On to St. Maarten - 18:04.2N 63:05.3W
syladyshamrock
dmccarthy
Thu 5 May 2011 00:44
Every
day now the horns of the surrounding yachts sound loudly, wishing farewell to
their friends departing for the Mediterranean. At the same time the Classics are
arriving in for what is reputedly the best week in Antigua. Soon after
Antigua will be void of any yachts as the hurricane season rolls in. A lot
of the bars and restaurants where we have spent our evenings will close and
Antigua will return to hibernation to emerge again next winter. My good
intentions to leave before everybody else keep getting hampered by my own
reluctance to go.
With some light provisioning and the help of some Irish friends to get
water on-board.* I am pretty much ready to depart. St Maarten is reputedly
the best place in the Caribbean to stock up as it is tax free. I have
called ahead to one of the chandlery's to ensure that they have the correct
cmaps charts for the my next voyage. At 0930 a 40ft tender of one of the
Classics pulls up alongside and passes me a hose to fill my water tanks. Iâd
love to have got a photo but the strain to complete the task was similar to
refuelling a F16 mid-air. I have been up the mast and checked all the rigging
terminals, a quick run through of the engine, steering cables checked and
tightened and the double headsails removed and the single Yankee put back up. I
will most likely be broad-reaching or reaching until I hit the States.
After a days sailing I arrive outside the French town of Marigot. The
anchorage here is busy and I take an hour surveying the depth and the bottom for
a good place to anchor. Finally anchored close to the town I pump up the
dingy and head ashore. The first thing I need to do is clear-in. I
have been warned about clearing in to the Dutch side of the Island , hence my
decision to clear in on the French side. I ask a couple of people for the
immigration office but when I find it, it is closed for training. I am
told to come back at four oâclock instead. Luckily I discover that you can
clear in at the marina. It is far simpler and cheaper too. The
emigration at the ferry dock charge 20 euro but the marina direct you to a
computer and let you fill in your details yourself and pay 5 euro.
Thrilled with my frugal moves I head to the bar for some cool ones and a date
with the internet.
The following day I get a bus to the Dutch side of the island to collect my
charts and do some shopping. On meeting the guy who is in charge of
ordering I explain that I had emailed him, to which I got a response, and
I had called before I left Antigua to confirm that the charts were in
stock. Unfortunately he could not remember any of this, so I asked him to
check his inbox under Lady Shamrock, sure enough there was the email but that
didnât mean that I was going to get the charts Iâd ordered. The best he
could do is order the charts for me which would take seven days.
Disgusted, I went down to Budget Marine where they made every effort to find a
solution but the best was still going to be a wait of five days. Instead I
bought some large scale paper charts and a bucket to replace the ones I keep
breaking and losing. I managed to make it to St Maarten in one piece so I
would just have to keep doing what I was doing, besides, I am told that the
charting of these islands is pretty bad and not to be relied upon in any
instance.
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