Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

We made an early trip into the French side this morning to check out of customs. That way, tomorrow morning when we leave, we’ll just pull chocks and go.

On our way back, we perused the straw market one more time. Nicky picked up lots of exotic spices that I’d never even heard of before. When I asked Nicky what she was going to use them for, she told me about a few recipes she has that called for them. I think the lady selling the spices was impressed with Nicky’s knowledge since she readily agreed and added a few other ideas. I bought a mixed blend that can be used on steaks. Guess I’m not so exotic.

We stopped by the bakery for a couple of croissants then returned to our respective boats until early afternoon, when we promised to meet again to go to the airport to visit with Lynn & Peter, our previous landlords and marina mates in Orange Park.

Gerry & Nicky rented a car for the afternoon. We got to the airport early and grabbed a couple of seats in the restaurant overlooking the arrival area. Dale & I have always enjoyed people watching and apparently, so do Gerry & Nicky. From our perch, we could see that once people cleared their baggage from customs, they were directed through a hallway created with glass panels. Depending upon which line they were in, they would walk down the hallway and turn left or down another hallway and turn right. Both lines met back at a central door that emptied into the arrival lobby where they could be greeted. By the time Lynn & Peter actually arrived, we had nick named a few groups of people we witnessed.

There were the turtles, the group of people that would make their way to the central door, then stop and peer around it. It was as if they were afraid of what lay around the next corner. Gerry made the observation that it wasn’t like they could actually turn around and go back the way they had come.

Then we had the sprinters. This was the group of people that once their baggage was cleared, they practically ran down the hallway, through the door, then hit their stride out the chute of welcoming arms. If someone were waiting for these people, they would have to tackle them to say hello.

Then there were the same ones you curse on the freeway. They enter the on-ramp, drive to the end and stop. Everyone behind them have to slam on the brakes to keep from hitting them. Well, apparently they travel and do the same thing. They’d enter the hallway, guide their rolling luggage or trolleys to the central door, turn and enter the chute of welcoming arms, get to the end and stop. Everyone behind them has to slam on the brakes and wait for these people to decide whether to defecate or abdicate.

We also had a couple of single entries that were humorus. One in which a young mother came out the central door and gave her infant baby to a couple of waiting grandmothers, then went back in. The grandmothers were so delighted, they hardly registered when the parents finally were able to make it through.

The best I think were the 4 ladies dressed in hot pink T-shirts that read: ‘My friend Michele is 50 today’. Michele came out wearing a hot pink T-shirt that read: ‘I’m Michele and I’m 50 today’ plus she was wearing a good sized tiara. The mere fact that she was doing all of this was great but the fact that she was doing it with flair was priceless.

By the time Lynn & Peter arrived, we only had 15 minutes to spend with them before they were whisked away for their cruise on a 3 masted sailing ship back to the BVI’s. We caught up as best we could then wished them well. Tomorrow we all sail. Lynn & Peter to the west. The rest of us to the east. Fair winds to all!!

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

About 5 am this morning, I woke up to hear the wind starting to pipe up. I got up and went topside to make sure the bay was staying in place and that no one had moved during the night. With the occasional gust really whipping, I turned on the instruments to get an idea of what was going on. I saw a range of between 6 - 33 kts and coming from a range of 45 degrees on the compass. I really feel sorry for the people racing. There are going to be more blown sails and broken masts in conditions like this.

We made a trip into town for some fresh fruit/veggie shopping then agreed to meet up with Gerry & Nicky at Shrimpy’s to make our internet connections. That’s when things really livened up. We had a fight at Shrimpy’s OK corral over dinghy parking.

As luck would have it, we had set up our computers looking out towards the dinghy dock. I glanced up and saw a man untie Gerry & Nicky’s dink and cast it adrift. Naturally, I told them and Gerry ran out a caught it before it drifted away. He came back in saying that the man was angry about dinghies tied too close to his fishing boat and smacking it with their engines. We continued to watch as the man went a got a pair of bolt cutters and cut the cables holding two other dinks. He then towed the two dinks out of the little marina, across the anchorage and out of sight. With the space now available, the next dink that came in tied up in the exact same place.

When the man came back, he went for his bolt cutters again and Dale went for the people who had left their dink and were at another table in Shrimpy’s. The dink owner, ran outside as the man untied the rope and threw the line in the dink. The dink owner started waving his arms and yelling that he was coming to move the dink but the man looked straight at him and then cut his cable with an unmistakable flair. That was it! A little shoving back and forth and a much heated discussion and the dink owner retrieved his dink and the man retreated into Shrimpy’s for another beer. Dale wandered down to the Harbor Patrol and suggested that they take a look into the situation.

