Left Trellis Bay for St. Martin at 7am. Even though it is only about 90 miles to St. Martin, we don't expect to arrive until tomorrow because we will be sailing into the wind the whole way. People we talked to assumed that we would motor because "nobody sails into the wind", but at this point we still enjoy it.
Around noon we broke one of the main sheet blocks. This is not the first of these that has broken. Jo checked and the working load on them is 800lbs. We have replacements on the way that are rated to 3000lbs.
We had two fish hit during the day. The first cut through the wire leader within a few seconds. The second broke the line after about 20 minutes. I had not gained much line on it during the fight, and we never got to see what it was, but it sure felt big.
Visibility was good. We were able to see Tortola until we were 35 or 40 miles out.
When it got dark we discovered that the compass light was out. We steered by the stars and the light on the horizon from St. Martin. The stars were fantastic, and we also had a light show in our wake...very bright specks of light that lasted a second or two. -DWH
Passage to St. Martin continued:
Sailed through the night. Arrived and anchored in Marigot Bay at about 3pm. Cleared customs and went out to celebrate. It was the first overnight passage for Stacy and Laurie and the first ocean passage for me and Jo. -DWH
Shopped for boat parts/supplies. Made calls home. Checked out St. Martin.
Met some cool people at dinner. Alan and Sally from the UK have been cruising for over 10 years and had a lot of good advice. They actually recognized us from the Loose Mongoose. They just got married on Tortola two weeks ago.
We also met Georgette who works at the Simpson Bay Marina. She had a lot of advice on keeping produce fresh. She had sailed alone from Europe on a 25 ft boat. She said she still had fresh lettuce when she arrived. And that's without refrigeration! At Simpson Bay Marina they do a lot of provisioning for mega yachts. She said she could get us a deal on wine, beer, and soda. -DWH
Lazy day. Had dinner on Fort Marigot overlooking Marigot Bay. Dinner consisted of cheese and bread with champagne to celebrate may last check from Marquip clearing.
After dinner we went down into town. Tomorrow is a holiday and there was a big celebration tonight. There was drumming an dancing and little kids running all over until midnight. -DWH
Stopped by Simpson Bay Marina to see Georgette. She introduced us to Dorian, who does the provisioning. We ordered 6 cases of wine (2 cases of Santa Rita, 3 cases of mixed French Reds, 1 case of champagne), 8 cases of beer, 6 cases of soda, 8 cases of orange juice. The prices were great, significantly cheaper than if we were to buy it in Madison. Dorian is also arranging to get us 5 lobsters and some parmesan cheese.
We also got a "pocket mail" from them. They liked it so much they had order 8 of them and had one left. It is very easy to use. Dial the pocket mail number and hold it up to the phone. We have been having trouble finding phones to hook the computer up. This will make sending and receiving email every couple days a breeze.
Went to the airport to pick up Matty, our first visitor! JO had ordered a pile of parts before we left, but unfortunately they had not arrived. So Matty's luggage consisted of about 100lbs of boat parts and a couple shirts and a couple pair of shorts. -DWH
Went to Simpson Bay. Stacy did laundry while the rest of us went to Budget Marine to pick up more boat supplies. Got 200ft of 5/16 high test chain, 600ft of 5/8 nylon line, plus a bunch of smaller stuff. When we were checking out there was some confusion over discounts and prices that we had been quoted, so we decided to come back tomorrow to talk with the manager.
Matty brought a gift of money from a bunch of JO and Lauries' friends in Madison. The first purchase was helmsman seat. It is way comfortable. A big thanks to everyone who pitched in. -DWH
Dorian and Maggie from Simpson Bay Marina came over to deliver our supplies. What a load! They also got our cheese and 5 huge lobsters. I rode back with them and then met JO at Budget Marine. With a little perseverance we managed to get some pretty good prices.
We had grilled lobster tail for dinner. Fantastic. Also started soup from the rest of the lobster parts. - DWH
Got our new anchor rodes set up. We have the 75lb Barnacle on 200ft of chain with a nylon bridal and the 44 lb claw on 270ft of 5/8 nylon. This is far superior to what we started with.
Had lobster soup. -DWH
Cleared out of the French side. Sailed from Marigot Bay to Groot Bay (Phillipsburg) with one stop on the way to hit a beach. Anchored with the beast. -DWH
Cleared into the Dutch side. Lots of running around to get water, oil filters, do email, etc. so we can leave for Guadeloupe tomorrow morning.
Changed the oil. Engine hours at 998. Did not check starboard levels before changing. Port was at bottom of XXXs on oil and in the middle on transmission fluid. -DWH