2/11/2026 Great Bay, Sint Maarten
The wind blew hard all night, but the water was calm and the
anchor held, though it did groan a lot. After sun salutations and coffee, it
was time to get to work.
The generator was getting no cooling water, so I started at the
source which required diving. I set up the spare air and jumped in with some
tools. A little rotor rooter at the through hull but it did not seem to be
clogged. Inside at the through hull, I detached the intake hose and removed it
from the strainer to thoroughly clean it but no obvious obstruction. I removed
the exit hose from the strainer and the check valve. We found a bunch of weeds
in the check valve and cleaned it out. I found it was not functioning properly,
put that on the list. Having found very little I returned to the through hull
which is a brass valve with a 90-degree ell on top. This made it difficult to
get in it with any brush or grabber tool to properly check and clear. I tried
to remove the ell but feared breaking the connection through the hull. I probed
it with a stiff zip tie, and I felt that it did not go in far enough. By the
way, zip ties are as essential on a boat as duct tape. I used my long forceps,
and I was able to grab what looked like a wad of leaves packed into the ell.
Note to self; No 90s at the through hull!
I put the system back together and fired up the generator,
we had good water flow at last. As I was putting the ribbon, zip ties, on my
job Suzette exclaimed “I smell a burnty smell”. We quickly shut everything down
and traced the smell to some 110v wiring in the panel that appeared to overheat.
I isolated the short and we put the generator back on so we could make water.
We were completely out of water making this critical. The gage for the water
tank reads in ¼ tank increments so below a ¼ tank you have no idea how much is
left. Note to self; “At a ¼ tank make water! I proceeded to dismantle the
wiring and traced the short to one of the factory 6 pin connectors. I fixed the
system temporarily but decided to rebuild it completely for a more elegant
solution. Of course, this will require parts, and we found no chandlery here in
Philipsburg. We are once again operational; I am glad it failed while we were
present.
Once we had a full tank and some lunch we headed to shore. I wanted to check out the Salt Pond, but we stumbled on yet another shopping district and diverted. This was clearly the clothing and shoe district. On the first stop I found a package of very nice white tee shirts and a very cool bathing suit at bargain prices. As we meandered along Suzette found a top she was looking for. Suzette had us stopping in every grocery store buying a little of this and that at each one. When we exhausted this street, we turned north toward the salt pond but found another street with more commercial items, furniture, appliances and…an Ace hardware! This was a huge Ace Hardware; I was in heaven. They had what I needed to build a proper bus and box to improve my electrical system after this morning’s debacle. Last stop was the huge Asian market where we bought more stuff than I wanted to carry without a wagon, it was time to get back to the boat.
I was determined to get our electrical system back up to
snuff so I immediately launched into my upgrade. I cut out everything that was
overheated in the morning, including the factory connector. Installing a new
box and bus I got everything cleaned up and reconnected with a very elegant
installation. Hopefully this will hold up better.
Time for sundowners and some food, it was a busy day. The
wind had slowed and clocked to the east, but this put us broad side to a small
north swell making it a bit rocky on board, not terrible, just requiring extra
care when moving about.
2/12/2026 Great Bay, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
Up with the sun on a day that was supposed to be rainy.
There were some ominous clouds so after our morning routine we headed to Immigrations
to check out. Much to my surprise they charged us $124 for our 3 days stay and
fees but we were checked out. Back to the boat and away by 1130. The wind was
10 knots from the east and picked up to 20. We had a great downwind sail to the
west end of the island, retracing our track back to Marigot Bay. The bay was
calm and the wind was steady from the SE; we dropped our anchor east of the
entry channel in about 13’ of water. Once settled we went for a snorkel, but
the water was so churned from the past couple days of wind and sea that we
could not see our anchor, but I am sure we are set.
A little cleanup and a nap in the nice calm bay.
2/13/2026 Marigot Bay, Marigot, St Martin
A gorgeous sunny day, clear skies, nice breeze and calm
seas. It was an equally calm night for a great sleep. We needed to do the online
check in but when I went to turn on the inverter it did not come on. I quickly
discovered that I had inadvertently snipped the wire from the inverter switch
to the inverter. In my defense it was a flat and black wire and looked like the
zip ties I was trimming off. An hour of splicing the wire back together and we
were online. The electronic check in was easy having done it once already.
After lunch we did a few chores before heading to the Island
Water World to pick up our new outboard! They had the engine ready to go, as
well as our refilled butane bottles. I am avoiding the expense of switching to
propane as long as I can. The butane system is European and available in the
French islands. We mounted up the new engine and rowed to the fuel dock around
the corner. Someone was nice enough to stop and tow us into the gas dock. A couple
of gallons of fuel and we were ready to go. The new motor must be 4 or 5 times
as fast as the little electric, very fun. In the process of mounting the engine
I dropped my sunglasses in the drink, fortunately it was shallow and clear. Unfortunately,
I had nothing to fish them out with. Fortunately, I have a go-fast dinghy now
and I could go to the boat, get tools and be back before sunset. We quickly
fished out my sunglasses and returned to the boat in time for a celebratory
sundowner, new motor and my glasses!
Suzette made a fabulous pasta with pureed grilled vegetables
for dinner, deserving fine wine and good bread. The music on shore kicked in at
about 2100 and lasted all night, they like their percussion here in the
islands. It was the full-on Carnival Dance Party.
