During the crossing, we saw a tall ship sail past the Adamo. What a sight.
We arrived in St. Martin at 2:00 am and poked around a couple of anchorages until we found one that we felt comfortable approaching in the dark. We hit the hay at 4:00am. Another long day of sailing.
The next day we went to check into the country. The island is split between the French and the Netherlands. We chose the French side because Susan and I speak French and because the cost of clearing customs is about 1/3 of the cost vs. the Dutch side. The customs official was very nice and told us about several places we should visit. One beach he recommended to Doug was Orient Beach. He also suggested he leave the parents behind on that trip. Well, now we were all interested. We rented a car and toured the island. Orient Beach was definitely on the list. When we got there, it was clear to us why the customs official had recommended that Doug ditch the parents. It’s a clothing optional beach.
As it turns out, the entire French side of the island seams to be clothing optional. Our crowded anchorage in Marigot, is sprinkled with French and Swiss boats whose crew runs around on deck naked as a jay bird! As Sue puts it, she has seen more willies here than she has seen in her entire life. So what is the verdict? Most all of the people we have seen should keep there clothes on. In fact the kids were grossed out by the “old naked people”. And that is all I have to say about that.
The food in St. Martin is excellent. We have been eating like the French: escargot, croissants, baguettes and cheeses; red wines and even a Cuban cigar.
On the second day the boys and I went exploring in a fort built by the French in the 18th century. The fort was built to defend Marigot from British privateers.
On a placard in the fort you can read that the French are still proud of the fact that they defended the city from the British, capturing them (with the help of the Dutch) with out suffering casualties. “Only one man was hurt, but he recovered in 6 days, and the British did not even manage to steal a single coffee bean!” Talk about holding a grudge.
We ran into Peter and Wendy on Keesja II. They had checked-in on the Dutch side, about a 10 minute dinghy ride away. It was great to see them again since our last encounter back in Nassau in November.
St. Martin has several marine stores which are well equipped. We took the opportunity to stock up on items which have been hard to find on other islands. We also decided to retrofit the Adamo with storm boards to cover the large salon windows should we find ourselves in rough seas again. The windows are the weak-link in the construction of the boat. If the boat is tossed on its side, it would be possible to blow out a window which would become a major problem at sea. For now the boards reside under the bunk mattresses. But it is a good feeling to know that we have them should we ever need them.
From here our plan is to head to St. Barts. The island has an interesting history and is unique in terms of the demographics of its population. We’ll post our adventures from there soon.
