Gorgeous French graffiti in St Martin
Under jib alone, we had a much calmer ride up to St Martin. With southeast winds and seas, we opted to anchor on the French side of the island in Marigot Bay. Hit hard by hurricane Irma, word is that the French side has been much slower to recover because the French government gave less support and people are still waiting for insurance payouts before they build again. Nonetheless we were greeted with gracious smiles and a welcome attitude, happy that people are willing to visit the island again (wildly different from the grouchiness in the BVI).
Obligatory pose
We cleared in, wandered the market a bit and bought some souvenirs (I’m addicted to pareos, the squares of cloth that tied together make an informal sundress – I could live in these year round), then headed down to the docks. Island Water World, one of the more well stocked chandleries was hit hard but still open for business. We bought more chafe gear (we sawed through some back in the Saintes and need more for the bridle anyway while at anchor with strong winds). On our way back we found a little restaurant tucked up inside the lagoon serving escargot and beef bourgignon – Trip was ecstatic.
L’Escargot Restaurant in Philipsburg
We also managed to find a local welder to repair the handle that controls our manual anchor windlass. Easier said than done, I try to keep it straight when hauling up the anchor, but 140 feet of chain in sloppy conditions plus chain that has twisted can make things difficult. I had noticed a crack in the handle back when we were in St Barths, and it was a relief to know we could get it fixed with just a 24 hour turn- around here in St Martin.
The next day we jumped a local bus to head over to Philipsburg – the mainstay of the Dutch side of the island. Holy schnikes, did I mention cruise ships? I think at least three were in port and wow, was the main thoroughfare set up to welcome them. Beach chairs, water toys, rum drinks and tshirts were everywhere you looked. I was not above doing a little bit of shopping and came away with a new hat (we keep losing them overboard so I don’t have to justify buying new ones) and a couple of tshirts.
Sunk boats being refloated in the lagoon
We stopped at the America’s Cup shop and learned the heart-breaking story that all three America’s Cups boats (from the 1987 race) that were kept in St Martin had been left on moorings fully loaded, rigs up when the hurricane hit. All three sank, and have been refloated but not moved ashore yet. Though they were bringing in one of the original designers to help develop a salvage plan, all they had at the time were tshirts and other swag to support the store. Unfortunately priced beyond what we could afford but we wished them well in their recovery plans.
And then Trip discovered Nirvana. The local cruising guide had mentioned a couple of restaurants off the beaten path. The first turned out to be Indian, and Trip can’t do Indian (disagrees with his stomach). But the second – appropriately named L’Escargot, served 8 different variations of the little creatures. Sitting at a little table on an upper level balcony, we enjoyed the view while Trip slurped down his snails and I had a lovely garlic soup. But the best was yet to come.
Heinz & Trip
I had noticed a HUGE Carrefour grocery store on the bus ride into town and I told Trip I wanted to stop to check it out on the way back. Trip rolled his eyes and asked how many bags I had brought (in the islands you bring your own bags to stores – no political bullshit fighting about it). He grabbed a basket and followed me in. Talk about being in French grocery heaven. Fresh fish counters, aisles of cheese, housemade rillettes and pates, I could go on. It was a little bit bittersweet, knowing that this would be the last French island we’d visit so I picked up a few things and made mental notes about what to return to buy. The best – boxed Bordeaux wine – in an actual red box. We were not going to starve in St. Martin.
The next day we decided to venture into the lagoon. It’s a huge space of water with dozens of boats anchored everywhere and most of the marinas are there, as well as good marine stores and of course bars. Everyone talked about how much better the Dutch side was doing, but all I saw were sunken boats everywhere that had just been refloated and left to rot. I was plenty happy to be out in Marigot Bay, despite the length of dinghy ride in.
Nicole & Barbara
At night, we stopped back at the French restaurant (home of the beef bourginon) for a couple of drinks & to check mail and messages via their wifi. Trip happened to notice that the couple sitting next to us were sailors and he was wearing an Amel shirt. (friends Eva & Jean Luc introduced us to the Amel Super Maramou, a beautiful 53 foot ketch). It turns out that Heinz and Barbara, of Berlin, were anchored on Quetzal, another 53 Amel ketch. Within minutes they had pulled their chairs over to our table, more drinks were ordered and the boat talk began.
Quetzal’s beautiful logo on the mainsail
By the end of the evening we had been invited to their boat for sundowners the next evening and to come early so we could visit a friend of theirs who also had an Amel but had a condo on shore & he was celebrating his birthday with a bit of champagne. Like I was going to say no. Their friend Alexandre had sadly lost his Amel in the hurricane. He had stripped her of parts and was refurbishing and selling them to anyone interested, but you could tell how heartbroken he was to have lost the boat (because he could see her where she sank and once she was raised, he cried every day). But when Barbara had mentioned champagne, what I didn’t know was that Alex was a master with the champagne sabre – used for opening champagne bottles. He not only taught Barbara how to do it, but he gifted her with one of his sabres – a really touching gesture.
We headed back to Quetzal for drinks and appetizers where we were joined by yet another couple that owned an Amel. The jokes started flying that we were being adopted by Amel owners and Trip grimaced as I joked about buying an Amel in my next life. (Note: A used Amel Super Maramou goes for $250-300 K. Our boat was less than a third of that.) As everyone we met on these boats were circumnavigating on their own, I understood the appreciation for the boat if you could afford it. But I still love our little Tayana – you have nothing to worry about, Trip.
Barbara showing off new champagne sabre skills
The next day we finally got a day in of varnish work – something I never thought we’d be able to do while visiting the leeward islands which are younger, steeper, and generally get rainfall every single day. As part of the older windward islands, St Martin had several days of sun with no precipitation whatsoever. Heinz and Barbara stopped by at the end of the day for cocktails on board and then we went back to our now familiar French hangout for dinner. You know you’ve become a regular when you walk in and the host automatically asks if I want a burgundy.
We took a day to head up to Grand Case, the next town up the French coast. Once upon a time it had been the host of the best beach bars and high end classic and modern French restaurants on the island. Unfortunately the hurricane ripped directly through this part of the island – it was some of the most severe damage we had seen to date. The good news was two fold – electric teams were in doing repair work which included burying electric lines to avoid damage in future storms, and restaurants were reopening. We opted for one of the more casual beach joints, and the ribs were juicy, the salad crisp, and the beer cold. It’ll take a while, but they will recover.
‘Fish & chips’ all in one dish
We spent our final day in St Martin with Martin – a Raymarine specialist. Our autopilot (original) had crapped out and died on the off shore run, and St Martin was one of the logical places to replace it. Martin had already come out once and diagnosed a bad linear drive (the muscle that actually controls the helm and drives the boat when you’re not touching the wheel – think cruise control on a car). A new one came in at a mere $2,000 (boat equipment is definitely not cheap) and Martin came out to install it. Great. All set. Not. Turns out the computer isn’t working properly either (sends the message to the linear drive). Martin was waiting for an update from Raymarine specialists in the UK as to whether or not we could fix it or needed a new one. Trip gave him our contact details and explained we were moving on to Anguilla while the weather was nice but we might be back depending on what Martin found out.
Water funnel as viewed from Kalyra
Monday we realized that based on weather coming we needed to leave Tuesday. It would be a 24-hour run to St Thomas and we didn’t need to be there till Friday (Madeline and friends arriving Saturday). However, 9 foot swells from the north were moving in along with weird winds on Wednesday into Thursday. Those swells would make Anguilla untenable, and I didn’t really care to be out sailing in those swells with strange winds either. We cleared out, spent the afternoon at Elvis’ bar up the beach, and headed out the next day.
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