Jan 10 - 16, 2005
Jim, Dotti, Brent, and Evan flew to Sint Maarten, NA arriving about 3pm. Waiting for luggage we missed the afternoon's captain's briefing but got situated on the boat and had a nice dinner at Captain Oliver's Restaurant at the marina which is located on the French side of the Island. Next morning we got our briefing and boat checkout and then headed out. The chart below gives an overview of the entire trip which had us visiting St. Barts, Anguilla, as well as St. Martin.
The voyage started in Oyster Pond on the east side of St. Martin. We sailed the first day to a rather barren island just NE of St. Barts where we stayed the first night. Not being used to the heavy seas, the male contingent were feeling a little queasy so we welcomed Ile Fourchue as our first port of call. Not much to see here but a refuge from the 3-10 ft seas.
Next day we have a short sail into the port of Gustavia where all the rich people gather on St. Barts. Lots of expensive shops etc. Had a "Hamburger in Paridise" for lunch and very nice dinner at Eddy's on short that evening as well. We had to anchor quite a distance from the dock but the motorized dingy made life pretty good.
Day 3 had us making a fairly long day of 30 miles to the harbor of Margot on St. Martin's french side. Winds remained at 20-25 knots gusting to 40 so it was a pretty intense sail. Brent and Evan explored the outdoor market in the afternoon while Dot and Jim took a little snooze. That evening we all jumped into the dingy and found a nice reasonably priced restaurant overlooking the harbor. Evan went into shore the next morning to pick up some fresh croissants for breakfast and couple of baggets for dinner.
Day 4 was a sail up to Anguilla. We arrived arround 1pm and went looking for the immigration officers. We found the guy who handles the marine park who helped us fill out all of the forms but could only take our money for the mooring we would use when snorkling the next day. So off we trekked down the beach to the customs office behind the commercial dock. There they were happy to take our money but still not immigration officer. Evan managed to find him the next morning before we left.
Day 5 we motored about 45 minutes NE to Little Harbor where we picked up a mooring in the marine park. The winds remained strong and we managed to loose the boathook overboard in the process but quick action by Brent jumping into the dinging managed to secure us to the mooring. Later in the day Evan located the boathook in 30 ft of water and Jim managed to surface dive and pick it up. We snorkled in the morning then had lunch and then snorkled a bit more. The we moved a few hundred yards down to Crocus Bay where we anchored for the night. We had the fortune of being there on Friday night which was happy hour at Roy's which is a British pub type of restaurant right on the beach. The dinner specials were just what the doctor ordered with Dot having roast pork, Jim and Brent having Shepherd's Pie and Evan doing the traditional fish and chips (red snapper). Very rolling anchorage with the swells coming from the NE so none of slept tremendously well.
From Crocus Bay we headed back to St. Martin to position ourselves to be within a short distance of Oyster Pond on Sunday. So we put into Philipsburg that night on the south coast of Sint Maarten's Dutch side. It is pretty much a cruise boat stop with wall to wall jewelry and electronics shops.
Finally Sunday morning comes and it's our last day. We have a quick breakfast of Mango's with Bagels and cream cheese then weigh anchor and head back toward Oyster Pond. It started out pretty calm but as we rounded the point and headed north up the east coast the seas were about 10 feet and the wind picked up. Getting into Oyster Pond was an adventure. It has a very narrow channel with reefs on both sides. The seas made if difficult to maintain sight of the buoys but Evan brought us in safely in spite of the heavy following seas. We all were very relieved to be safely inside the small harbor but sad that our journey and vacation had ended.
It had been an unusually windy week with heavy seas according to the locals. We were told there were some charterers that never made it out of the marina the entire week so I guess we were either lucky or foolish.
Pictures can be found in the Photo Gallery. Most courtesy of Evan our rampant photographer.