Logged 87 Nautical Miles

Motored 15.5 Hours

British Virgin Islands to Sint Maarten

In the past the Sint Maarten economy depended on sugar cane and salt ponds, these days it is all radically changed and duty free, tax free zone is nick named “Little Hong Kong” of the Antilles. Since the building of a large number of nautical enterprises the area has lost its old character.

The weather reports indicated that the wind would let up some today but we found that was not the case. We left Leverick Bay at 6:30 am and motored through Virgin Sound between Necker Island and Prickly Pear Island into Necker Island Passage and then the Caribbean Sea. The wind was in the low 20’s; on our nose and seas were six to ten feet, with lots of salt spray. It was a rough ride pounding into the sea as we motored 15.5 hours the entire 87 nautical miles. Several dolphins provided some great entertainment for about 20 minutes. They would swim alongside the boat playfully breaching then swim out, around and back again.

Claudia took her first watch and was very observant. With her help in the galley and attentiveness on watch, she will be good crew. She will return to join us for a month from Fiji to Australia next summer. Tomorrow she is flying back to Florida from Sint Maarten. At 10:00 pm we were glad to be anchored just outside Simpson Bay Lagoon.

The next morning we made water and washed some bedding and towels. Dan and Claudia went to the police station and immigration office to check in. Later we took the dinghy under the lifting bridge to do some exploring in Simpson Bay Lagoon as well as find a restaurant with internet for lunch. The Lagoon is known as a hurricane hole but obviously was not immune from damage as we saw many mega yachts and buildings destroyed, the fetch across the bay is just too large. We choose a marina restaurant called “Fat Turtle” for lunch. In spite of still doing repairs, the atmosphere was relaxing, the food was excellent, the staff was all very friendly and the internet was fast. Dan downloaded some books on his computer and adds the updated Active Captain maps to my phone. I checked our bank account and added two blogs from several weeks ago. We have not had internet or phone service for a long time. All of us enjoyed the lunch; it was a nice ending for Claudia’s visit.

Although we are tired from the long, rough ride to Sint Maarten the weather looks like we may be able to sail to Antigua tomorrow, 100 nautical miles. We had thoughts of breaking the trip up by going first to Nevis/St Kitts about 45 nautical miles then on to Antigua the following day about 50 nautical miles. If we have a chance to sail after all the motoring we have done, we are up for it.