Sunday, June 2, 2013

Simpson Bay, St. Maarten

(N18°02.108/W63.05.289)

Well over 1000 miles of motoring hard into the wind and we’ve finally made that slight turn … from east/southeast to mostly south!  From here, we are hoping it will be a LOT more sailing.  Finally, today we got to experience that serenity that envelopes your entire being when you raise the sails and shut off the engine … and then there is silence!  With our mainsail out of use, we sailed with only the mizzen and head sail.  It was about a 20-ish mile trip from Road Bay, Anguilla to Simpson Bay, St Maarten.  The two islands are only about 5 miles apart but we had to go down the north coast of Anguilla, cross the channel between the islands and then up the south coast of St. Maarten.  We kept our fingers crossed that it wouldn’t be a repeat of our previous trip (between BVI and Anguilla).  We left Anguilla at 9:15am. The winds AND current were in our favor for a change.  We were doing between 6-7 knots along the north coast of Anguilla.  As we rounded the point, we were headed a little more into the wind so our speed dropped to about 5 knots.  The sailing was awesome … and very comfortable!  Too bad all days can’t be like today!  But for the next couple of months, we will be heading south so we’re hoping we’ll experience lots of awesome sailing!

As we rounded the point of St Maarten, the inevitable happened.  We were headed directly into the wind again.  So … the remainder of the trip was a motor-sail.  We only averaged about 4 knots doing the south coast of St. Maarten but it was calm and pleasant.

We arrived about 1pm.  There is a bay just off the town.  It had good holding and several boats were anchored.  But our objective was to go into Simpson Bay Lagoon.  There is a lift bridge that only opens 3 times a day (twice in the morning and once at 5:30pm).  Since we missed the morning openings, we anchored and waited until the evening opening.  Larry went ashore and cleared customs while we waited.  It cost a total of $41 US ($20 for the boat and $21 for the Simpson Bay Port Authority).  Whether you have them raise the bridge and you go into the sheltered lagoon OR if you stay anchored outside the lagoon in the bay, you still MUST pay the $21 fee.  They’ve got quite a racket going. We figured since we had to pay the fee either way, we would prefer the shelter of the lagoon and the closer proximity to shops/restaurants/bars/etc.
 

At 5:15pm, we raised the anchor and headed to the channel to wait for the bridge opening.  If we missed this opening, it would mean spending the night in the bay, which wouldn’t be disastrous, but we much preferred the sheltered lagoon.  There was one other sailboat and one powerboat waiting with us. 
 

Inside the lagoon, it was a little disappointing.  It’s funny.  Most anchorages on the charts seem so small and unprotected but when you get to them, they are actually really nice anchorages.  This place was the opposite.  The lagoon looks large on the charts but once inside, it seemed rather small.  Oh well, we found a nice spot to anchor before the evening winds picked up and the rains came in. 

For dinner, we had burgers made from the ground Filet Mignon that we’d bought before we left.  I had used one of those vacuum sealing machines to package the meat and it kept it very fresh.  No freezer burn even after all this time.  We had the burgers on homemade English Muffins.  They were VERY yummy!

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