CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored reasonably close to the public dinghy dock in Marigot Bay
18 03.992' N, 063 05.443' W

Orient Bay was like a vacation destination for us, all beach all the time. The day has finally come, though, to return to 'civilization', the capitol of St. Martin, Marigot. The weather has calmed considerably, and we want to take advantage of this opportunity to depart the bay. We lifted our anchor at a reasonable morning hour and were on our way.

After motorsailing out of the bay, we turned to put the wind on our quarter and shut off the engine. It is the first time in ages that we have sailed with the wind on or behind the beam. Averaging nearly 6 knots, we flew from one side of the island to the other. We were securely anchored in Marigot before noon.

We used the afternoon hours to take care of some dirty work. The diesel tank needed to be topped off and it was time for a new fuel filter. I took care of the former (filling the tank from jugs we have carried since Culebra) and Sheryl took care of the latter (carefully removing the old and inserting the new filter into our Racor 500). Once all the diesely items were cleaned up, it was time for a swim to remove the residue from my own skin. I am happy to report that our anchor appears well set in the sand and that I no longer smell like diesel fuel.

Our time in St. Martin is rapidly drawing to a close. If the weather permits, we hope to be ready to clear out with customs (pay for the few days anchored in Marigot Bay), and be off to our next island destination very soon. We need a bottom job, and we intend to get the boat hauled in Antigua.

Prior to leaving North Carolina, we had all the old layers of bottom paint removed. The boatyard workers then applied a yellow primer coat of paint and, on top of that, red ablative antifouling paint. That was nearly two years ago, and the yellow primer is beginning to show through in multiple places as the antifouling paint has worn completely off. Those spots re-establish aquatic growth quickly after each of my bottom scrapings, and that growth slows our progress through the water. In addition, the growth developing here in St. Martin is different than what we experienced in Culebra. Gone are the tiny biting shrimp (thank goodness), but a purple-pink fur which is very hard to remove is spreading across the bottom. We hope to make our lives easier and our sailing a bit faster by investing in new bottom paint.

Before we are ready to depart, though, there are still a few things we need to take care of here in St. Martin. We hope to get our empty LP tank filled, purchase a few more things at the marine stores, and maybe even scrape the bottom one more time before we take off. Stay tuned as we will let you know the minute we are flying a new country flag.