BonJour St. Martin

St. Martin is one island shared by two countries: France and the Netherlands. The French side is St. Martin and the Dutch side is Sint Maarten. The French side has the sidewalk cafes, beautiful pastries and mouthwatering French Cuisine. The primary language is French but English is widely used and if "merci" and "bonjour" is all the French you know, no problem. The American $ can be spent here but must be converted from the Euro (E). Not a good thing right now. The conversion rate can vary widely depending on the business. There is a range of 1E to 1$ in a few restaurants but generally it is E1 to 1.50$.



On the Dutch side it is all about shopping. Here the Netherlands Antilles Guilder (ANG) is the primary currency but the US dollar is welcome. The conversion is 1$ to 1.80 ANG. It is more fun to convert this way but in the end it is all the same….very expensive. Regular gasoline for our small dingy is currently going for $6.17/gallon. Diesel is over $5/gallon and seems to go up every day. Needless to say, we are sailing as much as possible. A great day is a downwind sail.

Sharing of this lovely island by two sovereign powers appears seamless to the visiting tourist. The local legend tells us the borders were defined by a walking race between a Dutchman and a Frenchman who stood back to back and set off in opposite directions to walk around the island until they met. It is said that the Dutchman was slower because he stopped to have a drink now and then which allowed the Frenchman to claim more territory. Believe it or not, it seems like good foreign policy.

We opted to anchor in Marigot Bay on the French side of the island. Definantly one of our favorite places.

The island is surrounded by beautiful bays. The French side allows free anchoring anywhere.

There are many amenities here. Need to call home.... no problem.

Or you can buy your own internet phone in one of the duty free Dutch shops. Steve and Jim playing with their new Nokia phones.

Traveling around the island is easy. Simply catch a bus, take your dingy or rent a car.

Like all islands, St. Martin's history is rich in stories of pirates, foreign domination and folklore. As told by the French, Ft. Lewis was built on a hill to protect the inhabitants from the "agressive British Navy". Not much remains today except perhaps the splendid view.

The local airport provides some serious amusement. There is a bar at the end of the runway. The planes come in to land directly over the beach, the bar and your head.


Standing right behind the engines as the planes take off….who would do such a stupid thing!

Silly boys

On a lucky day we end up seeing a local parade.

And even luckier is an afternoon nap

Next stop is Saba then onward to St. Kitts and Antigua.

Au Revoir

Anne and Steve

S/V Fine Line

Adventures In Paradise

The US Virgin Islands consist of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas. St. Croix is not on our cruising plan this trip but St. Thomas and St. John are.

St. Thomas is all about cruise ships. Charlotte Amalie Harbor can accomodate at least four giants and another two can dock around the corner at Crowne Pointe. Imagine the transformation this small island goes through when 6 giant cruise ships are in port and all the passengers want to shop. It is bedlam! Fun to watch and there are some good deals here. Liquor, jewelry and island nick nacks are the main attractions. Best of all there is no sales tax. We stocked up on Rum and have no more room for jewels or knick knacks, oh darn!

The cruise ships generally arrive in the early morning and depart in the late afternoon.

There are lots of great restaurnts to sample. Anne celebrated her 50 something birthday with friends at a local favorite, 'Room With a View'.

Next door is the island of St. John. Known for it's beauty and laidback lifestyle. Both Islands have a local bus. If the bus is late, no problem, you can have a beer or two while you wait. Leave your bottles right there and the local fire department will stop by and clean it up....every day......really! Not sure exactly where you want to go? No problem, there are lots of options.
The coconut tree climber of St. John
One of our favorite yachts.
All the Caribbean Islands host an annual Carnival. It is not just a day's event. It goes on for at least a week with various celebrations. The final day is usually a parade with costumes, music and crazy dancing. It is a great event to see.

This was our favorite princess.

Dorothy came all the way from Kansas. She brought some of her friends.
The costumes are amazing........

Great dancers

The local youth steel band rocked the crowd.
Everybody gets into the spirit

Everyone has their favorite
And ladies, here is the view from behind.

After a long hard day of Carnival we return to our little boats via the ferry.

Special effects

A bit of island history must includes the sugar cane plantations and mills on St. John. The green hillside in this photo was once terraced and planted with sugar cane. Slaves were imported to the islands to work the fields and the mills. Today many descendants of these slaves remain on the islands.

St. John is one of our favorite islands. There is great snorkeling, serene beaches and good hiking.
The islands are very mountainous and offer great exercise and spectacular views.

