N18.04.109; W 63.05.501 Saturday January 31, 2015 Marigot Bay �- St. Martin Well, we stayed in Barbuda much longer that we had originally planned. We left Spanish Point and sailed back to Antigua �- Jolly Harbour on the 15th where we just anchored out. We took the dingy in to pick up groceries as soon as we arrived and then had a quiet evening. Early in the morning I went back in to pick up gas for the dingy and we then departed, back to Low Bay �- Barbuda. I guess we like it there as we stayed until the 24th! The weather was great and the water visibility had improved so we decided to try (again) to get around Cedar Point to the more remote anchorage. It is the height of tourist season and Low bay was getting busier, perhaps 10 boats on the 11 mile beach. As we approached Cedar Point we slowed to a crawl maneuvering around the �"dark patches�" the best we could. For the most part the patches were grassy areas but the water tends to be 1 to 2 feet shallower in those spots. There were also the coral heads to contend with. I had gone back in here with the dingy and portable depth finder a couple of day previously so we were pretty sure we could squeak in. We made it! In one spot we saw 7.5 feet (we draw 6.5) but only for a moment. We ended up anchoring in 11 feet of water around the point and protected from the north swells by the barrier reef. We �"saved�" our track in on the chart plotter for the departure. There was one other boat, a power cat but they were the owners of the eco-resort that is being built near the bird sanctuary and are living on it out in front. They are quite friendly but are at work most of the time. Their boat is still about a mile away from us though. Otherwise, we were alone as not too many boats attempt their way here so the beach is deserted! In the afternoon around 2PM each day the local fishers come in heading for town but if we wave at them they come over and we are able to buy fresh fish or lobster at rock bottom prices! So we have been eating a lot of lobster, grouper and red snapper! I picked up a grouper and red snapper for $10 EC which is about $4 cdn for example. We walk the beach here totally alone. The sand here is much finer that Low Bay, almost a pink powder. One day we came across fresh turtle tracks on the beach right in front of our boat. We followed them ashore and you could see where it had laid eggs in the sand, covered them up and returned to the sea. (Photos will be uploaded) Exploring the north coast by dingy (there are coral heads everywhere!) I spotted what appeared to be some sort of fish in the water moving along at the speed we were and just about the size of our dingy as well. The water was only 4 or 5 feet deep but the bottom was sand so it was easy to see. I thought it was black with white spots on its back but cannot be sure. Laurie thinks it may have been a small whale shark but we have no idea. Looking it up on the net they can be found here. One day we took the dinghy into Coderington. Since we were on the north side of the island it only meant crossing the length of the lagoon as the entrance is just a mile or so away but it is then about 5 miles into town. The lagoon is extremely salty, several more times than the ocean and has its own funny green color. It isn�'t polluted, just very salty. In fact, it is a huge lobster breeding ground. Once they reach about a pound apparently they migrate out to the ocean. When we got back to the boat we realized just how salty the lagoon was; we were both covered with salt. We finally left Barbuda on Tuesday the 27th for St. Martin. Time to provision and pick up some boat supplies. St. Martin is duty free and the best place to pick up just about everything. Even though this is the cheapest place in the Caribbean to pick up boat parts, they are still way more than in the USA but where else can you pick up a litre of Crown Royal for $15? Actually, I bought Canadian Club instead for $10.00!!! The actual sail down was not that great, we had lighter than forecast winds, right on the tail with swells from three different directions. But things that happened made up for it! First, we were joined for about 10 minutes by a pod of about 20 or more dolphins! When I first spotted them they were about a 100 yards away but it was really quite amazing; once they realized we were sailing by they turn course 90 degrees towards us and swam alongside our boat in the bow wave. And this time we have photos as well as a couple of videos. The videos include some close ups of Laurie�'s finger as well! I will be posting a couple of photos today but the videos will have to wait until I get free WiFI somewhere as the files are too big. During the visit by the dolphins I was very concerned that I might catch one as we were dragging a fishing line hoping to catch something but I did not want to catch Flipper�'s cousin! Fortunately we didn�'t but we did get a few strikes later in the day. Laurie saw the first 2; they appeared to be the Atlantic Blue Marlin. I was looking the other way when the first one struck. I just heard a �"bang�" of the line bungee pulling hard and the line breaking. Laurie saw the fish jump out of the water, probably trying to throw the lure. Later on I was down below starting the water maker and Laurie yells at me that I have caught a Sword Fish! Ok, water maker can wait�... By the time I got back to the cockpit it had broken free as well but Laurie did get a good look at it this time. She says that the sword was about 2 feet long and the head was huge. There is no way we could have ever landed the thing but it would have been good to see. Eventually we did catch another Barracuda ( maybe 20 inches or so) but we let him go. So that is about it. We have not had WIFI for some time and for some reason I cannot get it here in the harbour whereas we could the last visit here. Sometimes I pick up a signal but it just doesn�'t last long enough to do much with. We went in and bought a SIM card for a data package her but it is quite expensive (about $79 USD) for 1 GB of data. The videos of the Dolphins are about 400 MB so it would cost about $30 just to upload those alone. I will be uploading some of the photos today though as well as updating our map.