Our passage from Nevis to St Martin was the longest so far at 73 miles, and went well.  An early start saw us leave Nevis at 6 am to try to ensure a daylight arrival, but we needn’t have worried.  The wind was a pleasant 15-20 knots just aft of the beam for most of the way and we were safely anchored in Marigot Bay 12 hours later despite the wind dying as we approached St Barthelemy with still a dozen miles to go.

 

Marigot Bay is a wide shallow anchorage with reasonable protection from the prevailing winds and easy access by dinghy to a supermarket.  The sea bed is bare sand, which may not be ecologically interesting but does keep the anchor and chain clean! The only disadvantage is that it is as popular as it is large and we have just spent a few nervous minutes as a fleet of charter boats emerged from Simpson Bay during the bridge opening and several started to anchor around us, with varying degrees of skill.  As is often the case, the anticipation was worse than the reality and there were no mishaps.

 

St Martin’s biggest advantages are its well developed shopping facilities and good supplies of boat bits, which every sailor needs!  On the French side, the restaurants cover the whole range from cheap and cheerful to gastronomic.  On Thursday night we dined at a pleasant waterside restaurant in Port Royal, whereas last night we visited Lagoonies in Simpson Bay for excellent fish and chips washed down with happy hour beers at $1 each and entertained by live music from the Koolberry Jam.  Today Jane wants to test the shopping!