Sint Maartin/St. Martin—The Island of Enchanting Colors and Flavors

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

We arrived at Sint Maartin about 0630 after a 13-hour overnight sail. We were tired but happy that the sail was basically uneventful. We sailed almost the whole way at 6-8 knots until early morning when the wind picked up and we came ripping in at 9-10 knots. While we both had a little sleep, we were definitely ready for some continuous rest. However, rest was not on the agenda, just yet.

We anchored in Simpson Bay by the Simpson Bay Swing Bridge which allowed passage into the calmer Simpson Bay Lagoon. We wanted to enter the protective waters today as later this evening there were supposed to be 6-8 foot swells from the north.

First though we needed to clear into customs and immigration. Also on the Dutch side of the island, Sint Maartin, we had to pay the Port Authority for the pleasure of using the bridge and to anchor either in the bay or in the lagoon. The customs and immigration officer was not the most pleasant person. In fact, she initially turned us away because Ben had brought in a copy of our boat registration, and she wanted the original. So tired as we were, we had to dinghy back to the boat where Ben could grab the original document while I finished completing their crew paperwork.

Once back at customs and immigration, we were finally allowed entry. Next, we went to the Port Authority window, which had just opened. Here we paid our fees for entry, bridge usage and anchoring. They charged for a whole week in advance.

Back on the boat, we pulled anchor and got ready for the 9:30 inbound bridge opening to the lagoon. There was a parade of about 8 boats passing through the bridge. Once inside, we anchored in a nice patch of sand. Now we could take a much-needed nap!

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

The Island of Sint Maartin and St. Martin was divided into, the Dutch side and the French side respectively. When you arrived at the island, you had to decide whether to check into the Dutch or French side. We had been told that the French side was easier as you simply completed the information on the computer and paid $2, but the bridge into the French side of the lagoon only opened 3 days a week and it was only 30 feet wide and our boat is 25.1 feet wide. So even though it was more difficult to check into the Dutch side, we opted to do this to enter the safety of the lagoon.

However, if you do not move the “mother ship” to one side or the other, you do not need to check in and out to visit either side by dinghy, car, or walking. At this point we planned to stay on the Dutch side, but depending on when the weather window presented itself, we might check out later to explore more of the French side.

Today we decided to explore Marigot on the French side as it was a holiday on the Dutch side, Kings Day, and most everything was closed. We dinghied under the causeway into the French side of the lagoon. Immediately, we could surmise we were in a different country as the lagoon was littered with derelict boats that had not been cleaned up from the 2017 hurricane. This became an ongoing theme as we traveled through St. Martin, French side.

It took us a bit to finally spy the sign for Island Water World from the water as well as their tiny dinghy dock. This was a chandlery chain in the Caribbean. The store was stuffed with boat parts and paraphernalia in nooks and crannies. We found a bilge pump and some additional country flags that we would need as we travel down the Caribbean chain.

The staff was very friendly and helpful. They even helped me locate a coin laundry that I wanted to scope out. They also had a place where we could deposit trash which was very nice.

Down from Island Water World, we located the dingy dock for the town of Marigot. This town looked very “tired” as again there was evidence everywhere that it had not been totally rebuilt since the hurricane. The harbor decking was simply plyboard, that was a haphazardly nailed down. I dare say another hurricane would blow the boards away effortlessly. A lot of the buildings just needed a coat of paint to be more presentable and festive. It was interesting that the French were not into cleaning up this once cute little town. Nevertheless, one of the first things you notice as you traveled through St. Martin was the usage of colors for roofs and buildings. From above it was a kaleidoscope of color!

I love the usage of color throughout both sides of the island in contrast with the vivid blue water and green foliage on the hillsides.

We walked through Marigot and found an open-air market by the waterfront that we had perused 19 years ago when we were here. The vendors were very aggressive trying to sell their wares. They would certainly encourage you to buy a shirt whether it fit you or not. All this was a little overwhelming especially since I really didn’t need anything. Thus, we left the market behind to find something to eat since most stores were closed between 1200 and 0200 for lunch.

There was a line of small “restaurants,” basically back to back booths with small kitchens and tables for sitting, that were along the waterfront. The vendors’ waitstaff worked diligently to entice you to eat at their booth. We finally settled on one, just to stop the waitstaff from hounding us, even though she did it in a cute way, it was relentless!

The food was very reasonable with an array of entries from creole to seafood to pizza. We opted for pizza since we could share it. The other plates of food were loaded with an entrée, salad, rice and other vegetables. It was way too much for us to eat.

