Our last visit to this island divided between the Dutch, Sint Maarten and the French, St. Martin (SXM) was back in 2022. See Sint Maartin/St. Martin—The Island of Enchanting Colors and Flavors for more information of this prior excursion. Since that time, we have not made it past Antiqua.
However, this year we have had less company and schedules to keep, so we were making decisions based on where the wind takes us. Initially, we didn’t have any plans to visit SXM because in December and January they were having a crime spree where boats were getting broken into and dinghies were being stolen daily. It didn’t seem that either government was trying to address the issue. Thus, we had made a conscious plan to bypass the island.
However, plans change especially when you live on a boat and your life is ruled by the weather. This year the Christmas Winds have been extremely persistent and strong. Our original plan was to sail to St. Croix from St. Kitts, but this would be an overnight sail. With the ongoing large seas and wind, we didn’t want to sail during the dark. So, we started looking for a day hop from St. Kitts which, you guessed it, was Sint Maarten/St. Martin.
In addition, our friends on SV Andira wanted to go to the island because they had never been. The crime spree seemed to have died down. So, we shrugged our shoulders and said, “Why not? Let’s do it!”
We found the best weather window we could find, which was not great but definitely doable as Daggers Down loves 20 knot winds and big seas. We left our safe, but windy haven of St. Kitts and headed out on February 10, 2025 at 0630. We expected it to be a long day, about a 9-10 hour sail. SV Andira and crew were on our heels and SV Momentum 42 was 30 minutes ahead.
As we sailed the lea of St. Kitts towards the channel between St. Kitts and Eustatius, a rainbow sent us on our way.
As we entered the channel, we got a taste of what was to come. The channel was somewhat shallow, only 100 feet, and the wind was around 22 knots. Can you say bumpy ride??
Finally, we got into deeper water of the Atlantic and turned toward Sint Maarten/St. Martin. The waves became less choppy, but they still ranged from 6-9 feet for the entire passage, with wind gusting to 27. We had a reef in the main and one in the jib, and we were flying along at 11-12 knots. We even saw 14+ at one point as Ben slid down a particularly high wave. Ben had a blast steering and guiding Daggers Down up and down the waves. The boat and Ben were happy!
The weather was extremely pleasant as we scooted along arriving at our destination in only 7 hours! We anchored outside Sint Maarten to wait for the 1700 bridge opening into the Simpson Bay Lagoon. This gave Ben some much-needed rest and relaxation before negotiating the Simpson Bay Drawbridge. We entered the “conga line” for the bridge a little before 1700 behind two extremely large yachts. I figured if they could make it through, we certainly could, and Ben had a good target to follow.
The lagoon was pretty crowded with boats who were seeking protection from the crazy wind and swells, but we found a spot and anchored close to the causeway bridge. However, a few days later, when we were boarded by the coastguard, we found out we were in a no anchoring zone because of the airport. The runway ended right at the lagoon and the planes flew directly over the water. We had thought we were on the edge of the restricted zone so we would be ok, but that was not the case. They made us, our friends on SV Andira and several other boats move.
They were polite and at least that hadn’t come earlier in the week as it had been gusting and raining for two days. After basic formalities and checking our fire extinguishers and flares, they allowed us to move, and we got reset.
We had a rental car scheduled, but we postponed it for a day as we didn’t want to leave the boat right after anchoring. We wanted to be sure we wouldn’t drag with the grassy bottom and gusty winds. We had watched a boat the day before attempting to anchor for several hrs., but they had dragged each time. Finally, it was totally dark, and Ben went to see if they needed assistance. They were beyond frustrated at this point. They finally got set and I knew I would sleep better knowing they weren’t constantly moving and dragging. Whew, boat life could sometimes be a little stressful!
Resources, Resources, Resources!
One of the main reasons cruisers come to SXM was because boat parts/paraphernalia were cheaper as they don’t charge duty; they have skilled workers in all marine areas; and provisioning at stores was quite economical. If you checked into the French side, even customs was easy and inexpensive. The Dutch customs could be a little more costly as you had to pay a customs fee, a port fee for anchoring inside or outside the lagoon, and a bridge fee to enter and exit the bridge, if you decided to stay in the lagoon. Nevertheless, the fees were not unreasonable.
Since we were here, we decided to take advantage of the boat stores, Island Water World and Budget Marine. Our gas grill was all but falling apart even with trying to restore it using replacement parts. In addition, our anchor bridle seemed to be chafing, and we had lost a winch handle somewhere along the way. While we were stationary waiting on a weather window, Ben set out to make us a new bridle and hooked on the new grill. Yay!
Restaurants and Cruisers Galore
Another reason sailors flocked to SXM, was that it was a good place to meet up with other cruisers and an easy place for family and friends to fly into. We had dinner one night with a group of cruisers connecting with people we had met two years ago, others from Grenada, and new people we might see up and down the island chain. Skipjacks Seafood Grill served exceptionally good food!
I also attended a ladies’ luncheon at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club Bar and Restaurant.
Exploring the Island with Friends
I was disappointed when we came to St. Martin in 2022, because the French had not cleaned up their side of the island since Hurricane Maria hit in 2018. The Dutch had done a marvelous job rebuilding and refurbishing, but previously cute French Marigot was tired looking and needed a facelift.
