St Martins

Go to Trinidad
Go Back to St. Thomas
click here to return to main page
click here to return to Table of Contents leg 1
click here to return to Table of Contents leg 2
click here to return to Table of Contents leg 3
Return Puerto Rico
Return to leaving Miami
return to recap-July02-Dec.03

May10, 2004
St Martin, Lesser Antilles

We had a wonderful 22 hr. passage, light winds, low seas and a beautiful oval moon to guide us to St. Martin/Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles. St Martin/ Sint Maarten is located on the northern edge of the Lesser Antilles; it is half French and half Dutch. We are anchored on the northwest side in Marigot Bay, which is the French side of the island. We toured the fort on the hill over looking the bay. Ft. Louis, built in 1789, protected Marigot from pirates and English invaders. It offered us a wonderful view of the town, bay, Simpson lagoon and Anguilla, another small island nearby.

We will go to Phillipsburg, the capitol of the Dutch side where on Old Street we will see many old buildings, but it is mostly a shopping center for the cruise boats.

We will scope the island for places to take our guests. Our friends Mary and John from SAN are staying in a hotel in Phillipsburg with just a couple of nights on Sorrento. We are excitedly awaiting our son David from Reno (the 1st to 19th June) and Teddy and Marsha from the Bay area (the 20th June). Can't wait to see them all.

We have a DVD player now so we are renting the latest movies to watch. We think there is a movie theater on the island. Dave is catching big snapper every night off the boat, so we have plenty of great seafood to eat. Today we are going to hunt lobster and gather conch.

Well, it's time to explore the reefs.
We'll keep you posted.

Marsha Alexander and Ted Mitchell came to visit in St. Martins June 2004 Marsha and Fran enjoying Pina coladas

Dave and Fran on shore and Marsha and Ted on the Sorrento

An evening out to celebrate a 'birthday' and a wonderful visit to St. Martins

July 2004 - After a wonderful time entertaining family and friends in St. Thomas and St. Martins, we will leave St Martins very shortly to head south to be below the hurricane line. We will be in touch soon.
Fran & Dave on the Sorrento

July 14, 2004
St. Pierre, Martinque

Hi Everyone,

We enjoyed St. Martin and had fun with our guests, Ted and Marsha. We sailed, snorkeled and just enjoyed the pretty beaches.

We had a farewell, happy hour on Paul and Lynne's boat KIONA, cruisers we met in St. Martin. We departed at 0230 and had a rough passage to Guadeloupe. The seas were angry, my friends!! It took 36 hrs to go 140 miles. During the trip, the mainsail tore. Dave had to go on deck and bring it down. Towards the last part of the passage, it started to calm a little and we made it safely into a pretty little bay on the northwest side of the island, Deshaies (Day Hay). We spent some time checking out the little town. Next, we headed to a southern anchorage on the same island. Then we went across to The Saints, 8 pretty green and lush islands. We snorkeled and hiked to two different forts on two different islands - Fort Josephine - and you guessed it - Fort Nepoleon, which the French keep in pristine condition.

From there to Dominica, to a nice quiet little anchorage. After a few hours rest there, we pulled up anchor and headed to Martinique. The passage was good one. - 15kts of wind, beam reach, seas 5-6 ft. - we were sailing now!

We pulled into a bay that has a spectacular view of the Mt. Pelee'volcano. It erupted in 1902 Ascension Day and sent a fireball into the town killing 30,000 residents. The entire town except for two people-a boat captain who was out to sea and saw it all happen and a prisoner in the local jail. No ash or fire got to him, amazing.

While we are here on this beautiful island of Martinique, we will try to locate someone to work on our generator, which quit. The language is French and the money Euros. The food is fantastic and the bread out of this world. July 14th is Bastille day here - should be interesting!

Will write when we can. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

July 18
Martinque, Windward Islands

We are in a little bay, getting our generator fixed. It's so great we found someone, and he speaks English. A lot of these folks do.
We have been kayaking and enjoying the resorts' pool and beaches. he,he
Be well, Fran and Dave

Saturday Aug. 14,2004
Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou,
Grenadine Islands

Hi Everyone,
It's update time... We were in St. Lucia, one of the windward islands, at Rodney Bay Marina for two weeks. It was a nice little spot. We had a pool, laundry, water, electricity and cable and lots of restaurants and bus service to other cities.
My son, David flew in for a week. We were able to sail south the next day to the Pitons. These are two very beautiful, high, and very steep mountains in the southern part of St.Lucia. Just as we were about to grab a mooring ball, a squall came by and blew us off. We tried again and were able to secure a hold. After it settled down, my son and I went for a snorkel. David likes to jump off high rocks so we scouted the shoreline and found a good size rock for his folly. We're starting to see more coral reefs at this lattitude.
We left the next morning for the island of Bequia and had a fabulous sail. Great winds and seas! We by-passed St. Vincent as we were told not to anchor there because of recent boardings. Since we had such good sailing conditions, we continued to Bequia. We anchored and went ashore, walked the small and friendly town and decided where we would snorkel the next day. However, in the evening little did we know that Hurricane Charlie was forming right over us. Dave and David put out a second anchor. We tied everything down on the boat. We kept anchor watch all night. It was very hot and humid. It seemed to have abated by the next morning so we sailed south (still not in the safe zone yet, latitude 12 degrees 40 minutes north). We sailed into Canouan, a huge bay with a resort. We snorkeled and that evening took Davidson to shore for his birthday dinner and sadly his farewell dinner too. The next morning he headed back to the States. It was wonderful to see him and have him aboard.
That afternoon we sailed to the Tobago Cays, a truly wonderful, very caribbean, group of small deserted islands. We caught lobster and conch and were happy to be in turquoise and green waters again with little palm tree islands. And the best is we are at lattitude N 12 degress,40 minutes.
We are now anchored in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou waiting to hear if "Earl" is going to pass us or head right at us. We will be ready to move into the mangroves if need be. Keep your fingers crossed.

Monday, August 16,2004
Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
We spent a horrible day at anchor! Tropical storm Earl came right over us. It was fierce, 40 kts. winds with gusts up to 50 kts. It pulled our jib sail out and tore it. We did the same drill as when we were in Bequia:- second anchor out and tied everything down. Boats were dragging and a big local ferry boat dragged right through the anchorage and missed everyone. The storm finally abated after 8 hours.
We're fine and safe and very thankful.!!


Marsha Alexander and Ted Mitchell came to visit in St. Martins June 2004	Marsha and Fran enjoying Pina coladas

	Dave and Fran on shore and Marsha and Ted on the Sorrento An evening out to celebrate a 'birthday' and a wonderful visit to St. Martins