Ahoy there!

Bonjour! Well now we feel like we are in heaven! A Caribbean Island that is French (and Dutch) St. Martin or St. Maarten depending on which side you’re on.

Our last e-mail saw us having just arrived in the British Virgin Islands. We rested at Jost van Dyke for a couple of days before moving on to Sopers Hole, Tortola .

 The B.V.I’s are spectacular but very difficult to photograph as the islands are high but close together. It’s a very popular charter destination with easy day sails and nearly all the anchorages have at least one bar or restaurant. Even in June, which is off season, there were dozens of charter boats about. The down side to this is that it is quite an expensive destination for cruisers. Most of the anchorages are buoyed (at $25 dollars a night) and as the most of the food is imported from the U.S groceries are quite expensive. We actually found it more cost effective to eat out. The good side was rum at $6 a litre and the cheap beer!   Pussers Landing, the home of Navy rum, was a favourite haunt!

By Wednesday the forecasters were promising a strong tropical wave (the precursor to a tropical storm) and that if we didn’t leave by Saturday we wouldn’t be able to go until the following Thursday, so we made some departure plans. Thursday we anchored at Cooper Island and decided that while we were swimming we would have a scrub of the hull as there was quite a lot of growth. Everything was going well until Sharon swum back to the ladder for a break, and there loitering behind the rungs was a three feet long barracuda! You’ve never seen her move so quickly! And it was still there in the morning when we thought about another swim before moving off. Needless to say we cowardly decided against it! A young couple had a great service, coming alongside us on a small boat loaded with bread, pastries, vegetables and ice cream. The name of their boat was ‘Deliverance’!

The sunsets are quite early here but it’s nice to sit on deck in the evening as the trade winds give a coolish breeze. One evening we heard heavy breathing and a leatherback turtle swam past, he then gave three or four really big, noisy breaths and dived. We’ve seen several of these beautiful creatures but so far they have proved elusive to photograph.

 

We have found the availability of free wifi good so we have signed up with Skype.com as we think it will be a cheap alternative for phone calls. Carole was our first guinea pig and we managed about half an hour of conversation. The main problem was being a bit too far from the wifi transmitter so whenever the boat turned, or another boat went past, we lost signal.   But half an hour cost us 38 pence! So if we do phone you and it sounds funny be patient! Apart from signal fluctuation the main difference is it’s more like a radio call than a telephone so we can’t talk over each other – if you keep saying ‘hello hello’ we won’t be able to interrupt to talk and tell you who it is.

Skype is free to sign up for, and if you have Skype open when we do there is instant text messaging. We used this with Carole and it worked well. If anyone signs up our I.D is Goatboat1 and you can leave us a message. We will try it again when we have a strong signal.

 

Friday was a busy day. We wanted to visit The Baths, a famous B.V.I sight. Huge boulders have tumbled onto the waters edge forming natural jacuzzis. We managed to pick up a buoy and spent an hour snorkelling. Andrew didn’t tell Sharon that he was accompanied for part of the swim by a curious barracuda until she was back on board! After spending a couple of hours here we headed off to St. Thomas Bay , Virgin Gorda for fuel, provisions and customs clearance.   This accomplished we had a barbecue and an early night, ready to leave for St.Martin early on Saturday morning.

 

The journey to St.Martin takes about 24 hours so we left with the plan to arrive at sunrise on Sunday. The first couple of hours we had a brilliant sail, influenced by the winds off the islands, but as we got into the open ocean the easterly trade winds kicked in so we had to motor for a few hours to set ourselves up for a southerly sail. Not an overly comfortable journey with 15 knots on the nose and six foot swells but okay. Everything was going well until Sharon came on watch at about 3.30 a.m. Sunday morning. The lights of Anguilla and St.Martin were in sight and we could see some vessels. What was puzzling was a clear indication on the radar of something ahead, but we just couldn’t see anything. It was transmitting such a strong radar signal it was distorting our screen. We changed course slightly and it was still on the bow! We went the other way and it was still there! Suddenly a ship lit up like a Christmas tree, showing light signals for a ‘vessel with restricted ability to manoeuvre’. This meant that it was our responsibility to get out of its way, a lot easier now we could see it. But the mystery continued. It was moving very slowly and had a helicopter on deck, but no markings or flags to indicate if it was military. Then a big door opened in the stern and we could see glowing red lights, then four ‘stealth boats’ came out, funny shapes and low to the water and no lights! By this time we were well past and on our way to Marigot .

Yet again Paragon scented land and kicked up her heels and we found ourselves with a pre-dawn arrival. Again we had to slow down as although Marigot has a large anchorage there were two unlit steel buoys which we were reluctant to meet. But eventually we were in and anchored by six a.m. Following a sleep we managed to get to immigration by their 11.30 lunchtime close. Quick & painless and free! Then time to explore.

St.Martin/St.Maarten is half French & half Dutch and we had anchored in the French half. The legend goes that when the island came to be divided a Frenchman (armed with a bottle of wine) and a Dutchman (armed with a bottle of gin) were to walk round the island and where they met would be the border. The French got the slightly larger side as the wine was not as potent as the gin! It is obviously French with patisseries and charcuteries and pavement cafés. We have yet to visit the Dutch side. We treated ourselves to meal out, which was excellent, and our first decent bread in a year! The island is rife with T.V screens showing the football world cup (we had no idea it was on!) and cars sporting French and Trinidad (?) flags. Apparently England play Trinidad on Thursday so we may have to sit in a bar and watch!

The shops reopened on Monday and so we hit the Match supermarket and stocked up on cheese, pates and salads as we knew we would be stuck on the boat on Tuesday as the tropical wave was due. Not only did we find Leffe beer (a Belgian favourite of ours) but Sharon was in raptures at finding KR2, her favourite French weapon against stains –let the washing begin! Both sides of the island are duty free so alcohol is cheap as well. Monday’s supper was a long awaited indulgence of baguette, salad, cheeses and pates. Even better we were able to buy Saturday’s Daily Telegraph and catch up with England , and the crossword!

 

Today, Tuesday, we are on the boat as the tropical wave hits us. Andrew managed a brief trip into town for baguette and patisseries before the worst weather hit. Squalls of thirty knots plus, and torrential rain are due. The good side is that it has kept the temperature down by about ten degrees to about 75F and the rain is washing all the salt off the boat. It is a huge anchorage with well spaced boats so hopefully no danger from dragging vessels. Talking of weather the first named tropical storm, Alberto, is about to hit Florida and move up the Carolina coast. There is speculation that it may make a low grade hurricane but the forecasters are not sure, at least it’s not near us!

 

We will stay here a few days more, indulging in the food! And because they have very good chandleries and there are a few bits and pieces we need. We’re not sure our next stop, may be St. Barts or may be Kitts & Nevis, it depends to a degree on the weather. But we feel more comfortable now we are in the Leewards and having come so far the rest of the voyage down to Trinidad & Tobago doesn’t seem as daunting.

Warm regards

Sharon & Andrew

P.S. 1.30 p.m. just hit 43 knots (Severe Gale force 9) and anchor still holding! Just as well because there’s so much rain we can’t see the other boats!