As we waited for our food to be delivered, we enjoyed the cool ocean breeze, and the hustle and bustle of the people in contrast to the serene anchorage before us.

Our next stop was at a Digicel store. We had been told that French Digicel worked from St. Kitts to Grenada. So we decided to get one sim card for Ben’s phone in case Google Fi cut us off at some point. Google Fi doesn’t like to provide lengthy service outside the US and had been known to cut service after 6 months if you had not returned to the US.

As we wandered the narrow streets back to the dinghy dock, we found a small grocery where we picked up a few items.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

We decided to explore the Dutch side of the lagoon today which was filled with marinas and every boat service you could imagine. We started at Budget Marine which was a large chandlery much like a West Marine. We needed an SD card with Caribbean charts for our Garmin chart plotter. As we sailed to St. Martin we noticed that our charts were grayed out in places and very sparse in their information.

For lunch we stopped at a popular waterfront café, Lagoonies. It was next to a laundry I wanted to check out. It seemed that the French side only had coin laundries and they were extremely small. Plus, I would need to exchange money to use them. Laundries on the Dutch side were drop off places, where they washed and folded the clothes for you. It was a little more costly, but definitely more convenient, if you could nail down the staff as to when to drop off and pick up your laundry. Of course, tomorrow was another holiday, Queen’s birthday, and the weekend was the end of the Carnival. So their hours were sporadic. We finally settled on bringing in the laundry on Monday morning to be picked up the same day in the afternoon.

I met Ben back at Lagoonies where we split a steak sandwich and relaxed until the stores opened again after lunch. We dinghied to the Dutch Island Water World and found it to be a pleasant and organized store. It was much easier to shop in than the one on the French side.

Friday, April 29, 2022

It was forecasted to rain today, so we decided to hang out on the boat and complete some boat chores. Ben worked on taking the port toilet freshwater pump apart to determine why it would not pump water. It was a mystery that this was the third pump to fail on this side. Weird because it seemed that every pump had a different problem. Ben found a part broken inside the “contained pump.” The Raritan support staff were super helpful as Ben walked through the diagnostic process with them. We had friends who planned to join us somewhere along the line. So Raritan was going to send the part to them.

Meanwhile, I did some meal planning, cleaned, and make Focaccia bread using the bread machine. It was the first time I had made this bread. It took a few steps, but it was tasty with a nice crust on the outside and soft bread inside. Yummy!

I also whipped up some Icebox Chocolate Chip Cookies that I could put in the freezer to cook whenever the craving arose.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

This turned into another work on the boat day as Ben spent the day installing a new O ring in the water pump he had replaced in the BVIs and replacing the port aft bilge pump because the float switch no longer worked. These two things pretty much occupied his whole day. But it was a good day to work on the boat as it continued to be cloudy and overcast.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

After two days of being sequestered on the boat completing boat chores, we decided that we needed to explore more of the lagoon. We had called the laundry yesterday to assure they were open on Monday because after we had talked with them, we found out Monday was also a holiday, European Labor Day. They told Ben to bring in the laundry on Sunday instead of Monday

So we delivered the laundry at 8:30 as they had indicated, but when I asked what time to pick it up, they now said Monday. I stated that it would be better if I could get it today, because they were washing our sheets. She kept saying Monday until I was almost out the door and then said, come by at 2:00 today and see if it was ready. I almost laughed, but restated, “2:00 today?!” She confirmed. Ha!

Most of the restaurants were closed on Sunday, but I did find a cute waterfront French bistro that was open. We dinghied across the lagoon to see if they had a dinghy dock, which they did! We decided we would come back for an early dinner.

While looking for another dinghy dock close to our boat, we found an open-air waterfront bar, Dinghy Dock Sailors’ Bar. We stopped in for a drink and a chat. The bartender was super friendly. We asked if we could leave our dinghy on their dock for the day if we rented a car to explore. They were happy to allow us this opportunity.

Ben went next door to the car rental, who said they had plenty of cars and to just come back in the morning.

At 0200, we went back to pick up our laundry. It was out of the dryer but needed to be folded. So we walked across the street to a small grocery where I picked up a few items. Finally, our clothes were ready, and we headed back to the boat.

We cleaned ourselves up a bit for dinner, but since it was quite warm and muggy, we didn’t get too dressed up. There was no point!

The cute waterfront French bistro, La Perle Bleu, was quite a find! We were seated right next to the docks by a lovely, personable waitress. The food was delightful. We were served complementary pumpkin soup and bread.