Now, as the two men were in the same café, the heated exchange continued. About this time Don & Diane on Cloud Nine appeared with several people carrying suitcases. They walked out to the pier and looked around. Don bent down and picked up what remained of his cable, Diane assumed that universal “I’m not happy” hands on the hips stance and their guests looked dumbfounded. Another man who had watched the whole thing, turned and pointed towards Shrimpy’s so the whole circus started in our direction again.

Don confronted the man (cutter) and the original dink owner (cuttee) joined in the discussion. The cutter called the marina manager. Finally the cutter threw a punch at the cuttee and missed, then the cuttee threw a punch that connected and drew blood. Somebody called the police. A few minutes later, the police arrived and called the EMS technicians; there was blood after all (and I heard some missing teeth.) The Harbor Patrol Sheriff finally sauntered down.
I felt kind of sorry for the cops. They were trying to listen to everyone’s story and everyone is pointing and talking at the same time. Finally, as things started to quiet down. I saw them. Two more people looking dog tired, walked out to the end of the pier, looking first one way, then the other, then for some crazy reason they looked on the other side of the dock, like the dink sprouted wings or something (Cloud Nine had done the same thing) and the guy who had told Cloud Nine where they could find their dink approached the new people. Sure enough, he turned and pointed to the cops. It just got better and better.

In the end, the cops sorted the whole thing out and the dinks were returned to the rightful owners. No charges were filed against any of the thrown punches or stolen property and the marina agreed to pick up the medical bill for the missing teeth of the man to whom they had given permission to cut the cables.

If you really think about it, justice was served in the end.

Photo: A typical day at the dinghy dock in front of Shrimpy's. From the camera of Orpailleur.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Today was field day on the Palace. I’m one of those kind of people that likes to live comfortably. I keep my kitchen and bathrooms clean and chase after the dust bunnies when I see one but more often than not, the clutter starts to build. After being in St. Thomas and St. Martin, my souvenir shopping was just tucked into places where they wouldn’t fall if we listed; now they’ve been relegated to their assigned spots until the end of the cruise. Dale tidied up his area, I cleaned up the stateroom and we both attacked the salon.

The Palace was clean and dancing in winds that ranged from 5 to 25 inside of the lagoon today. We’d heard that one of the boats lost it’s mast yesterday in the Heineken Regatta and wondered how things were going today with such extreme changes in velocity and direction.

Our show and tell with Bob & Lorilei went well and we invited Gerry & Nicky to come over afterwards to join us for hors d’oeuvres. They were gracious enough to wait until after Bob & Lorilei left to ooh and aah and tease us about it being the 1st time in a month that we had made the bed (it’s best on a boat in this heat and humidity to leave the bed open and just fold the linens at the end of the bed).

As the sun sank beyond the horizon, we brought out the Mexican Dominos and started to teach Gerry & Nicky the game. We told them that it was part of being a cruiser. We were corrected and told that they are not cruisers, they are passage makers. OK then, they still needed to learn the game to take to all of the distant anchorages that they would be visiting. It’s just one of those things we all do when it’s raining, the boat’s already been scrubbed, and you can’t do anything else.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

This morning bright and early, the guys decided to make a run to Budget Marine and then over to the French side to extend our papers. I was in the process of running the genset and catching up on my blog when I heard Nicky approach. She came aboard slightly exasperated.

Apparently, she made the classic mistake of disconnecting the dinghy from the big boat before she had started the engine. When it was clear that the engine wasn’t going to start right away, she was already too far from the big boat to grab a line. The bad part of the whole thing was that they had removed their remaining oar when they lost its partner. So poor Nicky was trying to start a sticky motor while drifting in the anchorage without any oars. She had visions of landing on a little peninsula called ‘Witches Tit’ and having to be rescued from there. I predicted the headlines would read: “English Woman Rescued from Wild Goats on Witches Tit,” she wasn’t impressed. Obviously, she was eventually able to start the engine and make her way over; embarrassed and probably a little unnerved.

The guys returned and told us how there was a long line at the customs office and that they were told that they didn’t have to extend. I hope the same guy is on duty when we do check out; I prefer having all of our paperwork in perfect order when we’re in foreign countries.

Gerry & Nicky left the Palace and made their way to Shrimpy’s to log onto the internet while Dale & I dropped by Westerleigh to see the Palace’s sistership. Bob & Lorilei have made many of the same modifications that we did, plus a few. I was particularly impressed with their use of black plexiglass to create cupboards in the galley where we had just added a fiddle to keep things in place. They appeared to be easy enough to do and certainly made the galley less cluttered looking. They also removed the settee in the forward stateroom and added another locker like the one already there, which doubled the storage space. She also took out the cabinet in the master head and replaced it with one that doesn’t protrude over the sink so much. All of them good ideas. A couple of which may be future projects on the Palace.

