It's the Same Old Song
andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Thu 12 Apr 2012 17:33
We had looked forward to going to St. Maarten/Sint Martin for a lot of
reasons. The island is approximately half French and half Dutch is
completely duty free and so a haven for picking up boat spares etc. We
had checked into the Dutch side and were within walking distance of the
two main chandleries located here, Budget Marine and Island Water World,
both huge and stocking almost everything needed. After clearing in and
catching up on some sleep we were ready the following day to explore and
find our way around.
During our voyage around the Caribbean islands we have consulted our Pilot
Guides regularly as they give you a good heads up on what is available in
the various islands, though as they are updated every two years there is
always something not included in them. The entry for St. Maarten however
was pretty much spot on, and we soon located the places we wanted to find
and came back with two up to date catalogues to peruse and make our
shopping lists from (hey shopping is shopping as far as Susan is concerned
and she even likes finding all the boaty stuff too). We also enjoyed the
local cruisers net – this time broadcasting on channel 14 and although the
weather report was very sketchy we did get information on events going on
and there was always quite a lot of stuff on the for trade, sale or barter
list, not that we succumbed this time.
The next day was Sunday and everywhere being closed we went to the beach,
only about 10 minutes away, and enjoyed ourselves in the water, not as
scenic as a lot of places, but not as busy either and we watched the
planes taking off and landing across the bay, appearing to be only just
above the beach that ran alongside the runway. Back in the marina we
enjoyed the shower facilities eventually working out how to get a bit of
warm water....bliss and so soft.
On Monday morning we were up early and ready to sort things out and before
long had arranged for yet another technician to come and look at the
generator....they sounded like they knew what they were doing....we have
been here before. It was then off to the chandlers to buy a new wind
generator. When we lost our original one off the Azores we couldn’t
source the same model to replace it until after the ARC went so had
settled for a different model which just hadn’t performed as well but now
we were in a place where they had one on the shelf and we could get it and
the other bits at duty free prices, plus they delivered it to Andromeda
too. Tuesday shaped up to be pretty exciting, the Aerogen was delivered
first thing in the morning but we noticed that the inverter we had bought
was for 12volt systems and we run 24volts on Andromeda so that had to go
back and whilst Susan was doing that Andrew stayed aboard to wait for the
man once again. Having returned the inverter Susan then went to the other
chandlers and bought a new outboard engine, something we had promised
ourselves since arriving in Barbados and this was the place to get it.
The generator man came and pondered and reckoned it was relatively
straight forward to fix – a new capacitor, a new exhaust sensor and a new
control board and all would be ok. It took a few more days before this
actually came to pass but we left St. Maarten with a working generator –
yippee – alas we forgot to charge the starting battery but that’s just one
of those things. Andrew installed the Aerogen and re-wired the solar panel
and lo and behold we had more electricity being generated than before and
we are almost sure we may have got it about right. We still have the other
wind generator and may well mount this in due course. We had great fun
browsing the chandleries and picked up a few things for when we are laid
up in Trinidad.
We took the opportunity to visit Phillipsburg, the capital of the Dutch
side of the island and then went onto Marigot, the capital of the French
side, travelling by the local buses, a very cheap way of getting around.
Phillipsburg was mainly a cruise ship destination with lots of shops
selling jewellery, spirits, cameras, precious stones and the like – not
really our cup of tea, but worth a visit. Marigot was typically French and
much more interesting, with a huge marina built in a large circle and very
chic to boot. Nice place to walk around but quite pricey too. We walked to
the largest supermarket a for some provisions and then passed the largest
gathering of Harely-Davidsons we had ever seen – they are very, very
popular on the island. During our stay we caught up with Peter from Stella
Maris – we first met him in St. Lucia, Guy and Debbie from Lady of Avalon
(they were in Trinidad and had crossed on the 2010 Arc too) and just as we
were leaving saw the Life of Riley.
Alas it was time to go and after a bit of provisioning we left the marina
to catch the 11am bridge to anchor in Simpson Bay for the night before
leaving for Guadeloupe early the following day. After several attempts we
were happy with the set of the anchor and settled down to a very, very
rolly night with not much sleep for either of us and were glad to set off
early next morning.
After a couple of hours sailing we had a problem with the big genoa winch
on the starboard side, we could not bring the sail in tight enough to
make the course we needed, so decided to head for St. Kitts instead and
where we could sort the problem out in an anchorage – it was not
something to try in a rolly sea and 20knots of wind unless we really had to.
We arrived off Basseterre, the only town, around 5pm and after not being
able to raise the marina, anchored near the coastguard base. Not such a
rolly night, but rolly enough.
The following morning we tried to raise the marina several times as we
thought that whilst there it would be nice to at least explore the island
– finally as we had just about given up we heard them respond to another
yacht and quickly to arrange a berth for a few nights. By this time, as we
were up early, we had sorted the winch out and it was now in good working
order again. It being Sunday it took a while to clear Customs and
Immigration but we did get some time to look at the town and arrange a
tour of the island the following day, no cruise ships were due in so a
good day to see the island in relative peace and quiet.
After a peaceful night Monday morning arrived and having booked into the
marina we set off for our tour. St. Kitts is another lovely island with
its own feel and interesting history. There is a very well preserved fort,
Fort Brimstone, that commanded great views over the northern sea
approaches and was well worth the look round. We took in some beautiful
gardens, a popular spot for wedding photographs according to our driver,
Albert and stopped for many photo opportunities. For American visitors
there is a lot of historical interest as Thomas Jefferson’s great, great,
great grandfather lived here and there are a lot of reminders of this
fact. We saw the current Prime Minister’s home and it was on an ordinary
street in an ordinary village – very different to some of the homes we
have seen on other islands. Eventually we found ourselves at the southern
end of the island where the big hotels have set up shop and a huge golf
course has been laid, very plush. On the way back to the marina Albert
very kindly stopped at the big supermarket so we could pick up a few bits
and not have to carry them so far - something we really appreciate.
Tuesday we walked around the town and took photos and had a look round the
duty free centre. This is a huge complex that is only really open when
the cruise ships come in and had the usual array of shops on offer. Susan
managed to find a couple of bargain bikinis and some hats (we are always
losing our caps) and t-shirts.
Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and washed Andromeda down
from one end to the other and then caught the local ferry down to Nevis
for a day out. Nevis is a small and very sleepy island that is volcanic
in origin. We chose the day to visit when the local schools had their
sportsday and so the shops closed early and the televisions were tuned to
watch the event – not something that you’d see in the UK. A nice light
lunch and a long walk along the beach made a nice change on such a quiet
island. The ferry takes about 40 minutes to cross from St. Kitts to Nevis.
Thursday saw us leave the marina, after clearing Customs and Immigration,
who were having problems with their computer systems but eventually we
cleared just before the next cruise ship docked. We were planning to head
for Dominica. However, islands and their effect on the wind can be very
dramatic with wind acceleration zones being typical and the only course we
could make on leaving Basseterre was Colombia. Once we were well south of
Nevis and almost due west of Montserrat the wind came round and changing
plans again we could finally lay a course for southern Guadeloupe avoiding
the dust cloud from Montserrat’s volcano. Sailing though the night until
the wind dropped and we put on the engine saw us at dawn off Basseterre in
Guadeloupe and we headed to Les Saintes and picked up a mooring buoy and
to spend the Easter weekend before heading to Dominica.
more in due course
Andrew and Susan
S/V Andromeda of Plymouth
Les Saintes
Caribbean