Then since we couldn’t decide between calamari or escargot, we asked our waitress to surprise us with the appetizer. She chose the escargot, because she said it was different as it was cook in a mushroom sauce. She was right, it was delectable, and we barely left a drop on the plate.

Our entrees were perfectly presented with larger portions than I had imagined. Ben had the ribeye with mushroom sauce, vegetables, and fries.  I had snapper, shrimp, vegetables, and scalloped potatoes. The food was incredibly good, but we couldn’t finish it all as we were satiated. So we packaged up the leftovers, and while the deserts sounded fabulous, we couldn’t eat another morsel.

The waitress laughed and said she didn’t want us to get too full and sink the dinghy on the way back! Ha! She was not a fan of the water. She was from Haiti but lived on the Dutch side of Sint Maartin. She was in her house during the hurricane. She said the bathroom was made of concrete so that is where they road out the storm. It took the roof off her bedroom, and it became a “swimming pool.” She also noted that the Dutch, with assistance from the homeland, had made a much better recovery than the French.

This was a wonderful romantic dinner that Ben and I both enjoyed immensely. It was almost sad to go back to the boat. When we asked for the check, the waitress asked if we were really ready to go home? She had noticed how relaxed we were sitting by the water watching the birds and boats go by.

Monday, May 2, 2022

We decided to take the day off from boat chores. It looked like our weather window to head south would be on Wednesday instead of Saturday and we wanted to see more of the island before we left.

We went to the Dinghy Dock Sailors’ Bar, where we locked up the dinghy and walked next door to the car rental agency. We rented a tiny car that was perfect for the narrow, crowded island roads. We took off across the causeway bridge into St. Martin.

We decided to go to the fort on the hill above Marigot. Once we parked, we had to traverse some steep stairs to the top, but the views of the lagoon, bay and towns were worth it.

One of the things that I love about St. Martin was the backdrop of mountains and all the colorful rooftops!

We met some folks on the way down from the fort who were climbing up and down the stairs for exercise. They said they were doing it 8 times. We said, “More power to you!” Just about that time, Ben slipped and hurt his knee. Yikes!

We also found a nest in the cacti next to the steps.

Now it was on to Grand Case, another seaside town. We had hope to find a waterfront bakery for a little refreshment, but parking was impossible, and the one-way streets made it difficult to find a spot. So we ended up at a bakery a little out of town. There Ben ate some pastries so that he could take an anti-inflammatory for his throbbing knee. We also bought some sandwiches to eat later in the day.

After winding around Grand Case several times trying to go to the beach north of town, we discovered the road was blocked off for some reason. So we turned around and headed out of town over to the east side of the island. We drove along Orient Bay and watched the parasailers and windsurfers ride the waves. Orient Bay was supposed to be a clothing optional beach, but we were saved from this spectacle as everyone we saw was clothed.

At Oyster Bay, we saw side by side the contrast between St. Martin and Sint Maartin’s recovery from the hurricane. The country boundaries split the bay down the middle. On the French side the destruction was still extremely evident while on the Dutch the hotels and marinas were beautiful and pristine.

We had not gone to Philipsburg on our last journey to Sint Maartin. It was quite the happening place with people and cars everywhere traversing the one-way streets and parking on the sidewalks when other parking was not available. I found it kind of claustrophobic, and was glad to leave the town behind.

We stopped at the Carrefour Grocery in Cole Bay, but as we entered the store at 0130, they indicated that they were closing at 0200 for the holiday and everyone had to be out by then. That became one of the fastest most frantic shopping trips ever since I didn’t know where anything was located in the store. I mainly focused on frozen meat and heavier items since we had a car, and they were more difficult to transport when on foot. Whew, we made it out by 0200!

We parked the car by the Dinghy Dock and took the groceries to the boat. Since we still had a few hours before we needed to return the car, we decided to drive by Maho and Mullet Beach. Wow were they ever crowded. I guess since it was a holiday, everyone was at the beach!

After we returned the car, we stopped at the Dinghy Dock Sailors’ Bar for another luscious Pina Coloda and to thank them for letting us use their dock all day!

Back on the boat, we had our wonderful leftovers from La Perle Bleu and reminisced about our day traversing the island from French to Dutch.

Tuesday, May 3, 2022

It looked like we had a weather window to hop on down the island chain to Dominica tomorrow. It would be a 30-36 hour sail depending on the wind and sea state. So we spent the day getting the boat and food ready for the passage.

Ben decided to replace the starboard engine water pump just for good measure and to check both engines.

