Sint Martins / St. Barths - French West Indies **** 5 Star

Last day in St. Martins (Phillipsburg Duty Free!!)

Acting French with my Espresso and Gitanne

St Barths and St Martin are absolutely fabulous. Stunning french villages, classy restaurants and boutiques and the "raison d'etre" of cheap wine, cheese and pastry.  

Lots of wind here, lots of Beneteau Racers

ANCHORAGES were a bit rolly but worth it.  We could have stayed here for weeks to explore the islands and beaches and just to keep eating and being french.  It was really fun to practice the language.  BUT we had to carry on with June 1 and Hurricane Season approaching so we braved the 25-30 knot winds, enjoyed the speed and the sail and headed for St. Kitts and Nevis.  Praying for a fish (the cupboards were bare) our prayers where answered 10 fold (in pounds) and we caught our biggest fish to date.  Taking down the sails and halting the boat in 8-10 foot waves, Wade reeled in the fighting Dorado.  It was a fight that took down part of our bimini but the Great Captain and Fisherman sewed that up and sat down to his reward of a barbequed Mahi steak.  Of course we had to invite friends to help since now, our freezer was full!  We also caught a King Mackeral off Anagada but we were so excited we forgot to take pictures....trust me....it was BIG!!!

Prize fish 51"

Biggest Fish!

The freezer is FULL!

Fisherman eating his Catch o' the Day!




Favorite Scenes

Daily Croissant

Gruyere Crepes

The Light!

Baguette to go

Anagada - All to Ourselves

ANAGADA

A man and his boat.

Paradise

British Virgin Islands:  Norman, Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Virgin Gorda, Anagada

The Bahamas of the BVI's

rum punch while floating

tanned and in love

We very much enjoyed the BVI’s and much to our surprise after not hearing much about it previously amongst cruisers.  Able to sail and to a different island everyday along coastlines of white sand beaches was like a sailor’s haven for us.  We had fun tacking about Sir Frances Drake Channel.

Starved for fish we picked up a local guy named Leslie at Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke and he guided us to a nearby reef and taught us how to fish with a hand line.  Shawna and Jon were aboard and just as eager to catch some yellow tailed snapper.  Each one of us reeled in a good many fish.  Leslie insisted I cook a Trigger Fish for him and add it’s liver into the sauce.  While he sucked on the cooked head and slurped up the saucy fish the rest of us pushed it aside enjoying only the taco made with the Snapper.

That was the best of it and a lot of fun but having stayed out past dark, we returned to our anchorage  and backing up we wrapped the dinghy line around the prop shaft.  Thus, we sailed to Nanny Cay to get a haul out and a new cutlass bearing.  It couldn’t have been easier and more convenient.  The harbor Master and staff were helpful and the cost was reasonable and they let us stay over on the hard and put us back in at 7 a.m.  We had free internet service and THE BEST FISH ‘N CHIPS (beer batter) since Maureen had since Canada! 

THE BATHS

THE BATHS in Virgin Gorda was a highlight. Day moorings made it so easy to visit, jump off the boat and snorkel over to the huge rock boulders and coral walls and gardens.  It proved to be as spectacular as snorkeling the caves in Normans and Indian Rocks.  But the journey to the big bath in a huge cave amongst the boulder walls was really fun and a must for any kid young or old.  

Anagada was an even lesser known Paradise,  The expanse of the beach was awesome and the sand deep and silky soft.  Wade and I had a lovely, romantic vacation there and almost all to ourselves.

Sint Martin

The trip to St. (Sint) Martin was long and we had to motor sail  most of it even when the weather advisories had insisted that we would get a lovely North Easterly wind to sail.  Wade was getting pretty bummed until he caught a 15 lb. King Mackerel, put the line back in and caught a nice little Dorado.  Another bit of luck was reaching Dog Island so that we could anchor (illegally, since it is a park) as the night was upon us.  The chart claimed that there would be moorings but alas, there were none.

Next day and within a few hours we arrived in Simpson Bay in St. Martin.  The harbor is very clean and with excellent holding and is very pretty.  The city is really fun to explore and the best part are the French Bakeries and stores full of wine and cheese.  Right away we had a croissant and cafe au lait and fresh squeezed orange juice, and made our Mother Day calls that we were not able to make on the SAT phone in Anagada. The next morning we went directly to the Creperie and had a Gruyere Crepe, cafe au lait and fresh squeezed O.J.  That afternoon after buying 27 bottles of wine, a basket of cheeses and a few other veggies, we went by bus for $2 each to Phillipsburg, the cruise ships dock.  We had got a few coupons for free gem stones in the Duty Free shops so they lured us in with those.  The scheme worked!

Norman's Cay, BVI (Indians)

Cinnamon Beach

First time paddle boarding

Indians

Celebrating Noa!  Thank you Jon and Shawna on Beau Soleil!!

St. John, USVI

Cinnamon Bay, St. John, USVI

May 1

We left St. Thomas after visiting the Cruise Ship stores and provisioning a little more at a great little shop called “Gourmet Gallery” where we got all our sushi supplies and our much sought after wonton wrappers (to be able to make our home-made ravioli...one of Wade’s specialty dishes.  We also stocked up on Guava juice and Chips and other hard to find items at a cheap price at K-Mart.  We had also caught up on our blog as best we could due to the intermittent wi-fi signal on the island.

Wade’s buddy boat from Georgetown to Luperon, S/V Beau Soleil, needed a belt picked up from All Point’s Marine Services in Compass Point so we stopped in there on the way to St. John.

Just a couple of hours away from St. Thomas lies Cinnamon Bay, St. John, a tranquil bay lined with white sand beaches with a view of cone shaped islands and another mooring in the distance of this large park.  A glorious, sunny day, we beached ourselves on a private beach and read and watched some windsurfers practice on the bay.  Leatherback turtles were surfacing to check out our boat.  

The island of St. John was a big surprise for Maureen, never having heard how beautiful this island is and seeing beach after beach lining it’s shores and the tall palms lining each beach.  The scattered resorts on the lush hills are very tastefully constructed and look like idyllic settings for a family holiday or romantic get-away.

We have sailed about 1000 miles (direct on the map) from Miami and we are about 2/3 of the way to Grenada, 500 more miles to go to be out of danger for Hurricane Season which can begin in June.  Someday, we will have to return to Cinnamon Bay and St. John.