Life on the French Side
23 June 2011 | Simpson Bay, St. Martin
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Passage: St. John, USVI to Simpson Bay, St. Martin, WI
Offshore night
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Simpson Bay, St. Martin, WI
Simpson Bay is divided between the French and the Dutch side - not that you can see a line in the water. The only way we could tell was to look at the flags flying on the anchored boats.
Checked in at customs on the French side - cost $8 USD for clearing in. It took us a while to find a good anchoring spot. The water on the French side near the marina is very shallow. We took a spot near the airport on the French /Dutch line. Good holding in deep mud. The lagoon water is not too pretty but is very protected from all directions for the weather we are expecting tomorrow.
Once checked in, John came and got me and we went over to the French side. It is like a mini Paris - well with a Caribbean bent. We had croissant jambon for lunch and looked at shops. We found free internet at a small café in the West Indies Mall (near the Fort Louis Marina). We had some pomme frite and beverage. I bought some postcards - okay its pretty fun to see your last name on tshirts, hats and key chains. We caught up on our mail and internet news, and downloaded weather. We wandered some more bought some fresh mangos and bread.
We then went over the IGY Simpson Bay Marina to see if our mail had arrived. No luck, we will need to call the company and see if they can track it. It was getting late and we decided to go to Barnacles to the cruiser happy hour (it took us a bit of time to find it). We had a nice dinner out of seafood boullaibaise and turkey chili - and $1 beers. We met a number of cruisers including our anchorage neighbors. They are going to stay in St. Martin for the hurricane season and are having their own hurricane mooring installed in case of emergencies. They have also found a marina they can stay in for only $8 per foot per month or about $335 a month. Not much competition come hurricane season. There were also a few folks leaving in the next few days headed south. We will give ourselves the rest of the week to get some chores down and then get going