Simpson Bay Snot & Half Hikes

The floating snot of Simpson Bay Lagoon

We are starting to get itchy feet to leave St Maarten and move on to pastures new.  For nearly seven weeks we have been mostly anchored inside the murky waters of the inner lagoon with its floating weed that can only be described as dragon snot; Snot so yucky and slimy that it sticks to any rope, lines or ladders that you have dangling in the water.  We are longing to be anchored in blue seas with clear water and balmy days.  St Maarten has plenty of these idyllic beaches but the anchorages can often be rolly – the bain of my life or miles from all the places and people we want to hang out with.  Time has flown by in a blink and we would like to start pressing on with our journey northwards.....before we change our mind!

Days have been filled with stocking the boat with spares and food, fuel and water; chores taking so long as we travel from one end of the lagoon to the other.  Evenings filled at “happy hours” ashore or drinks on boats with the company of friends old and new, some heading in the same direction as us others sadly not.  I can’t always say I enjoy our time in St Maarten but this season it has been fantastic.

One of the wonderful views from our half hike on Sunday

Last Sunday Mark from ''Sealife'' organised a walk from the top of the highest point on the French side, Pic Paradis 411m above sea level.  Over 30 cruisers turned up for the hike.  New Dutch friends Jolanda and John from SY "Joho" picked me up 8.30am Sunday morning - as we all know Sim avoids most walks if possible - and dinghied us over to Port Royal.  A bus picked us up and took us up to the highest point so that we could walk back down (approx 4hrs).  It was a very lovely, scenic walk; we had views out across to the neighbouring islands of Saba, St Barts and beyond and to  Anguilla on the other side.  Only after an hour or so of walking it was decided that we had taken the wrong trail and needed to climb back up the way we had come and start again.  Hmf! The party spilt in two – those that were going back up and the "half hikers"- those that would continue down the road. Being at the mercy of Jolanda and John I waited for them to make a decision.  After a few fraught moments of thinking they wanted to go back up, they too also wanted to go down.  I must be very unfit! My feet hurt and I was a little tired, I was very happy to continue down.  It was still a long walk in the hot sun only relived by a brief break in an air conditioned supermarket we found that was open.  It was however a very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday morning. Sim enjoyed a few hours of peace and quiet, achieving more in a short time than he would when I am constantly nattering to him!

 

Walking past the sugar cane vats and old well.

We hope to be out of here by the end of the week.  But that waits to be seen to be believed.  In the mean time we won’t complain too much about being here for a few extra days J.

30+ cruisers on a hike in SXM



With some great views

 

Busy Daze in St Maarten

Wandering Star at anchor in Simpson Bay Lagoon.

St Maarten is not a place for sitting still.  Not for us anyway.  We have been working (fairly) hard every day.  Jobs are slowly being ticked of our latest “to do” list.  Most of the jobs or items are to do with our departure to the US which includes some longer sails and stops in more remote anchorages. We need to be more self sufficient than we have been in a while. The engine is having a thorough check over including redoing the fuel system.  The gauges and sender units have been replaced.  Sails are being repaired. The rig inspected.  Running rigging replaced. Navigation chips for our chart plotter bought. More gas bottles purchased. We are making a rain catcher to keep our tanks topped up. All outside items like the gas bottles and the life buoy have had covers made for them.  We are buying a huge bilge pump giving us three in total.  Having had some good advice from my sister’s doctor boyfriend we are revamping our medical kit. Getting the prescriptions from a doctor on the Dutch side and buying from a very reasonable chemist on the French side.  The cat must go to the vet for her health certificate.  And we have a provisioning list as long as your arm with all the food, alcohol and other sundries to add to our stocks.  Not to mention all the spare parts we want to carry.  The grab bag is being up dated and we have to consider buying a new dinghy. Which basically equates to lots of $$$ being spent.  When you live on such a tight budget it stings a little to be spending so much.  But all of these are necessary investments, except perhaps the alcohol. But you have to live for today right? We do like to know there is food in the fridge for tomorrow  ;-)!

Laying out the material for the rain catcher at the local curry house!

St Maarten is also a social place.  The lagoon is starting to get busy.  More and more cruisers arrive every day.  It makes happy hours and get-togethers big social events.  We have eaten out twice in local restaurants where they have had to close their doors to others as there were so many of us. The Shwarmas and Chinese are very good value.  Beer at happy hour is between $1-2.  The days are sunny, the skies are blue, and the lagoon is surrounded by deep green hills.  The beaches are some of the best around with the most amazing hues of blue.  Everything is so colourful and cheery.  It is hard not to like this place and going to be even harder to tear ourselves away.

