The anchor was raised around 10 am in order for us to pass through the swing bridge in the lagoon.  This means we pass basically from the French to the Dutch side of the lagoon.  We then hover around the superyachts at the marinas until 15 minutes later the road bridge at the Dutch entrance/exit to the lagoon is raised to let boats pass out into the open sea.

 

 

A biggish superyacht at the marina:-

 

 

 

The Dutch road bridge raised to let yachts pass through:-

 

 

 

 

Just as this photograph was taken we received a message on the VHF to say that an emergency vehicle was waiting to cross and that the bridge would have to close.  The yacht immediately in front of us evidently wasn’t listening out on the correct channel and he nearly hit the bridge as it came down.  There was a lot of shouting and the bridge master gesticulated to his hand held VHF radio to the effect that the captain should have been listening out!

 

We were told to stand by and a police vehicle came through with it’s siren on but there was no ambulance or fire vehicle.  As the police station is just across the bridge we couldn’t help thinking they were late for their tea break!

 

 

 

Lin takes us through the bridge:-

 

 

 

 

Two hours later, having motored along the south coast of Dutch Sint Maarten we went north and anchored in Marigot Bay in French St Martin.  It was so nice to be back in clear water:-

 

 

 

 

Cruise ships in the bay.  In the distance is the British dependency, the island of Anguilla:-

 

 

 

Once anchored we were off ashore to collect the laundry from Shrimpys, visit the lovely French supermarket and change our gas bottles.

 

The following day Lin made one last visit to the supermarket for fresh provisions and I cleared us out of customs and immigration.

 

 

 

Lin returning from the supermarket:-

 

 

 

We intend to head off for the BVI’s tonight.  The passage will be about 14 to 16 hours which can’t be completed in daylight hours so we will leave early evening in order to arrive and negotiate the reefs in daylight tomorrow.

 

The outboard engine was stowed and the dinghy lifted on deck.  Both needed a lot of cleaning after a few weeks in the lagoon (it had been too windy to lift the dinghy from the water overnight as we usually do – this keeps the bottom clean).