I cleaned up in the salon and hull as well as got some food ready. I made pina coloda chicken salad with fruit and almonds and cooked some steak, onion and peppers for philly cheesesteak sandwiches. I also hard boiled some eggs for snacks or breakfast sandwiches.

It was a hot, muggy day, so we had to take frequent breaks in order not to get over heated. The sweat was pouring all day!

We both went to bed fairly early as we knew tomorrow and Thursday would be tiring with minimal sleep.

Wednesday, May 4, 2022

We were ready when the bridge opened at 8:30 allowing the outbound boats to leave the lagoon. We were back in a conga line, one by one going through the bridge. I almost felt like we were leaving Sint Maartin jail to freedom! We were getting underway again towards Dominica. We were a little sketchy on the weather forecast as Parker, the weather guy, had been having technical difficulties the last few days. However, it still looked like this was our best window to go for the next week or so. The wind was supposed to be north of east with swells of 5-6 feet. Hopefully this was what we would experience. Goodbye Sint Maartin/St. Martin with your colorful creole buildings and wonderful food full of island flavors!

As we raised our sails and headed south past St. Barts, the wind and waves were not as north of east as we would have liked and we found ourselves basically on a beat again. I swear that Daggers Down has a funnel on the front of the boat that simply draws the wind straight into it. Nevertheless, as evening waned, we were making good time traveling at 8-9 knots. We enjoyed watching the sunset and I fixed some philly cheesesteak for dinner. However, almost before we had taken a bite, the boat abruptly slowed to under 2 knots! Ben was up out of his seat, saying what in the world???? Of course, by now it was pitch black outside with no moon and few stars. We got out the spotlight to see if we could determine if we had hit something. We were in 2000 feet of water so we didn’t think it could be a lobster pot, but lo and behold, we saw two extremely long taunt lines running out from the port side of the boat!

We surmised that they had been floating and snagged on the dagger boards. We raised the port board and the lines moved towards the stern but were still attached to us. We tried to raise the starboard dagger board hoping the lines then wouldn’t snag one of our rudders. However, the starboard dagger board would not budge. We didn’t know if the lines were wrapped around the board or were now in the dagger well.

What we did know was that the lines had to be attached to something else behind the boat because of the load on them, but we couldn’t determine what because they trailed behind us farther than our spotlight beam would reach. They were extremely taunt and basically stopping our forward momentum.

After furling the jib and lowering the main. We tried to back up to see if the line would free itself, but this did not help.

So Ben clipped in, sat on the port sugar scoop and tugged up one line with a boat hook and cut the trailing part away. Then he grabbed the second line and cut it away. At least the lines were no longer taunt and stopping us now.

We tried again to raise the starboard dagger board but to no avail. Thus, we fished the two ends of the  remaining floating lines out of the water, and Ben tied them to the stern to keep them from fouling the rudders and/or props.

By this time our adrenaline was at a high state as we had been twirling in the middle of the ocean for close to an hour trying to determine how to free ourselves with the least amount of damage. So we unfurled the jib and started the port engine to get back underway, and took a breath.

We ended up motor sailing all night without the mainsail, only the jib. We were still making 5-7 knots and that seemed fine for now. We hated that the lines were still somehow attached to the dagger, and we were dragging them under the boat, but there was nothing we could do about it at this point. We just tried to ignore the reverberating sound of the lines knocking in the hull.

We both took turns trying to sleep, but neither of us had much rest.

As the sun arose, we were closing in on Guadeloupe with its towering mountains blocking the wind. We decided to raise the main to harness what wind we could. However, just about the time we got the main and jib back working again, the wind died off to nothing. So once again we had to start a motor. Finally, as we left the lea of the island, Ben got us moving with the main and jib, and we were able to cut the motor and sail along at 7-9 knots, making up some of the lost time.

We arrived in Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica at 0230. It had been about a 30-hour sail, and we felt fortunate that we arrived without any further ado. We were super tired and really appreciated the PAYS boat boy helping us locate a mooring ball and tie off. He indicated that it was late enough that we should just rest and check into customs tomorrow. We were all for that!

Still, neither of us could wait for tomorrow to determine how the line was wrapped around the starboard dagger board. Plus, we thought a swim in the cool waters would feel wonderful. So we donned our snorkel gear to take a look. I had barely gotten into the water before Ben had freed us from the line. It had dug a 4” notch into the board but came out readily when Ben pulled on it. Whew, at least it was not in the dagger well. We will have to patch the dagger at some point, but it could have been a lot worse. What a relief!

Now it was time for naps! Afterwards we enjoyed a lazy evening watching the sunset in the lovely, mountainous island of Dominica!

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