St Martin and St Kitts - and weather

We see lots of rainbows

What is your take on weather? Do you watch the weather forecast religiously or do you give it a passing glance? Do you look out the window in the morning, note that it is raining and add a jacket to your ensemble?

Well, for us sailors, weather is at the forefront of our lives. We check the weather often. During the crossing of the Atlantic, Andrew downloaded the weather models twice a day. We watch the weather carefully because weather to us is not just rain or sunshine. Weather is wind strength and direction, sea state and wave direction and height, rain and sunshine. The wave direction is not necessarily always in the same direction as the wind which makes the sea state choppy and the boat rolly. If the waves are coming 90° to the wind, then the boat rocks. And if the period between the waves is short, the boat rocks even more. This is most unpleasant and things have to be stowed away carefully even though we are on anchor. We watch the weather carefully before we head off to the next anchorage or country and even then we don't always get it right.

Over the past month I have felt like the weather has dictated our plans more than usual. Even more than when we were waiting out hurricane season in Grenada.

We arrived in St Martin and dropped the hook in Marigot Bay expecting to only be here for a week before exploring other bays. Well, that wasn’t to be. When we arrived the bay was beautiful with calm clear water but after a few days the wind came up and churned up the water, making the waves choppy and the sea murky. The direction of the wind was not conducive to being protected in any of the nearby bays, so we stayed on anchor in Marigot, our skinny boat rocking from side to side. 

One particular evening we were going to go to a cruiser’s gathering at Dock 46 but decided to stay on the boat instead. We were worried the boat would drag or other boats would drag into us. Another frustrating part of nasty weather, is that we tend to get wet in the dinghy ride to and from shore. The thought of having a drink with wet shorts wasn’t high on our list of priorities, so we gave the drinks a miss.

We did have a few highlights during our three week stay. On one trip to shore, a stingray jumped out the water right in front of the dinghy, hovered in the air and plopped back, leaving us speechless. I wonder if he was as shocked to see us as we were to see him.

We had a lovely meal with Tania and Royden du Plooy, with their dog, Dolce, quietly sleeping under Tania’s chair in his bag. 

The following day, Tania came to fetch Laura and me in her hire car and we went for a drive around the island. We went zip lining down a steep mountain which was a huge thrill. Tania takes Dolce wherever she goes, including down the zip line!

Have I ever mentioned I don't like heights?!

And off we go!

View from the top

We had a lovely lunch watching kite surfers enjoy the wind as they races across the bay.

Laura and Tania

Andrew, Laura and I took a bus into Philipsburg. There were two cruise liners in the bay and the place was packed with people. Such a difference to the atmosphere compared to the last time we were there with no cruise liners.

Busy Beach

Laura bought a purse

Happy to find $1 beers

Andrew, Laura and I went to the bird sanctuary where we had birds land on our hands to eat the bird seed. They have made an amazing recovery after Hurricane Irma and rebuilt the building which was destroyed. The birds had been moved to a place of safety before Irma hit.

It was lovely to see Laura interact with the birds and even the grumpy ones seemed to like her. When we arrived we were told by one of the ladies working there that one of the two blue birds had just bitten two people. Laura bent down to their level, said hello, and they hopped on her hand. The woman was shocked!

Two grumpy birds loving Laura

The same grumpy birds

So beautiful

Beautiful Toucan

Inquisitive

Trying to touch the bird

Snooze Time

After a few hours of feeding the birds, we left them in peace as they had their afternoon snooze.

We met up with Craig and Barbara, who we met in Prickly Bay, Grenada, for coffee and pastries. They were leaving at the end of February to go and work in a chateau in France.

We watched a Carnival Parade which was a bit of a let down after the Grenada one. There were only about 5 trucks and only the first two groups of people were dressed up.

We celebrated leaving South Africa on 23 February with a delicious meal and some bubbles which we bought for New Year and forgot to open. Still good even after nearly 2 months in the fridge!

Cheers

Our friends, Faye and Ian on Gumbar, were making their way back up to St Martin via St Kitts so we decided to head that way for a bit. It would make a nice change of scenery.

But Dave and Sandy on Reve de Lune were heading our way so we decided to delay our departure so that we could see them. 

