to dinner together.  We shared a taxi over there, and the vacation couple, Joe and Joanne, from Philadelphia expressed interest in sailing with us.

Our rental car showed up promptly, and we enjoyed touring the island by road.  Part of the car decision was that Anguilla charges about $100 US per day for a cruising permit, and we wanted to see the anchorages, and decide if it was worth that kind of expense to visit other parts of the island by boat.

We stopped at Shoal Bay for lunch and a swim.  We were told that it was some of the best snorkeling, but that was not really accurate.  The reef we swam on there was about 99% dead, and there were not many fish.  We saw some of the other anchorages, cruised through a gorgeous but in receivership golf course development and decided that we did not need to spend money on a cruising permit, that Road Bay was quite good enough.

In the evening, we met up with Joe and Joanne, and made finalized details for them to sail with us to St. Barts the next day.

They met Charlie at the Customs office on time, but the official was 45 minutes late opening.  Then, the official informed them that other official who had to clear out visitors was taking the morning off, and they had to go to the commercial dock, a half-mile dinghy ride, to clear out.  The commercial port took care of the passports, but they had to return to the regular office to clear Lady. What we thought would take a few minutes ended up taking an hour and a half.  Despite that, Joe and Joanne were good sports, and we had a good passage to St. Barts, but had to motor quite a bit of the way as the wind was light and they had to get there in time for the return ferry.

On the way we passed an interesting mega-yacht.  The name of it is A, and local reports say it is owned by a Russian millionaire "banker". She is 395 feet! The door you see by the stern is the "toy box" where 40 foot go fast boats are stored.

Visitors!

Sint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles   18 02.5N 063 05.66W

Our dear friends, NeMar and Tom Noulles, decided to extend a trip they were making to Miami Beach, Florida and spend a few days with us in Sint Maarten.  We met them late on a Monday evening at the Princess Juliana airport on the last flight that day, got a taxi to the dinghy dock, and got them and their bags safely aboard.  What fun is was hearing about what they'd been doing since we saw them last in August 2009.

Next day, we started off with a tour of the harbor by dinghy, and stopped off at the Simpson Bay Marina, where we had a delicious lunch at Zee Best - croissants, crepes, yummy!  We caught one of the local buses and went over the hill to Phillipsburg, where we spent the afternoon at the beach - us and a few thousand others who had arrived by cruise ship.  There were colorful umbrellas and chair, we swam, and NeMar and I were also able to walk along the beach.  There were a number of vendors on the beach - clothes like sun-dresses and T-shirts, and one lady was offering aloe vera massages.  Tom tried it first, and decided it was so good that NeMar had to have a massage too.

After another bus-ride back to Simpson Bay, we stopped at Le Gourmet Marché for a few provisions before returning to Lady.  After swim-platform showers, NeMar helped me (or did I help her?) fix a delicious dinner of snapper with mango salsa topping, green salad with roasted peppers, garlicky bread.  A wonderful meal - how great to have a professional chef on board!

Wednesday we rented a car to tour the island.  We were amazed to see a fine golf course, with once-beautiful homes around it that were ALL now falling down and in terrible repair.  We later learned that the properties had been very badly damaged by hurricane Linda in 1995, and that the property ownership repair responsibilities had been in dispute since then.  We stopped in Marigot and enjoyed seeing the farmers' market offerings of lobsters and other fish, fruits, vegetables and spices.  Lots of different aromas.  We purchased a few items from some of the regular market stalls - they offer lots of clothes - T-shirts for $5 each, three for $10, dresses, bags, jewelry - some of coral, others in silver, banana leaf, or larimar from the Dominican Republic, all sorts of St. Martin souvenirs, art, mahogany and teak bowls, pestles and mortars and other wooden wares.  It's a very entertaining place to while away an hour or so.  We continued our tour around the island, and stopped on the east coast near Orient Bay to watch kite-surfers, enjoying the strong winds and rollers, but did not get to the naturist beach.  Lunch was at Captain Oliver's in Oyster Pond.  That evening we enjoyed dinner ashore at Skip Jack's, where Tom and NeMar were able to devour a giant lobster.

Thursday was their last full day with us.  We returned the car, and then rode the dinghy out through the cut, under the Dutch Simpson Bay Bridge out to the bay, and beached the dinghy near Karakter Beach club.  We swam, walked, collected shells, had a delicious lunch and got lots more sun.  That night Tom and NeMar treated us to a wonderful sushi dinner at Bamboo Bernie's in Maho Bay.  They spent their last night at a local hotel, as their flight out was scheduled for 8:15 Friday morning, and we thought that it might just be too difficult to get to the flight on time from the boat.

This was lovely visit.  Charlie was pleased to have good friends with us for his latest birthday.  We can't wait for them to come back and see another island with us. 

 Thanks for such a great time, NeMar and Tom!  We're SO glad you came!