Statia to St Martin

[Maryanne]Since our last leg to Sint Maarten from Statia was a longer one (40 miles) compared to what we’d been used to, we needed to get up early to ensure we could check in at customs before they closed at 3:00pm. I set an alarm on my cell phone for 4am which went off promptly at 8:40!!! Fortunately, by then I’d already been up since I noticed daylight – we got ready in short order and departed the mooring under sail (always feels good – 2nd in satisfaction only to anchoring under sail). We ghosted in the lee of the island towards the oil terminal. Along the way we noticed (and heard) Ivan and Gulliver having their breakfast at Kings Well – we honked a farewell to Kings Well on the hailer. Within a minute or so Linda called us on the radio and said goodbye, and it was nice to meet. Linda and Will promised to visit us in Sant Maartin and to bring Maryanne some of her secret salad dressing (Maryanne had pestered unsuccessfully for the recipe, so a good supply would be the next best thing!).

We weaved our way through the tankers and outside of the restricted zones. Out of the lee of the island, we ran smack into heavy chop and head winds – Auggh! How I hate head winds. We had to quickly reef the sails (well - Maryanne did anyway), but were able to maintain pretty good speed anyway. Once we were further away from the island the wind veered and we had a nice fast beam reach to Sint Maarten in bright sunshine. On route we passed both the island of Saba and St Bart's, but unfortunately we'd already decided we would not stop (Save them for another time). We actually had enough speed that by the time we approached the island it looked like we would make it to customs about 10 minutes before they closed.

We started the engine, & put down the sails as we entered Sint Maarten, and motored up to the customs dock just outside the Simpson Bay drawbridge – it’s a very shallow dock (basically a dinghy dock) and not good for anyone drawing more than a couple of feet – we had to raise one of our rudders to be on the safe side (but hey, we were in a hurry). I rushed into the customs office, breathless, while Maryanne finished tying up Footprint, and began filling out the paperwork. Maryanne soon joined me and turned in the first few forms I’d completed while I continued. She discovered they were not closing at 3, so the pressure was off (but we still didn’t find out what time they would close).

Once done with customs clearance we had about an hour and a half before the drawbridge opening time for inbound boats. We were a little cheeky and lingered as long as we could at the customs dock, thus avoiding having to lower and raise the anchor for such a short period. I’m not entirely sure it was a good idea after all, as most of the power boats (and jet skis) left a good wake and bounced and jerked us around. The bridge opened for outbound boats at 4:30pm and we noticed that watching the exiting boats seemed to be a bit of a tourist attraction. About 15 minutes to go, we untied an left the dock for the inbound procession (and there were plenty of us) – again anther tourist attraction for the local bars and yacht clubs.

Bridge opening from Dutch side of Island into Simpson Bay
Once we entered the bay, our goal was to anchor as close as possible to the airport. We swung north and then west to get as close as possible to the airport terminal; this part of the bay was practically deserted (only one other boat anchored nearby). This was not surprising as it was a LONG way from anything useful (laundromat, stores, etc), and was also probably the least attractive part of the bay. It was getting dark so we anchored anyway. – We were safe at least for the evening. It took us 3 tries to get the anchor to hold fast (poor Maryanne was at the bow doing most of the work with our manual windlass). By the time we were done, it was too late to care about much other than eating dinner and going to bed. The one plus we found was it was really exposed, and with all the wind, the batteries were fully charged by morning. Later, Maryanne found a free internet connection with an antenna hoisted up the mast!

The following morning (Monday), all we really intended to do for the day was to make sure my flight to work was OK (space available); if not I’d have had to rapidly make alternative commute plans, and also to move the boat to prettier part of the bay with more facilities for Maryanne. We were both pretty tired from our week and found ourselves taking our time over things (I read a book, we worked on the blog). Eventually we moved the boat just outside the no anchoring zone off the departure end of the runway, much closer to the facilities, although the walk to the airport will be longer! While checking for the nearby dinghy dock and possible airport shuttle (before anchoring), we asked directions of a passing dingy – and found it was Fergus, a fellow Gemini owner (same boat as ours) – small world!

[Maryanne]It’s hard to say what our first impressions of St. Martin are since we just arrived. Our guidebooks have pages and pages of information, however it’s mostly listings for bars, night clubs etc. There are lots of casinos and “gentleman’s clubs”. All beaches are topless, and quite a few are nudist. Without really seeing the place, I’m thinking Spring Break in Cancun – not really my cup of tea. Once Kyle heads to work, I’ll explore more and hope to find the gentler side of the island. The only time we’ve set ashore was to clear into customs, where the notice board informed us that it is DANGEROUS to sight-see and hitchhike anywhere on the island (Hitchhiking I can understand, but the lady collecting our port fees, assured us that sightseeing too was dangerous). Indeed, it suggested whenever you visit a new town to check in with the local police as a courtesy visit and to be alerted to any particular areas to avoid. The guidebooks stress that rental cars are routinely stolen from (or thieves even deliberately bump into so they can hijack you! – the books advise NOT to stop at the scene of such an accident)… Yeah, not sure really how worried to be, but not too happy so far.