Saint Martin

On Monday 1^st January 2024, we left Guadeloupe and Gumbar and made our way towards Saint Martin. This is about 140 nautical miles which should take about 24 hours. We left at 9am and were prepared for an overnight sail.

Gumbar

Started to rain as we left

The seas were a bit rough to begin with and I was worried it would continue during the night. But at nightfall, the waves calmed down a lot and we had a good night, with strong wind speeds, making 6-8 knots boat speed.

Sunset

Night watch

I would love to be able to capture the stars on camera. They are so beautiful especially when there is no moon in the sky. While on night watch I love looking at all the lights. I love it when there is a full moon and it rises behind us. The lights from land can be seen glowing on the horizon. We often see cruise ships slowly making their way to their next port. They usually stay out of our way, but we still keep a beady eye on them.

Dolphins and a beautiful rainbow welcomed us to Saint Martin as the sun rose in the eastern sky. The wind which had been blowing hard all night dropped to nothing, resulting in slow progress for the last few nautical miles. 

Derelict buildings at the entrance of Marigot Bay

Marigot Bay was not as busy as we expected, and we found a place to drop anchor at 9am, 24 hours after leaving Guadeloupe. Laura and I tidied up the boat, while Andrew went ashore to check in. We had heard all sorts of reports about how the check in procedure had changed but Andrew went to Ile Marine as before and checked in on their computer.

We have been to Marigot Bay several times and have done most of the tourist activities. This time we were here to get a few boat jobs done, do some provisioning and then head out.

 

If you have been reading our blog from the beginning you will remember that we have been having issues with our dinghy for a while. Andrew has spent countless hours glueing the cones which keep splitting. I think the main problem is we can't keep it out the water for the necessary length of time to allow the glue to dry. We had looked at dinghy prices in Martinique but decided that we would wait until we got to Saint Martin before buying a new one. Finally, one morning, we went dinghy shopping. It's not like buying a car where you can test drive it. Andrew had done a ton of research before settling on a Highfield 290 Ultralight.

Check that happy smile

Old and new

First ride

It has made a world of difference. We can get on the plane with three of us in it. We sold the old one to a young chap on his boat, Ocean Science, who has more patience for fixing holes. He also has a big boat with space on the deck. So maybe he will be able to get it fixed!

Old dinghy, new owner

We bought Starlink in Trinidad and it is wonderful. The downside is that it uses a lot of battery power. We will need it when we are in the Bahamas as the internet is very expensive there. We were only running Starlink when we had the engine on while making water. This is definitely not enough time, so something had to be done.  

Walking to the shops

Andrew bought two new solar panels which he mounted on the side rails. Another brilliant addition as we saw a huge difference in the amount of amps going into the batteries. We do use our wind generator as well when the sun is not shining but it is never quite enough.

Our old cockpit seats were looking worse for wear with the foam wearing thin. The one I had found in the dumpster a year ago was completely worn out. We bought three new ones from Island Water World.

Qazami, a South African family boat, who we met in Carriacou was also in the bay. We stopped by to say hello and later went around for sundowners and a good catch up.

I found some decently priced nice wine in the Carrefour in Sint Maarten. Andrew and I went back to get some more only to find we were not allowed to buy any alcohol that day. It was Election Day and the sale of liquor was prohibited for 24 hours!

This boat reminded us of Andrew's brother, Anthony, who is called Oups (Oupa in Afrikaans) by his grandkids.

Oops! in French

Andrew's old school mate, Oscar, made contact with Andrew. He works on a huge super yacht which happened to be moored on the Dutch side of the island. He came across for a visit in the ship's dinghy, which was almost half the size of Calypso.

Oscar and Andrew

Super yacht's super size dinghy

After a few calm days the water in Marigot started getting very lumpy and worse with the speed boats! We decided that it was time to move on.

Below is a snapshot of our boat's movement on anchor. Andrew sets an anchor watch as soon as we drop anchor which signals an alarm if we move. Sometimes we drift out the circle if he has made it too small or the wind changes, and then the alarm goes off in the middle of the night giving us a huge fright! It also goes off when we leave the boat in the dinghy and we arrive at the dinghy dock with his phone bleating!

We provisioned as much as we could (Read: meat, beer, and wine) and prepped the boat for another overnight sail. It was time to make our way to the Virgin Islands.