A long time between blogs – sorry about that - there is plenty to do here on St Martin/Sint Maarten! We spent until Sunday afternoon anchored in Marigot Bay exploring the town of Marigot, climbing up to Fort St Louis for a wonderful view of the western side of the island & doing some grocery shopping at a great supermarket we found. There is plenty of colour & music in Marigot at the moment as ‘Carnivale’ is about to start. I will check out when the parade is on with the Tourism Bureau today – it should be great to watch.
Sunday afternoon we sailed down the coast & anchored in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of the island. Not a nice anchorage, very rolly & uncomfortable. We went through into the lagoon on Monday morning at the 11.30am bridge opening. Very different view on this side – giant super yacht marinas & hundreds of sailing yachts at anchor in the lagoon. Planes taking off constantly add to the noise of hundreds of tenders running around as people do their boating jobs. We visited the chandleries & had a wander around Cole Bay on Monday afternoon then back to PANNIKIN for a quiet night.
Tuesday was Ange’s birthday – thank you for all the birthday wishes sent this way! Steve scrubbed Pannikin’s bottom while Ange had a birthday pedicure in the morning & then after lunch we caught a local bus to Maho Bay. This is the spot where the runway is right beside the beach & as the planes come in it seems as though they are going to land on your head! There must have been cruise ships in port as there were hundreds of people on the beach taking photos & hanging onto the airport fence as planes rev up & take off. Never laughed so much in our entire life! We had a couple of drinks at the Driftwood Beach Bar as we hid from the rain & people watched. This is a crazy bar – but lots of fun! A quiet night then on Pannikin after a great day.
Yesterday we bought a few things at the chandlery & stocked up on cheap vodka from the Sky Supermarket at Simpson Bay. Just before we were about to head out of the lagoon at the 4pm bridge opening we heard a yell from across the lagoon! Pete & Martina on HAVACHAT had just arrived after having some work done at Oyster Pond. We had a quick chat with them & hopefully catch up with them in the British Virgin Islands in the next week or so. Through the bridge & back up to Marigot Bay!