On Saturday morning we left St Martins inner lagoon for a mini break on one of the sun drenched beaches on the French side. We were aiming for the early 8.15 am bridge opening and slowly weaved our way through all the anchored boats trying not to go aground in all the shallow areas with our 6ft draft. We made the bridge with a couple of other boats and passed out onto the French Marigot Bay where we passed the impressive Mirabella V. We slowly put, put, putted our way around the corner northwards to Friars Bay. Our friends Mark and Liesbet on catamaran "Irie" were joining us; they even went to the extra effort of raising their sails for the short jaunt to give them an airing. We must be getting very lazy as we didn't even put our jib out!
Friars Bay is fringed with palm trees and white sandy beach. It is a popular spot with tourists, lined with beach bars with sun umbrellas and loungers. We dropped the anchor into crystal clear water; even though it was 5 meters deep we could clearly see the anchor on the bottom. After lunch "Irie" picked us up in their dinghy and took us to the beach. We walked over a small hill to a beach on the other side known as Happy Beach. As we climbed down the hill on the other side we caught glimpses of iridescence blues through the palm trees.
Happy beach is certainly that. Young (am I old already!) scantily clad people were playing ball on the beach, Seagrape trees offered shady respite to young families and dogs were frolicking in the sand. We spent a nice afternoon chilling on the beach and swimming in the beautiful but slightly cold sea. That night "Irie" joined us for dinner where Sim and I made them a Pierie, in honour of their boat name and the product they sell from their boat (The Wirie - long range marine wifi). We ate so much we could barely move.
Sunday we chilled on board taking a refreshing dip in the sea in the afternoon, checking to see if the bottom of our boat was starting to grow its own eco system (it wasn't) and watching rays and finding sand dollars. That evening we joined "Irie" on their boat for another feast.
We had every intention of staying out a few more days but a swell had been forecasted to arrive from the north that could make this bay untenable so we left early on Monday morning and made the 8.30 bridge back into the lagoon. Where, we were ready to start another week in the hectic fast paced life of St Martin!