Another thing SXM lacked, to me, were historical and environmental features. There were very few historical sites to view and there were no waterfalls or tropical forests. The terrain was low mountains or hillsides with scrub brush mixed with cactus. The island was more arid than some other islands. However, I would say that they do rival any other island in the Caribbean for their beautiful beaches and water!
Thus, I decided to tour the island again to see it through the fresh eyes of our friends on SV Andira, Ad and Sue. We always had fun together. So, what did we have to lose? We rented a car for two days and set out to explore and reprovision.
Day One, The Island Circuit
With permission from the Dinghy Dock Sailors’ Bar, we tied and locked our dinghy at the dock and walked next door to the Sixt car rental on Airport Road. The car was pricier than other islands at $100 a day, but it was an automatic and had ac. Thus, we were good to go!
We drove around the airport past Maho Beach where the airplanes fly directly overhead. In our younger, crazier days, we would have hung out on the beach and got sand blasted by the planes, but since we had already “done that,” we chose to move along. I had read about a sink hole, David’s Hole. We tried to find it, but it appeared that the feature was located on private property. If anyone has ever visited the sink hole, please leave a note in the comment section as to how you accomplished this. We couldn’t find the sink hole, but we did locate the beautiful, almost secluded beach of Bae Rouge. The sand was silky white, and the blue water glistened in the sunlight. It was gorgeous.
Marigot Bay: Fort Louis
We passed by the many beach resorts into the town of Marigot Bay until we reached Fort Louis. The fort was in ruins, but the view from the top was remarkable. However, one must first climb the many steps up the hill to reach it.
From the fort, there was a bird’s eye view of the lagoon, causeway bridge, Marigot Bay, the town of Marigot and the mountains in the distance. Anguilla also was visible. The sights were magnificent!
A local who assisted us with finding the fort, told us to watch out for the ghosts. While we didn’t see any ghosts we did notice one inhabitant of the fort walls.
Grand Case
We drove up the west coast from Marigot to Grand Case. This was a busy little resort town of just few streets. It was wall to wall restaurants, shops, and bars, as well as crumbling buildings that had not been restored. Despite these unsightly buildings, the town had kept much of its charm, and again, the beach and water were stunning. We stopped for lunch at Captain Frenchy and ordered tapas. It was quite pleasant with good food and cool breezes. People watching in the French islands was always interesting, from the classy to the outlandish.
Orient Beach/Bay
With our bellies full, we traversed to the northeast side of the island to Orient Beach. This was a dicey anchorage to enter and exit, but once you were inside, the water was well protected by the reefs and the beach was elongated and beautiful. However, because Orient Beach was one of the most popular beaches in SXM, it was very crowded.
We ended our day at the Super U in Marigot because French grocery stores usually have less expensive beef and wine! However, maybe we should have gone to the grocery Saturday am instead of pm, because many of the shelves were bare.
We dinghied our loot back to the boat and settled in for the night as tomorrow we planned to explore a little more before we returned the car.
Day Two, the South and East Side
We found our car where we left it parked by the Casino. That was a welcoming sight. We started our day by driving to Marigot where Ben and I indulged in some French pastries while Ad and Sue explored the town on foot. It was definitely less crowded on Sunday.
Then we began our journey towards Philipsburg Our first stop was at an overlook of Cay Bay where Ad climbed the hill while we took pictures of the bay below.
Next, we had intended to hike up to Fort Amsterdam, but alas, it was inside the confines of a large hotel. While they would let us walk through the grounds, we were required to park outside which made the hike more than we had time for today. So, we snapped some photos of the fort on the hill and the Great Bay of Philipsburg, the capital city.
We knew that because it was Sunday Philipsburg would be quiet, but it was a cute town that was well maintained. As the streets were very narrow, we were happy there was not a lot of traffic.
Since we didn’t hike to Fort Amsterdam, we had time to drive out to Oyster Pond Lagoon to see if the French had cleaned things up since we were three years ago. Nope, the answer was nope! The Dutch side was gorgeous, but the French marina was still in shambles from the hurricane.
We now needed to scurry to the Carrefour in Cole Bay to complete our provisioning as they close at 1400 on Sundays. This store had most everything you could wish for, and the prices were very economical. I found everything on my list and then some—like Oreos!
Tonight was Ad and Sue’s last night in the lagoon and the last day of buddy boating with us for a while as they needed to head south for some warranty work. We hoped to catch up with them again when we head south, but for now, we decided to eat out at Skipjacks as a farewell dinner. It had been a fun couple of months, but that was cruiser life: saying hello and saying goodbye.
To Go or Not To Go to SXM?
As you can tell whether you will LOVE SXM is a personal choice. It has something for everyone, unless you are looking for a waterfall—Haha! If they keep the crime under control, the island is abound with services and fellow cruisers. So if you are looking for lots of bars and restaurants to meet others or you need something fixed on your vessel, this might be the ideal place for you. In addition, if you just want to relax on a beach, the beaches and beautiful water can’t be beat. Leave your thoughts in the comments regarding visiting the island of two countries!
What next?
It looks like we will be in the lagoon a few more days before we find a weather window to move north. So here we sit listening to the wind gust, the planes flying over and getting ready for our next adventure. See you on the water!
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