After a 15 hour sail from Virgin Gorda we arrived in Simson Bay Sint Maarten with 2 minutes to spare before the bridge opening for the lagoon. Tucked safely in the lagoon we caught up on some much needed sleep before clearing into customs in the morning. Now Sint Maarten (the Dutch side) and St Martin (the French side) are all one island. The Dutch side is south and the French side is north. The Dutch side is the place to get any work done that you want done to your boat. There a numerous fabrication businesses and marine stores, all at duty-free pricing. We had been having some problems with our fridge and batteries. The solution for us, a new wind generator and 2 new agm batteries. There are many options to solve the problems we had, another battery bank, just wind, more solar, etc. It really comes down to cost, weight, and space on your boat, not to mention personal preference. Anyway, power problems and fridge problems have been fixed.
We also caught up to Banyan again but only for a couple of days as they had places to be. We also caught up to Mowser again and spent the entire 10 days in close proximity and shared a couple of outings. The BEST of these outings was to the Sint Maarten Carnival. A full afternoon of loud music and fancy costumes as the crowds paraded through the street. This was our first carnival but definitely not our last, as each island seems to have theirs at a different time. You could almost island hop to go from carnival to carnival. We left them behind to get THEIR wind generator and some stainless fabrication done. At Last also caught up to us after some delays in Puerto Rico. And last but not least, we finally got to sit down with Paul and Sheryl Shard of Distant Shores. Thanks guys and hope to see you again soon.
After 10 days of what seemed like non stop work (well except for the hockey games, wing nights, Greek food, internet cafes and French pastries), it was time once again to move on.
We departed St Martin for St Bart’s and grabbed free mooring balls in Anse Du Columbier, another National Park. From here we dinghied into Gustavia to clear into customs. The next day we went on a long hike around the ocean trail into Anse Des Flammands. St Bart’s is a little piece of Europe in the Caribbean and we will return next year to spend more time for sure.
After only 2 days we headed south again to St Kitt’s where I am typing this entry. The capital city of Basseterre has a large harbour but it is subject to a lot of roll, so we are 5 miles south in White House Bay. Comfortable but very windy. There is a small beach bar and a new marina right around the corner where we got water and gas. The winds are high and forecast to stay high so we might be here for a few days.