St Martin

After dropping Anthony and Debbie off in Road Town, we set off to Long Bay, Virgin Gorda, where we spent a few days watching the other boats, relaxing and fixing things. On the way there we were passed by a fleet of yachts in a race. We had been watching them from afar for most of the week, but this time they came flying past us. Have you ever seen an HH 55 catamaran on one hull? We did that day. It was incredible!!

HH55 on one hull

My favourite spot

Our calorifier, which is basically our hot water cylinder, started leaking before our family came to visit and got progressively worse. So much so that we had to switch it off when it was not being used. 

Once our guests had left, Andrew took it out again and tried to find the leak. He was not successful, so he disconnected it completely from the engine. This means we no longer have hot water. It will be cold water showers until we can get a new one. 

Boat work contortionist

Google is our friend

Andrew emailed the agents who happen to be in St Martin to find out if they had stock and what the price would be. They didn’t have stock but they could get one from France, which they would have to fly in because we weren’t going to stay in St Martin long. They quoted Andrew €900 for shipping plus the cost of the calorifier, which was €500. We decided that cold water showers weren't that bad and we would wait until we got to Trinidad before buying a new one

We checked out of the BVIs and started the 16 hour journey at 12pm, towards St Martin, expecting to get there mid morning the following day. Little did we know that it was going to be the worst sail we have ever had.

The expected 16 hour sail in the end was a 30 hour slog. We had everything thrown at us from gusts as high as 45 knots, winds sustained between 25 to 35 knots, messy sea, leaks in the boat, waves coming over the side and wetting us in the cockpit, and many squalls during the day. The bilge pump got stuck on one tack so we had to turn it off and remember to manually turn it on every now and then. At one stage I went down below and found sea water in the locker below the stove. So much water was coming over the bow and straight into the bilges. We upped our bilge pumping to a more regular interval. We didn’t motor until we were nearly at St Martin, so the endless tacking took added hours onto our trip!! 

When we did finally start the engine and motor sailed, the engine overheated so we anchored using the main sail. A first for me. Thank goodness the last squall past and the rain stopped just before we dropped anchor at 6pm on Wednesday night. The 35 knot wind also dropped making it feel so calm when the anchor went down. We were all exhausted. I don’t think Andrew slept more than two hours the entire trip. There was more rain expected and in the quiet after dropping the anchor we heard some thunder. We were very grateful to be in St Martin at last. Laura was a star. I’m surprised she didn't say she was getting off here and flying home.

Our friends Faye and Ian on Gumbar were also anchored in the bay and Faye very kindly offered to make us supper, but we were too tired to move or even think about dropping the dinghy even for some food. I made toasted sandwiches and we collapsed into bed. I think we were all asleep by 8pm.

We spent a magical 10 days in St Martin. Having Gumbar nearby was wonderful. Ian’s daughter, Teri and her partner, Jane, arrived from South Africa the day after we did. They attempted to go to St Kitts twice, but the weather was just not playing ball. So instead they stayed in St Martin which meant we got together often and played games! 

Cranium! The best game

The weather looked good for a little trip up the coast to Grand Case which is a huge bay, where we spent two nights. We went ashore one morning to go and explore the town.

Just missing the third musketeer, Claire

Faye wanted to find the supermarket. She managed to convince us that it wasn't too far away. It wasn't that far away but it was a very hot day which made the walk seem longer.

Airport

Watching the planes take off

We found a brewery next door to the supermarket and went inside to buy a few locally brewed beers.

After the long hot walk back we stopped off for a much needed refreshment and snack.

The following day we went to Pinel Island. It is a tiny island that comes alive during the day with tourists ferried over from the main land to party the day away. Teri, Jane, Faye, and I went for a walk around the very small island. We had a lovely swim in the bay on the other side which was cut short when we realised it was a nudist beach. The chap we had passed at the top of the hill with his wife/friend/partner, was completely naked, walking down the beach. Thank goodness Laura didn’t come with us.

Gumbar

Pinel Island

The islands are so dry

Lobster lunch

The island closes up at night. All the beach chairs and umbrellas are packed away and everyone goes back to the mainland. Boats are not allowed to stay the night.

