Year 9 Day 242 The Storm Slowly Passes
29 September 2016 | Simpson Bay Marina Sint Maarten
Dave/Overcast With Wind
The winds stayed strong and steady through night and remained so this early morning. They were blowing a steady 30 to 35 knots. Tropical Storm Matthew surprised everyone by strengthening overnight and by this morning it was upgraded to a hurricane. Not only did it quickly intensify but it slowed down its forward progress and expanded its area of influence, which was the reason we had such stiff winds for so long. Instead of being just outside the fringe of the storm, we were inside its outer edge. NOAA has recently predicted that Matthew will be upgraded again soon into a Major Hurricane with winds predicted to be well above 110 mph. It should stay at that rating until after it passes over Jamaica early next week.
Through the afternoon we knew the worst was behind us as the winds started to diminish, with just fits of gusts up to 35 knots. The continuous wind was only about 20 knots. Finally, this evening, even the fits of gusts stopped and things started to return to its normal quiet calm. I put our shade tarp back up, hopped in the hammock and enjoyed my nightly Cuban without the wind blowing me away.
We are so happy we stayed put here in Simpson Bay and did not run over to Ile Fourchue. We would have been safe there but would have also been another 15 miles toward the center of the storm. I am sure we would have rocked and rolled with the seas wrapping around the corners of that small little island, making our life a bit uncomfortable. Instead, we were snugged down in the marina with all of the comforts of home with the A/C running, the Internet humming, enjoying a bowl of ice cream with chocolate sauce and all of the other conveniences of a marina. In fact, with the gusts still blowing, we ventured forth and walked down the main road a bit to go grocery shopping. We remember Sint Maarten as having great baby back ribs so we went to stock up for our last 6 weeks of our cruising season. Along the way to the grocery store, Mary Margaret stopped at a hair dresser and made an appointment for tomorrow morning to get her hair cut.
As Mary Margaret wrote in her blog the other day, while we love being in remote anchorages, we are appreciating the conveniences that this nice marina offers us here in Sint Maarten…