The really bad thing is that now we are doing the same nickel tour for them tomorrow and the Palace is a lot more cluttered than theirs. Dale and Nicky reminded me that we live on our boat, whereas they only spend a few months of the year on theirs. Still, these are very spacious boats when they aren’t stuffed to the gills and they had a naked boat compared to ours. Oh well, I love the Palace and as soon as we get home most everything will be taken off again anyway.

We finished the day with dinner at one of the French restaurants with Gerry & Nicky and Gary & Linda who thought that they were going to head back to California for hurricane season but have since decided that they would go to the ABC’s instead. Cruisers’ plans are always cast in Jello and warm Jello at that.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

The extended crew of Orpailleur stopped by this morning at 7:00 to pick up the CD of photos I made for them before heading to the airport and the first leg of their trip back to England. We really enjoyed Mark & Sue’s visit with Gerry & Nicky and wish them well with the upcoming wedding of their eldest daughter.

At about 9 am, we lowered the dink and headed into the French side of the lagoon and met up with Gerry & Nicky for breakfast of croissants and pastries at an outside café. Our big discussion today was the change in the weather forecast. We had anticipated leaving first thing tomorrow morning for St. Barts, then on to Antigua, however, a new weather pattern is developing which would produce 20-25kts winds and 7-9’ seas. Not what we wanted to be in. That would leave us socked in at St. Barts where we really didn’t want to be for any long period of time. So . . . We decided to stay here until it passes. Race week in St. Martin, hummmm. That would be a first too.

With the decision made to linger longer in St. Martin, we strolled along the quayside occasionally perusing the straw market, then over to the little mall. Passing by the customs office, we realized that we needed to have our papers updated to extend our stay.

We returned to the boats where Dale and I both finished the books we had been reading and were in the process of laying down for a nap when Linda & Gary dropped by and invited us and Orpailleur to go with them to one of the race parties and then on to a piano bar later. Sounds like a plan!

At the appointed hour, we met with Gerry & Nicky as they exchanged charts of the Bahamas with some German sailors for charts of the southern Caribbean. Now that they had charts of where they were going and a little beer money, we stopped in a place called Shrimpy’s where we ate peri-peri. For those of you who have ever had New Orleans barbequed shrimp, peri-peri is very similar but originates from South Africa. Spicy shrimp, yum! Also, it appears that Shrimpy’s is an internet hotspot, so we’ll be heading back tomorrow to upload these posts.
When Gerry & Nicky headed back to their boat early, we continued on with the intention of meeting Gary & Linda at either the race party or the piano bar. We stopped by the race party which was packed with people. Not wanting to venture any further into the thick of it to find them, we continued on to the piano bar that they had told us about.

We arrived early and when the piano player and singer entered there were 3 bartenders and 4 patrons. Clearly they were unimpressed. Just as we were about to call it a night, people started arriving. The race parties must have been closing down. Linda, Gary and an entourage of 8 more entered and clearly they were the party people. The bar livened up and the dancing started in earnest. Dale and I joined in the fun and did our best to cut a rug. We got back to the boat about 11:30pm, the latest we’ve been out in a long time and we still had the genset to run. At midnight, we turned everything off and promised ourselves that we would run it extra long tomorrow.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Today was Orpailleur’s car trip around the island, so Dale and I made a quick trip to the pharmacy to stock up on our prescriptions, then returned to the boat and read the rest of the day.

At one point, we had spoken with Linda & Gary on RainbowRider and thought that we would get together with them for lunch but the quick repair on their dinghy ended up running much longer than they had originally planned so we scrubbed those plans with ones of getting together for dinner tomorrow night instead.

The husband and wife crew of another boat by the name of Westerleigh dropped by. They have 98’ Hunter Passage 450. We talked a bit about the boats and tentatively arranged to get together with them sometime tomorrow as well to show and tell the ‘upgrades’ we’ve made to our respective boats.

As planned, we met up with Gerry, Nicky, Mark & Rose on the French side of the lagoon for dinner this evening. The Tropicana served an excellent meal and even more excellent desserts. We enjoyed our last night together with Mark & Rose and wish them well on their trip back to England. They’ll fly from here to San Juan where they have a 7 hour layover before taking the next leg to Barbados. They’ll spend the night at a hotel on Barbados, then fly back to England on the 1st of March.