2/14/2026 Marigot Bay, Marigot, St Marten
Up at 6 and the music was in a frenzy! It lasted until about
0800 before going quiet. Miraculously there has been no rain for 24 hours!
Since it was already noisy, we fired up the generator to make water and do the
laundry, it is Valentines Day after all. In case you are wondering I bought the
silver chain that Suzette has been wanting, 200’ of 12mm Stainless Steel anchor
chain that is. She bought me a new outboard, my old motor was not doing the
job.
In the evening, we went into Marigot, Main a la Pate for
Valentines dinner. A nice setting on the Simpson Lagoon with a good bottle of
wine, escargot for an appetizer and seared tuna for an entrée. For dessert, one
of my favorites, Crème Brulé…when in France.
12/15/2026 Marigot Bay, Marigot, St Marten
It was a very calm and quiet night for a good sleep. Up with
the sun and out to hike up to the 18th century Fort Luis. This was
the defense garrison for the big bay, simple and well preserved. We walked
around the town, it was Sunday, so it was very quiet as most all of the shops were
closed.
With the longer range we were able to dinghy to Sint Maarten passing though the lagoon. We have now gone from one country to another in the Dinghy! We tied up at the Casino resort and walked to the Carre fore, a huge international market that was our favorite in France. They did not disappoint. They have so many things that we love. We were limited by the fact that I only had my knapsack.
We toured the bay and enjoyed the picnic lunch that Suzette prepared. This is where the big yachts are on this island.
Back on the boat I spent the afternoon installing the new oscillating
fans that I brought from home. The fans do a good job of keeping the air moving
when we have no breeze. Next was a great swim as the water was finally clearing
and it was warm. At the Blue Bitch we had Butter Nut Squash quesadillas and
tonight Suzette did a great job of replicating that meal.
2/16/2026 Marigot Bay, Marigot, St Marten
With all my projects I always have a list for the chandlery.
Since IWW was the best yet we made it our first stop and got most of what I was
looking for. We walked into town and stumbled on a very nice shopping district.
Suzette found our favorite soap, Miel Nuxes, and stocked up on two large
bottles. There were lots of very nice dress shops and Suzette found a very
intricate and beautiful white linen dress, lots of hand work.
Back on the boat we got the boat ready for departure. This
was the first time for putting the new outboard up on the rail, it is a lot
heavier than our other motors at 88 lbs. With some nail biting and finessing we
had it secured to the rail and we were ready to go. The wind was 15 to 20 from
SE so we unfurled the sails for the short ride to Grand Case to the east. The
anchorage was another large bay, but it is bisected by a no anchor zone for the
airport flight path. There were not very many planes, and they were small, so
it was fun to watch them on approach to the runway. A relaxing afternoon,
sundowner segway into dinner, pizza and a movie.
2/17/2026 Grand Case Bay, St Marten
It was a calm night with a couple rain showers to keep us
hopping up to close hatches. The fly is not really doing much of a job on
keeping rain out when the wind is blowing. It was a bright sunny morning making
for a good early swim in the clear water.
We spent some more time playing with the fly installation to
see if we could quiet it down and get better rain coverage. It does seem to cut
down on the heat in the cabin and cockpit on a sunny day.
We took the dinghy to shore and walked around town. There
were supposed to be some nice restaurants here and I was looking for a creole
place. There were lots of French and island restaurants but nothing enticing
for creole. There was supposed to be a street fair on Tuesdays, but it never
materialized, maybe it was the rain. We made it back to the boat before the
rain in the evening. Overnight the sky really opened up and dropped a lot of
rain.
2/18/2026 Grand Case Bay, St Marten
Up with bright sunshine and calm waters, we prepared the
boat for departure and were underway by 1000. We headed further NE, just around
the point to a place called Anse Marcel. This turned out to be a beautiful
anchorage, a large cove or small bay with a marina tucked back in a true
hurricane hole. We anchored in about 13’ of clear water with about 10 other
boats. We took the dinghy into the marina to do our check out from St Marten.
The channel into the marina is very narrow, I can not imagine shoehorning
Raffaellesco in there. Arriving in the marina there were boats of our size, particularly
a new Amel 50. We wandered around the little resort village, very well curated
and beautiful. We found the harbor master and easily checked out and got our
exit papers stamped. We are headed to St Barts in the morning, and they require
an exit paper with a stamp and signature.
The bay had some great snorkeling spots to check out. This
was the clearest water we have seen here in the Caribbean and the colors of the
corals were vibrant in the sunshine. We saw so many fish, some Comet starfish,
Brain Coral and a healthy reef. These star fish strike me as the laziest
creatures on earth. They do not move as they lay languid on the rocks
conforming to whatever surface they happen to land on. I followed a little fish
that was camouflaged in the sand and weeds. Much to my surprise he changed
color as he swam over the sand blending in perfectly. As he passed back into
the sea grass his green irregular spots return, amazing! We passed a small Barracuda
who was uninterested in us. When we returned to the boat, we found a small
shark had taken up residence under our boat. The water was warm but out of the
water and in the breeze felt welcomingly cool. We basked in the sun on the fore
deck for a while. On the hill behind us we saw a small herd of goats
negotiating the steep rocks.
In the evening, we did some trip planning as we are leaving St Marten and heading south.
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