Our first taste of St. Martin

We came in for fuel in St. Croix on Sunday only to find out the fuel dock was closed. Oh, No. However, the very nice purchasing manager at the marina came in to turn on the pumps, fill us up, and see us on our way to St. Martin. It was a 20 hour motor sail into the wind. We are really looking forward to the times when we are no longer beating against the trade winds! We arrived in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of St. Martin at 11:30am on Monday and dropped anchor at N18 02.190 W63 05.890. We checked in to Customs and Immigration and then dinghied on into the huge lagoon which takes up the whole west side of the island, encompassing both the northern French section and the southern Dutch section of this multi-personalty island. We were once again shocked by the number of mega yachts we found in the Lagoon…yachts that once looked big to us are becoming plain ol’ boats.

Jack came in with Dionysus on Tuesday and we all went back to check out the nearby town of Cole Bay. We hit the club beside the swing bridge for $1 happy hour beers and watched the parade of yachts come into the Lagoon. After a while it was just too late to head back to the boats for dinner, so we dined out at the local cruiser hang-out, Shrimpy’s. We checked out Marigot on the French side of the island on Wednesday; had a Riviera-y lunch on the waterfront among the shops; bought some French wine, French cheese, and French bread; and then went back to the Dutch side for $1 beers at sunset. Once again, we were too pooped for cooking, so we went to dinner on an old ship nearby…St. Martin has so many fun bars and restaurants, it is bad for our wallets.

We sailed to the eastern side of the island (N18.05.180 W63 00.900) on Thursday to meet up with John, Steff, Fiona (and Trevor and Jane on Friday) at famous Orient Beach. We are having a wonderful time eating, drinking, and exploring the island with them. The rest of the sailing crowd will come in on Saturday, and we’ll start our week of sailing with them. We’ll fill you in on those adventures and post some pictures whenever we get a chance to catch our breath once again.