Flashing back to St Martin…Then onto St Kitts…

Click on the pictures for a full screen view.

Found more pictures…Sunrise over Sint Maarten as we arrived on the Dutch side:

Since there was no wind, we decided to troll offshore and see what we could catch…nothing. Opposite of windy:

Every now and then, we run across people that are exceedingly helpful toward cruisers, even in their endeavor to make a living. In St Martin, we quickly found Michael and Sally of Shrimpy’s Laundry to be those people. Michael is from Austria and Sally is from South Africa and they are the nicest people you could meet. In addition to their laundry, they also sell all manner of second-hand boat “stuff” from watermaker parts to outboard motors and electronics. Michael also runs the morning cruisers “net” on VHF channel 10. They are very generous people inviting you into their home to “sit and use the free internet if you like.” They also have the most convenient access to the French grocery store right around the corner. Tie up your dinghy, walk through their laundry out to the street and into town, all for the cost of a “good morning, thank you.” We did contribute, using their laundry service, and I bought a beer and sat and talked with them for a while one day. They are very interesting people having cruised through the islands for years, resided in South Africa for years, and moved to French St Martin about 13 years ago. Thank you Michael and Sally! …and I guess I never took a picture of them which is a shame because they are always smiling… http://www.shrimpys-saintmartin.com/

And of course…this is Lagoonies, on the Dutch side, which is the cruiser’s hang out. Happy hour every night. The band was very good and the little girl with her paper airplane was quite entertaining!

Pouring rain:

That blurry lady behind the bar and the guy to the right were two of the best bartenders we have run across. Even at the height of happy hour they were very attentive, always had a smile and, after several hours, our bill never ran higher than $22 including food. I had to ask more than once if they included everything! We always left a big tip!

We had so much fun in St Martin meeting up with friends, meeting new people, and exploring but because of the French food and happy hour at Lagoonies we had to leave! We were anchored on the French side so we had to go back through the causeway bridge and over to the Dutch side to get out of the lagoon. Causeway swing bridge:

Once on the Dutch side, we had to wait a few minutes for the outer bridge to open. We were number four behind this mega yacht and two sailboats:

The lead sailboat would not pull up to the bridge and did not have their radio on so a small shouting match erupted:

Finally, they pulled up to the bridge and we all made it through:

Dutch Coast Guard on the way in to the lagoon:

After going through the 4:00pm bridge, we anchored just outside in rolly Simpson Bay to eat dinner and get some rest before our 10:00pm departure. We really wanted to go to Antigua (antee-gah) but the winds would not allow it so we decided on St Kitts. We pulled up anchor and departed just after 10 and at one point in the evening we could see lights from Sint Maarten, Saba, St Barts and Sint Estatius (Statia)! Initially, we were able to sail in 13kts of wind gusting to 21. A few hours later, like a light switch, the winds died and we ended up motoring the rest of the way. North end of St Kitts at about 4:30am, very green and lush:

Clouds rolling over the mountains:

We anchored in Basseterre, which was dangerously rolly, to check in with customs and immigration. I couldn’t even take any pictures from the boat or dinghy it was so rolly, oh and rainy. With the anchor set well we checked in, walked around town, dodged the rain, ate lunch at a nice second story restaurant overlooking the square and decided to find a calm anchorage for the night.

We are anchored here, in Ballast Bay about 5 miles south of Basseterre, just outside a new mega yacht marina. Berths at the marina start at $6.75 per foot per night or you can buy a slip starting at just under $2,000,000…AAaaahahahahaha that’s funny http://www.christopheharbour.com/

Quite dry at this end of the island:

View looking north toward Basseterre, cruise ship at the pier:

We are waiting on some windy weather to blow through. We will sift through various weather reports and decide when and where our next leg will take us! Right now we are going to do some laundry, clean up the boat, and put on our new shorty wet suits and snorkel the reefs around us! It’s a beautiful sunny day!