St. Marteen, the Dutch side of the Island, lies barely 10-15 miles from Gustavia. We were heading to the French side, just a few additional miles to get around the SW tip and then into Marigot Bay. The sailing was uneventful, with an easy 15-17kn breeze downwind, poled out. Keraban dislikes sailing very deep (w/o a Spi), more so below 20-22 knots of wind, and most of the time it pays out to get out of the rumb line to run with less than 150 degrees to the wind and pick a couple of knots, then gybe. We are also using the 2nd staysail, which gets airflow from the poled-out Genoa and is good for an additional 0.5-0.7kn. The added benefit is keeping speed up when furling the genoa ahead of a gybe.
Marigot is a large bay, with its own entrance to the inner lagoon (as does the Dutch side, in Simpson Baii, on the south side of the Lagoon). The bay itself was full for our taste, and as it has some shallow patches here and there, we decided to tuck ourselves on the NE side (Baie de la Potence). A bit more distance to cover on dinghy, but you are just by yourself on a sand bottom over 5m. Just make sure you are at a safe distance from the wake left by the ferries running to Anguilla.
As it happens, Youth, our friendly couple from Tessin sailing without return date, were anchored just there, which guaranteed some long, charming evenings, and plenty of sensible advise.
The first evening we limited ourselves for a short walk, as the place was deserted and it is apparently not overly recommended to stray into the back streets at night. The kids (and parents) longed for a good pizza, which we found at the Marina’s restaurant.
The main objectives were finding a laundry, ii) finding a good supermarket for a “Canary Islands style” major food restocking ahead of the Virgin Islands, iiii) get replacement gas canisters, iv) get a number of spare parts and consumables at the shipchandlers.
The 2 shipchandlers at Marigot are relatively well stocked. If you are missing a part, they will have it there in the afternoon, courtesy of the larger outlets on the Dutch side. But contrary to the general comments you read here and there, most items are clearly more expensive than in Europe despite the duty free status, at least on the French side of the Island. We will see in a month time on the Dutch side.
What was more convenient and equally well stocked was the local Super U supermarket. It was about 1.5km walk from the dinghy dock, which is fine empty handed, but one has to secure a taxi ride back to carry the bags. We are getting efficient now, and 2 full trolleys were full, the bill paid and the bags filled in under an hour. Prices were around 10-20% more expensive than Tenerife, but still very convenient compared to the rest of the Antilles. At the dinghy dock, there is always some public watching as you try to fit all the bags in the dinghy, and then get into it, but we are good at this by now. Sorry folks, no one overboard…
The next day we headed to Anse Heureuse, or Happy Bay. This is about 2 miles from Marigot, but the place is a complete contrast. A warm, welcoming beach with no buildings and no other boats around, just some nudists trying to get sun on some improbable parts. The kids did not even care. We spend the day there with Talitha and Wind4Life, and ended in an evening long water polo, or shall I say water rugby contest. The next morning we had to part company for a couple days, as we headed further NE towards Anse Marcel, and both the other boats had various technical matters to solve at Marigot. At anse Marcel we had a warm get together with our good old dinghy, which had been deposited there by Belgian couple who used it after meeting at Marie Galante. For now we have recovered just the air pump and left the dinghy at Anse Marcel, waiting for a careful new owner. If it is not sold by the time I am back to St. Marteen, I will pick it up and use it to go fishing on lake Lugano (no bears to hunt on the lake).
We took the chance to explore Grande Case on our way back to Marigot and spend the night there. Grande Case has charm, and is the dining center of the French part of the island. After walking back and forth the 400m or so main street, we decided that the best spot to enjoy the sunset was just at the open air bar at the dinghy dock. You have to bite yourself to realize how beautiful such moments are, sitting with the family in a wonderful spot, with not much to worry about other than the next passage and this or that nag on the boat.
As Elisa was sipping her pineapple juice, nice music was being played, and I asked the bald headed guy (look alike) if we could exchange playlists. From that we started a conversation, as he happens to own a number of such spots in Florida and the Caribbean. But no playlist exchange after all as I fell asleep as soon as we were back on board and missed the 8 pm live show and DJ….will be for the next trip around here.
The next eve we were supposed to leave towards Virgin Gorda from Marigot, a day ahead of the rest of the fleet, and then meet again at Gorda Sound. Departure was set for about 9-10pm. Isa went for some fresh produce, and I went to clear out, and took another empty gas canister with me. I have grown passionate of shipchandlers, so I exchanged my gas canister and scrolled the stores items to find some useful gear, a chart, etc and then headed back…..only to realize well after close of business that I had forgotten to clear out! Pani Problem, we will leave all together the next evening.
So, we admit we don’t know much about St. Martin yet, but I will have a few days to discover the place early May whilst preparing Keraban for the return passage.
Speaking of which the crew is confirmed and looks as if we will have a good time all the way to the Mediterranean (options after Gibraltar are endless, we may open up for voting: a) Balearics (including opening the season in Ibiza), Porquerolles and then Loano. Otherwise Sicily, Sardegna, Corsica / Tuscan Islands, Loano….a combination…).