Statia to St Maarten

True Colours
James Scrimshaw
Mon 20 Jan 2014 20:17

 Sunday 19th January  Position 18:02.01N 63:05.38W

We had already cleared out of Statia, so were able to get up and go – so we cast off at 08.30.  Our plan had been to go some way around the island to the sheltered side then hoist and reef the main;  in the event to oil pipeline buoy forced us well away from the island (how does an island as small as Statia become an international oil storage facility?  Indeed why in the 18th century was it a major trading point between Europe, the West Indies and the Americas) and we found that we were making 7 knots under genoa alone,  so we continued the whole journey like that.  Arrived at Simpson’s Bay, St Maarten at 13.40, anchored in the bay and cleared in.  We then phoned Simpson’s Bay Marina in the hope they might have a space (electric toilet has failed again, so we have no holding tank on board, making shoreside facilities quite attractive both for us and other boats close by).  SBM did indeed have space, and they sent a man out in a rib to guide us through the bridge opening, into the lagoon and around to the marina berth where there were 3 others waiting to collect our lines;  that’s service.

So today we have started our shopping and done some work on the boat. (failed toilet turns out to be a plastic cog that has broken;  Jabso make a service kit but nobody stocks them.  The buyer at Island Weter world chandlery came up trumps, factory quoted him a lead time of 40 days, but he found a retailer in the US who had one, and is having it FedExed out for Thursday.  However $100 for a plastic cog 1cm across seems a lot – we’ll see how the toilet warranty works!