There are wild herds of donkeys and goats. They are not very timid.
The park service offers guided tours and are very knowledgable regarding herbs and plants.
Cane Garden Bay in the British Virgin Islands is also a great stop. There are some good places to hear local music and when the point breaks at Cane Garden Bay....
There is fun to be had for all Fred and Kathy dingy surfing
Anne and Steve catching a wave

We had one more stop to make before heading south again. Anegada is a small flat island known for it's beautiful reef and great lobster. We could not pass up a visit here so with the wind on our backs we hoisted the gennaker and set sail. We made the 14 mile sail in less than 2 hours. Our top speed was 12.9 knots.

We are heading south again, still into the wind. A 12 hour motorsail will bring us to St. Martin, the French/Dutch island. We would like to spend some time here but we are beginning to worry about the weather.

The beginning of hurricane season is only 2 weeks away. Our very expensive boat insurance wants us south of Grenada by June 1. Not sure we will make that deadline but fortunately we have good weather reports and can stay informed and make a run south should we need to.

Au Revoir

Anne and Steve

S/V Fine Line

Spanish Virgin Islands

The Spanish Virgin Islands lie due east of Puerto Rico. They are part of the Virgin Island archipelago but they differ politically and culturally. They are Spanish Speaking islands but many of the inhabitants also speak English. The two biggest islands are Isla de Vieques and Isla de Culebra.


We had not planned to visit Vieques but when we left the east coast of Puerto Rico the wind was blowing in our face and the seas were right on the bow. Looking at this map you can see why we made a quick right hand turn and put up our sails.....aahhhhh, nice.



Vieques was used for target practice by the US and NATO navies. Over the last few years they have moved on but there is still alot of munitions clean up going on. The word is "do not pick up anything that looks man made on the beaches".

We found ourselves anchored off the small seaside of community of Esperanza. The winds were again blowing and the north swell would keep us at anchor for a few days.
This unfortunate boat broke anchor and was swept up on a sandbar, lucky him it wasn't a reef. The captain and crew were out biking riding and so the other boaters in the anchorage did their best to get the boat free. It was not to be and the little Dutch boat sat there until his bike riding owner came back. It took the aide of a big powerboat to pull him free.
We can always find something to do on shore while waiting for the weather to improve.
The local pub is called.....you guessed it BANANAS!

The town is not big but has two small grocery stores. Where are they? Ask a local and they will tell you "go up that street and go that way and then when you get to the big rock, turn left". OK, got that, here is the rock and sure enough the store was to the left
With a little break in the weather we pulled up our anchor. It wasn't easy because we had found an abandoned pipe and our anchor was tucked under it, nice and snug. Good thing it wasn't a bomb. Steve had to dive down and free it, way to go Captain!

Just a bit east we found this great anchorage. There was one other boat there for one night and then we had the place to ourselves. Does not get better than this.

A little solitude is good for the soul.
A little reflection...thinking about?

Soon we were heading east again. Heading for Culebra.

Culebra is a pretty little island. The town of Dewey lies in a large cove. There is a great anchorage here and lots of boaters visit.Visitors also arrive by plane and an hour and a half ferry ride from Puerto Rico costs around $2.25. No cruise ships dock here.

The island is all about tourism. There are plenty of restaurants and bars.

Our favorite place without a doubt was Mamacitas. The food was great, the staff was nice and the guests were interesting.No french fries for this guy.

There were some cute small shops to visit but sometimes on a small island you get unusual business hours

You can rent cars, jeeps or golf carts to see the sights.Jim and Roxanne on Dawn Dancer joined us for a day of exploring.

The island is almost surrounded by reef with lots of good anchorages.

The island has it's share of big houses but it is the small brightly colored houses that make the island what it is......Caribbean. Security is important

Flamenco Beach is spectacularly beautiful
Across the bay from Culebra lies the small island of Culebrita. This island is uninhabited but is a favorite weekend spot for local Puerto Ricans. Big power boats with big sound systems make the 20+ mile trip to the island. Let the party begin.

It was fun watching the families pulling little ones in intertubes and skiing on two skis. It reminded us of our former life.

There are great hiking trails on the island. This old lighthouse looks to be retired but it is still providing a bright light for mariners using solar panels.The stairs to the top were kind of rickety but up went Steve

The view was worth it
We are surrounded by islands

And off in the distance lies St. Thomas, our next port of call. It is a mere 20 miles due east. The highlight of these past few days and nights was seeing the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross is a small constellation seen only below the 25th latitude. It was used by ancient mariners to locate south. So now we know why we came this way.....la di dah.

See you in St. Thomas

Steve and Anne