St Martin and boat stuff

Tikka
Sat 14 Apr 2018 19:14
18.04.98N 63.05.84W

We arrived in Simpson Bay and anchored next to our old friends Brag, so popped over to say hello, and were promptly invited for cocktails by other couple in the bay from the Channel Islands. After a few rum punches and some prosecco, we headed into the lagoon to Lagoonies Bar (we just missed happy hour where bottle of beer was 1US$!

Brag had mentioned they had got talking to a young couple in the bar a few days before who may be interested in the trip back across the Atlantic. As luck would have it they came into the bar and we arranged to meet them the following day for a test sail. All went well so Martin is now happy we have crew for the crossing.

Brag left the bay to head to the Virgin Islands on the Sunday night so we bid farewell, they are getting their boat shipped back to Southampton so we will hopefully see them back in the UK.

Monday morning arrived and we spent the next few days in and out of the massive chandler shops and other yacht services - new bridles for the anchor, many bits and pieces, new oven and hob (after several days of careful measuring we found one that just about fit), bit the bullet and invested in some solar panels.

The lagoon inside Simpson Bay is still full of ‘ghost ships’ - those that have been dredged up from the bottom of the lagoon and Irma wrought her destruction, plus many other that are still partially or fully underwater. The Dutch side seems to have recovered better than the French side.

We found a fab bakery with great WiFi - great for breakfast or lunch and catching up on emails etc, all in the company of some friendly iguanas

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After almost a week we needed to move on (or we would have ended up living at the Island Water World store!), but before we left we got the bus into Philipsburg - the main town on the Dutch side. We had a wander around, beer and lunch in a bar on the beach - not sure about the name

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And we even managed to get our iPad screen fixed in just over an hour.

We got back to Simpson Bay and had a last drink in lagoonies and headed out for out last night in the bay. Anchorage has been incredibly rolly - even making getting on and off the dinghy difficult, and not much sleep either so looking forward to a calmer few days in Anguilla.