St Martin

St. Martin was not an island we intended to visit, we came here to buy an anchor and then to leave, we imagined it would take at the least one week at the most two weeks to get our anchor and anything else we needed done and then we would be quickly on our way, but here we are a month and a week on and still here. 

What has kept us here then, you may ask. We did get our anchor within a week of us arriving. But then we had the steering looked at and fixed, and we also had our solar panels and batteries looked at. But boat stuff aside it has been the cruising families that has kept us here. The amazing and wonderful families that have opened our eyes to the possibilies ahead of us. Below are some pictures of what we have been up to with these wonderful people.

The causeway bridge was our neighbour in the lagoon. It opened 3 times a day, generally, to allow sail boat into the other side of the lagoon. 

There are many ways to travel around the lagoon, but this was my favourite, a jet propelled surfboard. 

Our steering had been making some strange clunking noises and we decided to have it looked at here. We are very lucky that we did because it turned out that we had a cracked drive shaft. Here is a picture of John trying to get the drive shaft off the top of the rudder, we did not know yet that the shaft was cracked.

Drive shaft out and being fixed, but the wheel is still really loose, so off comes the wheel, but now how do we get the casing off? It took John and Gordon from FKG Rigging lots of time and tools to get it off, but eventually it did come off and look what was inside...

What our steering looks like, so simple.

We had to clear out the hole under the stairs to get at the steering shaft and other bits, so the girls took the opportunity to turn it into a playroom for a day.

Adam has discovered that he can just help himself to food, particularly baguettes. 

We bought a skin board for the whole family to use, so far we have spent most of our time falling on our bums. But it is lots of fun. Here is Ruth, getting ready to launch.

Like father like son. 

Simpson's BAy Lagoon is an odd place. There are million dollar vessels nestled away in the marinas, cruisers of all shapes and sizes and live aboards who have been in St. Martin's for years. We wanted to give you a glimpse of what the lagoon looks like so the three pictures below should help to paint a picture.

In this picture you can see a white hulled boat that looks like it had it's middle cut out. It is actually a old Atlantic crossing row boat that arrived in St. Martin in the late 90s. It was rowed by 4 people across the Atlantic and here it has stayed since then. We were told that someone is using it as a workshop now. The boat on the left had side of the picture was abandoned but is now someones workshop. 

Then the cruisers with there neat and tidy catamarans.

And waht lagoon would be complete without a house boat or two. This is my favourite as it looks like a log house and has vines growing up the whole front of the house. 

While the island was hit by a hurricane last fall, I am not sure whether this boat is a product of the hurricane or it has been sitting for many years rotting away. 

Getting across the lagoon.

For our 8 year wedding anniversary, John and I hired a car for the day. We went and did a short hike at Lotterie Farm, which is an old sugar cane plantation estate that has been turned into a "nature reserve" zipline, pool and cabana and resturant sort of place. Very classy outfit, but aside from the zipline and hike certainly marketed towards the young crews off of the super yachts. 

A tree on our hike.

A well and basins used for the sugar cane production.

View from the top on our hike. 

We made it:) 

we saw this wicked iguana just as we were leaving the farm. It was amazing. Lots of spikes and bands, a very ferocious looking reptile.

After Lotterie farm we went to Orient Bay for a swim, then headed back to Grand Case for BBQ. Adam was in seventh heaven.

We went to Maho beach with Sasquatch and Gavroch, two cruising families we had meant. Actually we had met Sasquatch before, but had yet to meet Gavroch. This was out first of many outings as families. 

Maho beach is famous for  being able to be so close to the planes you are blasted with sand off the beach when they take off. I wonder if the guy in the pink speedo knows that he is about to be blasted with heat and sand?

We also had our fridge fixed again. Actually Roy from Singa came over one day and just helped John fix it. Apparently it had just lost some of it's gas, now it is running fine, but we have to run the engine when it is running as it is using way too much power for our battery bank. 

John and Ruth out for a morning sail to see Sasquatch.

And we're off to the pub for happy hour,

Ruth and Luka playing a game. Luka is the cpatain who cannot walk and Ruth is the crew who has to push him around. What great imaginations they have. 

More boat kids a the games afternoon in Nettle Bay, thank you Judith from Osler for organizing this and Explorer Island. It was such a highlight to ur week!

``girls playing in our dinghy. Look at all these kids! 

Adult's are making friends too.

Ruth's 6th Birthday Party on the beach in Phillipsburgh with cruising kids. Lots of fun!

Another games day, another shot of Luka and Ruth, these two are a team.

More adults making friends at games afternoon.

We had the families from Gavroche and  Sasquatch over for dinner. It was great to share our boat and food with everyone. 

The Easter bunny made it to Dark Horse. Adam and his first ever chocolate.

We had an Easter Egg hunt on Explorer Island. Look at all the loot.

And the teams are set, Ruth and Luka are off first as they are the youngest.

Next comes Lucy and her gaggle of friends.

And it's time to head out of the lagoon and see what the north side of St. Martin has to offer. We are cruising in company with Sasquatch to Tintamarre. Well, actually we were meant to be cruising in company but in reality what happened was the they left at the 10:30 bridge and we stayed because we couldn't get our dinghy apart. We caught the 4pm bridge and motored upwind the whole way. It was worth it though. 

The Cain's are such a great family and it was so fun to have another boat to share the adventure with. 

After Tintamarre we headed to Anse Marcel with Sasqutch. We were very lucky to have them take some pictures of us undersail. I will put  these pictures up later.

Girls are happy in the cockpit reading while underway.

And that brings us back to Marigot. We will be here until Monday and then we are off to Saba, the island that touches the clouds. It will be very hard to say goodbye to the friends we have made here but I am hopeful that we will be cruising together again soon as we head down the island chain to Grenada.