18:04.11N 063:05.59W

14^th – 15^th March 2011

Next stop was St Martin the home of more super yachts and big chandleries.  We had been concerned we would have to rush St Martin to get to the BVIs but in the end we didn’t like it that much so two days was probably enough.

Entering Simpsons Lagoon through the south bridge.  The lagoon is a massive inland waterway but doesn’t drain very much so felt a bit smelly.

St Martin is a super yacht parking lot.  Below is Mirabelia 5, possibly the largest single masted sailing vessel  in the world.  She’s certainly big!

We only stopped for a few hours in the lagoon to visit the chandleries to collect the new toilet pipes as ours were still blocking.  We  dinghied over to the Dutch side which was very grotty and run down.  They have  had a lot of crime here recently so we decided not to stay and left on the next north bridge opening to anchor in the Baie du Marigot on the French side.  It must have been awful as we don’t appear to have any photos other than leaving through the bridge!

Baie de Marigot

The following day we moved around to Grand Case which was a lovely beach anchorage.

In the evening in Grand Case there was a large street party which was great fun.

On our way back through in April we anchored in Simpson Bay for a night and it seemed lovely, very open and tranquil compared to the BVIs so maybe we didn’t give it a fair try but you can’t go everywhere.