The lovely Simpson Bay beach

Out for a stroll on Simpson Bay Beach

Fun times for Izzys b'day party on "Izzy R"

 

When The Family Visit St Maarten



The five of us at Shell Beach, St Barts

The last couple of weeks have flown by in a family frenzy, with my two younger sisters Jen and Ali and Ali's boyfriend Michael flying out to join us here in St Maarten for some fun and frolics in the sun.  Packed in like sardines we squeezed five of us in our two cabin boat and showed them a few of the sights that the dual Dutch/French Island has to offer; plus a wee trip to St Bart’s thrown in between for good measure.

Planes landing at the Sunset Beach Bar

What is St Maarten/Martin famous for? Well believe it or not, it’s the airport.  Not your usual tourist attraction but this one is a little bit special.  People flock to the Sunset beach bar on Maho beach to get as close as they can to the planes as they land and take off.  Hanging on to the fence that divides the beach from the runway, you literally get blasted by the massive force of a 747 turbo jet engine.  Or reach to the sky and try and let your finger tips brush the plane as it comes in to land.



 

Fun day at Mullat Bay beach

Not to be missed are some of the island’s beaches.  Within easy distance from where we were anchored inside the lagoon you have Simpson Bay, a mile long stretch of white sand that never gets over crowded. But our favourite is Mullet Bay – a ½ mile stretch of hot white sand beach and sea as clear as blue sapphires.  Rocky outcrops cling to each side of the bay providing a perfect home for the king of pre-historic lizards – the iguana.


Fort Louis at Marigot Bay on the French side

Not wanting to exclusively stick with the Dutch side, we took a long slow dinghy ride over to the French side and a climb up to Fort Louis with its magnificent views overlooking Marigot Bay.  Rewarding ourselves with an obligatory croissant or crepe in one of the many patisseries found in the town below.

Mini break to St Barts

We decided to take a quick trip over to St Bart’s because, well, we were so close it would have been rude not to. Just a 15 mile sail away, we pulled into our first stop of Columbier where Sim and I had come from just the week before.  It is one of our favourite spots.  The next morning we pootled around to Gustavia – the islands capital, and dropped the anchor in the pretty but rolly anchorage.  We did all the necessary paper work and everyone humoured me while we set about on a short walk to find Shell Bay – a beach which we have never been to before but I felt we (meaning I) should go to considering my love of all things shelly! Hot and losing humour I think everyone thought the short trek was worth it in the end, if not for the shells which the beach was literally covered in, but for the absolutely stunning beach.  We could have stayed longer, in fact we should have stayed longer but instead we headed back into town for a drink at Le Select, one of the small towns infamous bars. Our party were not overly impressed by the bling St Bart’s had to offer nor did they get all starry eyed at all the Mega yachts that adorn the harbour. So we pootled back to Columbier for another day of fun and frolics in the sun, kayaking and snorkelling and getting just a little over excited by the number of good sized Remora or shark suckers that took up residence under the boat.  When a few fellow cruisers arrived that night we had a get together on board Wandering Star squeezing 10 people into our snug cockpit.

Philipsburg

Back in St Maarten, we said goodbye to Jen who could only stay a week, having a last meal with her at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club where we watched all the (unimpressive!) mega yachts go through the bridge and tie up inside the lagoon.  Ali and Michael had a few more days with us.  After establishing that no cruise ships were due in on Monday (we had seen 7 as we sailed past a few days prior) we all took a local bus into Philipsburg, the Dutch half’s capital.  Philipsburg is famous for its shopping – mainly jewellery and designer clothing, but the boardwalk lined with quirky bars and restaurants is a nice place to sit back and watch the comings and goings on the good-looking beach.

Jen, Ali, Michael & Sim on Simpson Bay beach

Now Ali and Michael’s holiday draws to an end.  We have had a few more beach days (they were not impressed with Kimshaw beach – but enjoyed the old converted bus known as Karacters on Simpson Bay beach.) before we say goodbye.  Now it’s time to knuckle down to some long awaited boat work......only now we have investigated the yards available we are no longer sure we want to haul out here.  Time to come up with a new plan perhaps....