Tonight I made up a CD copy of all of the pictures I’ve been taking since they got here to take with them tomorrow morning. I’m sure they had a wonderful time with their long time friends, Gerry & Nicky, and will take home many more memories of their time in the islands than they will photos.

Simpson Lagoon
Sint Maartin
18.02.721N
63.05.616W

Well once again, Dale was right. After surviving a horrid night of swells, he got up early to query the cruisers’ net about customs and going through the bridge. Apparently, they’d had heard the question before. Yes, we could go through without the customs shuffle I was expecting. So, as 9:30 approached, we hoisted our anchor and joined the line to go through the bridge. So did just about every other boat in the anchorage, including some of the big boys in for the race. I tried to keep a margin of safety between us and the big guy in front but apparently a couple of other boats thought that they were already racing and tried to nose in; only one made it. The other guy had to circle around and try to cut someone else off. The sphincter factor was already up a notch entering a new place in 25 kts of wind but with boats powered with an overdose of competitiveness, pucker power was clearly going to rule the day.

As the bridge opened, we started through. Most turned right heading to one or another of the marinas that catered to the mega yachts. We turned left and headed to France; or at least the French side of the lagoon. I have never in my life seen so many boats anchored in one spot so haphazardly; Dutch or French. Dale was on the front with his head set on but with the wind blowing so strongly, I had a hard time hearing him. When I asked that he cup his hand around the mouthpiece to block the wind, I nearly blew an eardrum when he cupped his hand around the mouthpiece and shouted instructions.

We ended up anchoring pretty much on the imaginary Franco-Dutch border through the lagoon as we lined up on the flags I could see on the shore. Orpailleur anchored a bit behind us. Well, at least that’s where they started. Once the anchors were down. I went down for a nap as well. I had been up and down all night with the swells and other boats coming in from the French side to either motor by us or anchor near us.

I heard Gerry come by and speak with Dale at one point but didn’t hear the conversation. A couple of hours later, when we went topside, they were gone. Dale said that he figured that Gerry had moved the boat to be closer to the dinghy dock to keep from getting drenched. In the lagoon, we were out of the swell but the wind still caused enough waves inside to make any distance in a dinghy, a wet ride. As we made our way to the dinghy dock, Dale wondered aloud why Gerry had moved his boat to a spot that was surely more exposed to the fetch than where he had been. I reminded him, it was a shorter dinghy ride.

As luck would have it, we spotted them as we approached the docks and waved them over to say hi. You can imagine our surprise when Gerry said that he had not moved his boat and that it certainly couldn’t have drug anchor the way that it had been set. We believed him. He sets his anchor the same way we set ours; drop, back, set, power back and wait for the bow to dip and watch for the spring forward. It’s set. He was so convincing in his statement, perhaps being so tired when we anchored this morning, we had been mistaken in our judgment of distance. Nope! When we returned to our boat later, Orpailleur was gone again. We saw Gerry in his dink talking with a catamaran owner and pulled over to find out what happened. Sure enough it had dragged anchor.

As close as we can figure, shortly after they left, the anchor pulled up the huge hunk of grass, weeds and mud it had grabbed onto. On its journey across the harbor, it kissed at least one boat gently and continued to collect an assortment of grass, weeds, mud, sand and gunk. An announcement was broadcast on a channel we didn’t have scanned in and 3 other boaters chased it down and deployed the secondary anchor.

When Gerry pulled up his primary anchor, it looked like the creature from the black lagoon. They took a couple pics showing what looked like a 4-5 foot tangle of muck and mire where their anchor should have been. What a mess. But then again, how lucky that the cruising community looks out for one another.

We dinghied to the Dutch side for dinner this evening and slowly putt-putted by the mega yachts lined up in the marinas. Dale & Gerry barely contained their drool, each picking out various “dream” boats; winch envy I’d call it. The tenders on these mega yachts (their version of a dinghy) cost more than our ‘big’ boats. I could go on and on about the differences but you know what? I noticed that they were rocking in the swell last night, just like us.

Simpson Bay
Sint Maartin
18.02.084N
64.06.160W

We got a good night’s sleep last night and started the morning raring to go. Surprisingly, there were many, many more boats in the anchorage than we had first assumed. They hadn’t been showing their anchor lights, so it was a good thing that we had stayed on the outside and not gotten ourselves mixed up in the crowd.

The crew of Orpailleur was moving a little more slowly though so we took off ahead of them. When they arrived, Nicky took the opportunity to tease that I had already made my first purchase at the straw market.