Pizza and drinks at Dock 46

We left Marigot Bay on Saturday afternoon and did a short hop over to the Dutch side and dropped anchor in Simpson Bay for the night. At first light, just before 6, we upped anchor and set sail for St Kitts. We had a fairly easy sail down, but lost the wind at the top of the island. We motored into Shitten Bay at 5pm and dropped anchor next to Gumbar.

Faye had cooked supper and Ian came to fetch us, so we didn't have to drop the dinghy straight away. Dinner was delicious and it was fantastic catching up with our friends.

The following day, we hopped onto Gumbar and sailed across to Basseterre Bay where we could check in.

 

Andrew, Ian and Faye

While Andrew went to check in,  Faye, Laura and I went to find a dumpster but we were stopped by the marina security at Customs who said Andrew had to check in first. Then he said we would have to pay $15 to dump our three bags of rubbish, and pay $5 to be dropped off in the dinghy. We had heard that they charge a fee to leave the dinghy at the dock but not to be dropped off! The man was obviously in a very bad mood as Faye said he was very kind and helpful last time they were there. Ian came back to fetch the rubbish which we put it in a dumpster on the side of the bay where the ferry comes in.

After Andrew was finished with Customs we went to the Cruise terminal to check in there as well. They had some lovely shops around the square so Faye, Laura and I did some window shopping. 

We went to a really grungy supermarket as Faye needed to buy some things and we stocked up on eggs and some meat. Hot and bothered, we headed back to the dinghy dock and called Ian to fetch us.

Faye driving off the anchor

It was a lovely sail back to Shitten Bay where we jumped in the water for a much needed swim. 

The first few days were lovely. We had beautiful weather with clear skies, rain early in the morning which cleared up later in the day leaving us with warm sunshine and calm water. We pumped up the SUP and spent hours paddling around the bay.

I'm standing!!

Faye, Andrew and I went for a walk up a really rocky path that looked more like a river bed to the other side of the island. We had to turn around and go back the way we came as the path became more like a goat path than a human path. It was lovely to be walking!

We went for a snorkel off the wreck where we saw a few fish. It was really disappointing how few fish there were in the bay.

Day trippers

The wind changed direction and the water became very rolly. Faye and Ian moved to the other side of the bay to try and find calmer water. We braved it out, but it was not pleasant.

You may be wondering why we have a dry bag attached to the spreader. Well, the internet in Shitten Bay is really ..... Yes, you guessed it. So we put Andrew's phone into a dry bag and hoisted it up to get a better signal.

On Saturday, Laura and I did another trip on Gumbar to Basseterre for another food run. The grungy shop was no better and we didn’t find much.

Gumbar in the sunset

This beautiful boat came and anchored behind us

Andrew had been looking at the weather for our trip back to St Martin and it seemed like Sunday night all was aligned correctly. We said our farewells to Ian and Faye and upped anchor to go across to Basseterre to check out. The roll there was so much worse than in Shitten Bay. Andrew said he could see the mast swinging from side to side when he was in the Customs office. 

We had only planned to leave at around 5pm as it is about 12 hours to St Martin, however, the swell was so bad that we couldn’t take it anymore. We pulled up the anchor at around 3pm and set off. We thought we would just make our way slowly up the island. Again, the weather had a say in our plans. We only had a headsail out and we were doing 7 knots. At one stage we reefed our headsail but we were still going too fast. Later in the evening, Andrew put the whole headsail out as it was not slowing us down and we were still going to arrive in St Martin in the dark.

It was a lovely sail, with the right amount of wind on a beam reach. We didn’t get much sleep but we knew we would have a few hours to sleep before sunrise when we got there. Dropping the anchor in the dark is a bit hair raising. We did it once before when we arrived at Ile du Salut in the dark. At least we had been in St Martin before and knew the lie of the land. The biggest worry on the way in, is the fishing pots that are dotted around and we did wonder if every boat had their anchor lights on.

We were exhausted and fell into bed at about 3:30 am and slept like logs. After checking in the following morning, Andrew went to buy a baguette and some camembert.

Anchor beer, of course!

In the next installment, you can read about how we spend our days on Calypso. Thanks for reading!