Leg 24 – Caribbean – Saint Martin, Sint Maarten and Anguilla

We spent the following weeks after our arrival from the BVI between Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, in other words the French side and the Dutch side of the island of Saint Martin, and Anguilla to prepare Lovisa for the long sail back to Europe and build a plan for the actual crossing.

So what are we waiting for exactly ? Why don’t we just set sail and go ? Well, we are not getting nostalgic about the idea of leaving the Caribbean trying to delay the departure as much as we can even though we enjoyed a lot our time here. Now it is Nature deciding and things become a bit technical. We gathered what we learned about how and when to plan the crossing in the separate page, see Planning for Atlantic passage from west to east.

When it comes to boat preparation to get Lovisa ready for the deep blue again, it also becomes a bit technical so we gathered the details in another separate page, see Preparation of Lovisa for Atlantic passage from west to east.

We spent the rest of the time enjoying the place, snorkling, hiking, socializing with the other sailors and, for someone onboard, knitting !

Saint Martin – Anse de Marigot and Grand Case

Following our arrival from the BVI, we remained in Anse de Marigot a couple of bumpy days with motor boats going full speed in front and behind us. Not really a surprise because we anchored close to the route to a popular lagoon that exists in the middle of the island. Instead of re-anchoring away from the traffic, we decided to sail to the next bay, Grand Case. While in Grand Case we took the opportunity to replenish our grocery supplies a little at a supermarket half an hour walk from the dinghy dock.

We went back to Anse de Marigot a couple of days later to buy some boat stuff including a new French flag. The old one gave up in the strong winds we had in Marigot Bay before we left to the BVI. We also needed a small fixture for the windvane that broke during last sailing from BVI and we filled one of our gas bottles.

Anguilla

We sailed the twelve nautical miles that separate Anse Marigot to Road Bay in Anguilla on March 28.

Road Bay is the unique port of entry for pleasure boats. It is therefore a mandatory stop for those wanting to visit the island. And because all the other anchorages are subject to an additional expensive cruising fee to stay overnight, Road Bay was also the only anchorage we visited.

In Road Bay we found a very peaceful environment in contrast with the busy Anse de Marigot. There were way fewer boats going in and out of the anchorage, fewer boats on anchor and also no jetski as they are still prohibited in Anguilla. Anguilla is regarded as one of the most peaceful islands amongst the Caribbean and so it felt from arrival.

As we wanted to see a little bit of the inside of the island, we took a one and half hour walk to Crocus Bay along the northern coast. As we walked up and down we discovered that Anguilla is actually not as flat as it appears when looking at it from Saint Martin. The island also seemed pretty dry and the ground mostly composed of limestone so we understood why agriculture has never been successful there. Anguilla is also a very narrow island. As we walked along the north side we could see the southern coast of the island with the hills of Saint Martin in the background, and further away the ones of Saint Barthélemy.

Unfortunately for us, already after our first night in Road Bay, the swell increased, turned north and started to enter the anchorage. The waves were reaching us sideways making the boat roll quite a lot. After two nights with poor sleep we decided to sail back to Anse de Marigot and try to get some rest.

Saint Martin – Anse de Marigot

March 31, back in Anse de Marigot. This time we had the joy of meeting our friends on S/Y Marey, S/Y Inga and S/Y Think Twice. We also met another Swedish couple that have been sailing in the Caribbean for a couple of seasons with S/Y Seabreeze, and we met the crew of S/Y Ambrosia, a Danish sailboat we sailed along with in the English Channel and later met in Camaret-Sur-Mer. That was really lovely to talk to them again, on the other side of the Atlantic, in the Caribbeans.

The rest of the time we continued to prepare the boat, sometimes interrupted by squalls.

Sint Maarten

We left Anse de Marigot on April 6 to head towards our boatyard in Philipsburg where we had booked the haul out of Lovisa for the day after. We sailed first to Simpson Bay to do our check-in in Sint Maarten. We definitely didn’t choose the best day to go sailing, as winds were steady between 10 and 13m/s from south east. This means that we had the wind right on the nose after we rounded the northern tip of Saint Martin going toward Simpson Bay and we had to tack our way down. It was a good exercise anyway and showed that we needed to better attach the jib in its cover on deck. It was on its way overboard but we rescued it.

From Simpson Bay to Philipsburg, we went on engine instead but we were not able to do more than 3 knots going right against the wind with the boat that was smashing into the waves. We are always treating the engine very carefully so we simply didn’t push it harder to try to go faster.

Since we were hauling out the day after, we got authorized to dock inside the Marina, with little wind and no waves at all. That was the best way to end a quite tiring day and what a luxury it was to sleep on a completely still boat. Almost unbelievable.

Cruising life is full of beautiful surprises! On the day we lifted Lovisa, we got the joy to discover that our friends sailing S/Y Mana were also on their way to Philipsburg. Four months passed since we said “see you next time” to each other on the pontoon of Mindelo. We were actually thinking that we would not meet them before our departure to Bermuda. But we did and we enjoyed several beers, talks and laughts with them !

The works on land on Lovisa took only two days to complete. With Lovisa back in the water, it was time for us to get ready for the next chapter of this adventure; time to build our stock of food, top up our second gas bottle, fill our empty jerry cans of diesel, do the laundry, and buy the remaining small stuff from the boat chandlery.

As we were buying fika in a supermarket near the dockyard, we came across this beautiful piece of art, a Mahi Mahi made with taps of bottles of beer.

April 11, we left Philipsburg to anchor in Simpson Bay for a couple of days. The anchorage is just a few minutes by dinghy from a large variety of shops where we could buy what we needed to make us ready or nearly ready for a departure at any time … the earlier the better because the best part of this adventure remains the sailing, travelling through the sea and reaching lands in which neither of us has ever been before.

Thinking back, when we reached Bequia after 16 days at sea from Mindelo, the last thing we wanted to do was to get back at sea. We actually asked each other how would it feel when the time would come to prepare for the return voyage. Would it feel like a real pain to go or would we just not be able to wait to get back at sea ? After four months cruising the Caribbeans, it felt a bit frustrating having to wait to set sail towards Bermuda. The crossing to Bermuda will not be easy. The following ones towards the Azores and Cork won’t be either and we will be exhausted, but difficulties are part of this adventure and they will become part of the memories that this voyage will leave behind, the real treasure that we will carry with us going forward.

We came back in Anse de Marigot on April 13 and now it is all about waiting for a weather window to set sail towards Bermuda … or directly to the Azores because remember, all we can have are plans written in the sand at low tide. In the meantime we will enjoy the company of the other sailors in the bay.