Blogs from Sint Maarten, Central America Caribbean

Nous avons une vie sociale assez bien remplie à St-Martin. C’est ici que se croisent sans doute le plus de navigateurs; de par sa situation géographique, elle constitue une étape dans les navigations. Séparée des îles Vierges au nord-ouest par le grand passage Anaguada (pas moins de 14h), et située au nord de la chaîne des Petites Antilles, l’île de St-Martin est donc un lieu de repos, de réparation, de préparation et un des points de ravitaillement des plus complets et des moins dispendieux de toutes les Antilles. Pas surprenant d’y retrouver autant de navigateurs de partout autour du monde! Quand nous avons quitté Antigua début décembre, nous avions fait des réserves de céréales (Bran Flakes pour ne pas les nommer) et de salade de pamplemousses en conserve; nous avions pris tout ce que nous avions ... read more

Captain’s (B)Log So, here we are! 18°02.005N, 63°05.004W. Still in St. Maarten, still in Simpson Bay Lagoon. Getting a little bit looney, but you knew that already. Where have we been this past month? On St. Maarten, 2 trips to Phillipsburg, 2 trips to Marigot (4 for Kathy), and 1 trip to Grand-Case. Off St. Maarten, one ferry ride to Saba (SayBah - goats), and another ferry ride to St. Bart’s. Otherwise, we have been on the boat, fixin’ stuff. It hasn’t always been pleasant, except for the warmth and lack of snow. We arrived December 27th and our dink engine died. Had to buy a new one. Then a week ago, the dinghy (named Shout) popped one of its tarts (seams) and we bought a new one. Although we had problems with our generator in ... read more

Wednesday 5th November 2014 With an area of only 37 square miles, St Maarten is the smallest landmass in the world to be divided between two governments, France and the Netherlands. The French name for the island is, of course, Sant Martin, and the Dutch call it St Maarten. Today we visited the Dutch southern half of the island, where the cruise ships dock, in the capital, Philipsburg. Philipsburg is small, compact and very Caribbean in atmosphere. Since it is actually the largest development on the island, the rest must be very unspoilt and not over- developed at all. In other words, this is an island we would like to visit again to explore properly. The day started so well for us. We found our “lost” mobile phone. This morning, whilst getting the passports out of ... read more

Photos for this trip can be found through this link. It was Tuesday, Day 4 of our trip to St. Maarten, and Ray and I must have been getting a little too far into the laid-back feel of the place because our relaxed apathy was turning into outright laziness, like the best part of a day is swinging in a hammock. We were slow to move in the morning, and even when we finally got down to the car, we weren't sure of where we were headed. I worked on some of the France pictures as we lounged around our digs, and we got to meet Patsey, our wonderful housekeeper. The entire staff from desk clerk to bartender (that's the hotel hierarchy, isn't it?) were exceptional personalities with an honest desire to help make your vacation ... read more

So this had two names after it the normal island title and frankly could have been equally BOAT WORK or TRANS-ATLANTIC PROVISONING. Both Gill and I were not really looking forward to this part of our trip, but as with all things, it was absolutely essential. St Maarten has two halves – one Dutch and one French, which obviously creates two very different styles of island. After a strong wind forecast and a rolly few nights in St Bart’s we decided to go into the Dutch side and the safe anchorage of Simpson Bay Lagoon. This was a wonderful change as the boat didn’t move and we could get a peaceful night’s sleep, or so we thought! We eventually rolled into bed about 11pm and were awoken at midnight with the biggest and loudest music we ... read more