We walked en masse to the customs and immigration office and filled out the necessary paperwork to be allowed access into the country. Being a Sunday morning, the shops were slowly opening and we walked through the town of Marigot pointing out the necessary banks, pharmacy, internet café’s and watering holes.

We took a break at one of the bayside restaurants for a snack and then walked to the bridge that opens into the lagoon. The ladies hit the supermarket just shy of the bridge and the guys went on to scope out the path we’d be taking when it opened at 5:30. With that done, we headed back to where we had left the dinghies. This, of course, was right beside the straw market, so the guys found a watering hole to sit a spell and allowed us to shop without the usual comments of “where are you going to put it” and the “why do need that.”

I think all of us made some type of purchase before we made it around to where the guys were sitting. When we joined them for lunch, we ended up pushing a gentlemen farther and farther toward the center. At one point, one of us commented that it would be easier for him to join us than for him to keep moving further away. Much to our surprise, he did! It ended up that he is a CPA/attorney and was in town for a week working up interest in a new fertilizer that he was taking public. He was very excited about his product and told us all about how it was made and what kinds of yields it was producing. If all that he told us is true, it should be a great boon to the agriculture community. I told him I could use a thimble full for my roses; he promised to send me just about that amount. However, I had to promise to grow one rose with the product and one rose without.

After lunch, we all made our way back to the boats and much to my surprise, Rainbow Rider was anchored right behind us. I jumped into the dinghy and took off to see Linda. She & Gary and their guests, Donna & Toby, had just gotten back from Orient Beach where they had been frolicking around naked. Unfortunately for Linda, she now has parts that are sunburned that should never be sunburned. I didn’t ask about everyone else, they all appeared to have had more than their share of the sun today. We caught up slightly before I left, promising them that Donna & Toby could come look at the Palace before they left, as they were looking to move to a larger boat and were thinking about a Hunter. (Note: the first time I’ve ever hugged an almost naked woman! There are still firsts in life, even at this age!)

I made my way back to the Palace and took a little nap before big rolls from the ocean starting rocking us violently. We knew that the Atlantic swell was supposed to pick up but I guess we figured that we’d go into the inner anchorage when it happened. However, as 5:00 approached and it was time to move in, the swell was making it more dangerous. Both we and Orpailleur draw 5.5 - 6 ft. The channel is 7 foot. With the swell, water was drawn out before racing back through. Gerry had been leery about the channel before but now he just said no and said he was heading for the other side.

Once the decision was made, I jumped back into the dinghy to go tell Linda & Gary our plans (since they weren’t answering the radio) but when I got there, only Donna & Toby were on board. I told them that we were heading to the other side and if they wanted to see the boat, they had to do it right then. They hopped into the dinghy and back to the Palace we went. Dale conducted the nickel tour, they hopped back into the dink, and then I took them back to Rainbow Rider. Once deposited, I headed back to the Palace, Dale & I raised the dink, and we were underway within minutes.

I couldn’t believe that at 5:00 in the afternoon, we decided to go around the island to an anchorage we’ve never been to before and try to get there before dark. We did it! We were doing 6.5 - 7kts all the way but we made it as the sun was setting.

On the way around, the swell was definitely hitting the 8’ mark. Pretty exciting. When we arrived, we found several mega yachts and several of the boats that will be participating the Heineken Regatta. We anchored right next to one named Creightons. I’m not sure if it was the bright yellow color or the way we were being blown more towards them than where I thought we should be tending, but the old saying reared its ugly head: If Mama’s not happy, no one’s happy. Just as dark was really descending, I told Dale that I wanted to move. I’m sure that he wasn’t pleased, but he did it anyway. When he asked me why, my only reason was liability. They were here first; if any damage occurred in the wee hours of the morning, we’d be responsible. We hoisted the anchor, circled around and dropped again where we had been resting, so that when the rode was deployed we dropped behind the racer. I’m sure that I was being overly cautious but now that the wind has piped up and we’re dancing all over the place, I don’t worry that we’ll accidentally bump into them. I wonder if all of the attorneys I’ve worked for realize that I’ve been ruined for life.

Now that we’re here and at least a little more comfortable from the nasty swells, I think we’ll have to either rent a car or dink through the inner harbor back to the French side to clear customs before they’ll let us through the Dutch side’s bridge. Dale says I’m over rationalizing things again. I say that until we’re administratively pure, they won’t let us through. Two of the three guide books aren’t real clear; the third (and oldest of the three) agrees with me. There’s a cruiser’s net in the morning, so he’ll ask there.

I think tomorrow I’ll make the suggestion that only one boat asks the question. That way if we get thrown in jail, Orpailleur can make a run for it and clear properly, then come back and bail us out.