Gumbar was planning to go to Tintamarre for the night which we didn't want to do. We said goodbye to our friends and sailed back to Marigot Bay where we started thinking about what we needed for our sail to Guadeloupe. 

We needed to refill our gas bottle which is only done on certain days, we did a bit of washing off the back of the boat and then we hit a HUGE problem.

Remember I told you our engine overheated. We thought it was because we had taken out our hot water cylinder, detached it from the engine, which might make the engine get hot, but in fact it was another reason.

In order to sort out the engine overheating, Andrew took the water pump off and checked the impeller to make sure it was pumping water. That was all fine. Then he checked the heat exchanger. On removing the one end cap on the heat exchanger, he found that the tube stack had quite a lot of scale build up and debris in it which would have restricted the flow of water, which would have caused the overheating.

On removing the tube stack to clean it - he was tapping the tube stack with a block of wood to get it out the sleeves - he managed to tap a piece of the heat exchanger off. We thought we had properly broken the engine. Andrew was devastated and I was close to tears. We were supposed to be leaving in a few days and wouldn't be able to without a working engine.

After watching several YouTube videos and going on the BetaMarine Facebook group, he learnt that the piece that he had broken off was in fact an aluminum sleeve which was epoxied onto the heat exchanger. All he had done was pop this out but it was badly corroded and needed replacing.

A new heat exchanger would cost in excess of £1000 pounds excluding shipping from the UK! After a bit more investigating on the good old interned Andrew discovered that he could have the part machined locally instead.

We got onto the St Martin Facebook group and asked for the best place to fabricate the part. FKG was unanimously voted the best place, so we set off there early on Thursday morning to see if they could do it. The lovely lady working there was skeptical that it could be done quickly. We told her we wanted to leave on Sunday and we were without an engine, which if something happens, is not a good thing.

She said they could do it at a cost of $105 for two but it might take a while. We were so relieved that they could do it, and sincerely hoped that it would be done by the following day. We did not want to be without an engine for long. Apart from not being able to make water, it's the other possible disasters like dragging anchor, other boats dragging, or needing it in a storm etc., that we were worried about.

Andrew and I went to Ace Hardware, my new favourite shop, to buy a few things and then we went back to the boat. About an hour later we got a phone call to say the part was ready! We were ecstatic! 

Broken piece

Old and new

Andrew fitted the part and started the engine, watching the temperature gauge like a hawk. The temperature shot up and stayed high. We switched off the engine and with a bit of input from our friend, Ian, decided that there must have been an air block. So we let it cool down, put more coolant in and started the engine again. Voila, it worked! We made water with a cool engine. I am once again, so proud of Andrew, working through this problem and fixing it!

Andrew decided that he had done enough boat work for a while, so we joined Faye, Jane and Teri on a trip to Philipsburg. After a walk along the very quiet boardwalk (no cruise ships), we found the place that sells $1 beers. Jane had seen a brewery that was in the vicinity so armed with Google maps we set off to find it. 

The brewery was only about 2km away but it was a long, dry, hot walk. 

Honk honk

Brewery Entrance

We managed to catch a ride back to town with the owner of the brewery saving us a long hot walk back. We hopped on another bus and went to see the planes at Maho Beach before heading back to Marigot Bay.

Faye, plane spotting

Jane and Teri

Then it was time to start preparing for the next leg of our trip south. Andrew and I did some shopping for essential food, wine, and beer while Laura cleaned up her cabins. Yes, she has two! She sleeps in the forepeak when we are at anchor and in the quarter berth when we are sailing at night.

This chap stayed under our boat for a few days

We were finally ready to depart on Sunday as planned. We said a very tearful goodbye to Faye and Ian, wished the girls a safe journey home - they were also leaving that day - and we set off for Guadeloupe.

Ready for the next adventure

In our next installment our plans are once again scuppered by the weather. We didn't make it to Guadeloupe. Instead we found ourselves in Montserrat. This was one of islands we didn't visit on the way up and I am so glad we found our way here on our way down.