Our time in St. Martin

For different reasons, it's always hard to leave St. Martin. Last year we were going to stay for a couple of weeks and ended up staying a month. This year, we wanted to stay for a week and ended up staying three weeks.

The main reason for this is that you can get anything you need in St. Martin. Of all the islands in the Caribbean, St. Martin is the best place to get anything you need for the boat. And if you can't find it there, you can have shipped without paying duties. Another reason is, of course, provisioning. You find very good French food and for good price.

We left Barbuda at 10 pm on a very calm night. The seas were flat making the passage very pleasant. We had a full moon making the experience even more enjoyable. We had to use the engine for about 5 hours but then the wind picked up and we were able to sail the rest of the time. We got to St. Martin at noon but with the big swells coming in from the north, anchoring in Marigot Bay was very uncomfortable for us. With these conditions, we decided to seek the protection of the lagoon. The lagoon has two entrances, one in the French side and another in the Dutch side. The entrance to the lagoon is very well marked in the Dutch side but not so well in the French side. But because we were in the French side, we decided to give it a try and go to the lagoon through the French side. The entrance is very shallow and sure enough we run aground. Not only but twice. Luckily for us, the bottom is all mud and we were able to keep going with the help of some motor boats passing by and leaving a big wake for us. The beauty of anchoring in the lagoon, though, is that is very well protected and so it was flat as a pancake as Matias says. Very opposite to the big swells outside.

We were inside of the lagoon for about 5 days. We did the mandatory touristic visit to Maho beach and went out to see the airplanes land very close to the beach. And once again we enjoyed a very tasty hamburger at Sunset.

Lunch at Sunset watching the planes take-off and land.

The kids enjoying the beach at Maho while a small plane lands.

We got out of the lagoon on a Friday and went to Grand Case for the weekend where some friends (Lagom) were anchored. We had a lot of beach time, some very tasty ribs in a local restaurant and even some diving. We then went back to Marigot to spend another week there. Ernesto set up the swing on Taia and everyday we would have the kids from Lagom and Korrigan aboard Taia where they would spend hours jumping in the water.

Ernesto took the opportunity to install a salt water faucet in the kitchen. Now we can wash dishes using a lot of salt water without wasting some of our precious fresh water. What a luxury!

Teamwork! Ernesto (with some help from the crew) spent a lot of timing rigging a new vang and preventer for Taia.

Look at all that salt water running!

Our third week in St. Martin saw us going inside the lagoon for a second time as there were forecasts of winds of 20-30 kts and north swell coming in again. Going inside ended up being the right decision, as there were a lot of boats dragging anchor outside. We took advantage of being in the lagoon for a second time and had 2 bonfires with the crew of Day Star and Korrigan on a nearby beach.

With the 20+ knts of wind, Matias decided to take his bed sheet out and using it as a spinnaker!

We were told of this abandoned resort near the lagoon. The kids spent a fair amount of time exploring this huge place.

Overall, our stay in St. Martin was very productive and we had a great time. This being the last French island we'll visit, I did a lot of provisioning and I'm happy to say that we won't go hungry anytime soon :)

The BVIs await next.

Antigua and Barbuda

We skipped Antigua and Barbuda last year. Why you may ask? The answer to that is quite simple in fact: we were sick and tired of going against the wind. Ever since we left the Bahamas it was us against the wind and that's not a lot of fun on a sail boat. Someone once told us “When you get to the BVIs, it becomes easier and it's all downwind sailing from there.” Well, that didn't happen. And to get to Antigua from St. Martin you need to go 75 miles east and upwind. That's about 12 hours with the wind on the nose and pounding into the waves. Not surprisingly then, we decided to pass on that last season.

This year, however, the story is quite different. Going north, from Guadeloupe to Antigua, is a lot easier and the wind angle is a lot better. So we decided to go and visit Nelson's island and its sister, Barbuda.

The first impression I got from Antigua was how different it was from the other Caribbean islands. It's flatter and not as green. The land is made of calcareous rock which has the unfortunate side effect of making the water milky. The snorkelling wasn't great but found lots of protected anchorages and beautiful beaches.

We checked in in English Harbour and after spending a couple of days walking around the very picturesque town and salivating while looking at the mega yachts in the marinas, we started moving east to other anchorages. We spent a few days in Green Island, a beautiful and quiet anchorage, with lots of coral reefs protecting us from the swell and waves. Here Ernesto started taking his first lessons in kite surfing. First with Olivier, from Korrigan and then from a school.

While in English Harbour we saw a few people finishing the Atlantic Challenge. They crossed the Atlantic rowing in these special canoes. Antigua was the final destination. Brave people!

Visiting Berkely Fort, English Harbour.

With the crew of Korrigan, whom we met in Guadaloupe.

Nelson's Dockyard.

After that it was a few days in Great Bird island, at the north of Antigua and then all the way west to Jolly Harbour. We almost circumnavigated the island.

Green Island.

Look who's up on the board!

And wipe out! It's not as easy as it looks...

Great Bird Island, north of Antigua.

Hike up Great Bird Island.

Jumby Bay, north of Antigua

The east side of Antigua is full of beautiful beaches and anchorages, making this island a perfect place to charter a boat and hop from anchorage to anchorage without moving much.

Jolly Harbour

Canals in Jolly Harbour.

Deep Bay. Picture courtesy of Korrigan.

A rare picture of both of us, courtesy of Korrigan.

35 miles north you can find Barbuda. It only has about 1200 inhabitants making it look almost like a deserted island. The first thing to notice about Barbuda is the beach. It starts at the north-west side of the island and keeps going and going and going until the south-east part of the island. The second thing to notice is that water here is clear. Now imagine being in an almost deserted island with miles and miles of beach in front of you.... not bad at all.

Beautiful beach and almost deserted!

The kids spent hours playing here!