We learned something about beach wave action in St Martin.

We knew that rock shore line can reflect waves back and create a washing machine effect for nearby seas. Our past experience is that beach shore lines normally absorb wave action and the waves are generally not reflected back with much intensity.

In St Martin the beaches are steep, when the swell hits it, it runs high up on the beach and then back down and creates another strong reflected wave. That means anchoring anywhere near that type of beach in any swell can get nasty.