We arrived mid-day today at Marigot Bay in St. Martin (the French side). It was a great trip, with no bad weather. Unless you can call the lack of wind forcing us to use our motors too much “bad”. The final stage of the trip, we did get to sail during the night. But, we had to “tack” using our motors in order to keep far enough east to avoid a more delayed arrival. And, once we rounded the first island (Sombrero Island, northwest of Anguilla), we had to turn into the wind. So, we ended up motoring the rest of the way into St. Martin.
Once we arrived at the bay, we dropped our anchor with a beautiful view of the island. We took showers, changed clothes, lowered “Coconut” (our dinghy) and rode through the canal to the Marina Royale. I had read you could enter the country through their office and it was less expensive than using the ferry office. Entry was simple as entering a form on a computer, getting a stamp, and paying 5 Euros. Much cheaper than entering on the Dutch side of the island.
We walked the stores nearby and soon purchased some fresh ice cream. Yummy!
Tonight we plan to go ashore again and have a nice French dinner. We had a rain shower right after we got back to Tahina, and afterwards wiped down the boat. It was very convenient since that saved us using our own fresh water to do the washing.
After 7 days at sea, 1317 nautical miles, we completed our trip from Carolina Beach, North Carolina to St. Martin. A great start to our 5 year trip!
Karen and Frank, It’s fantastic to hear that your great adventure is under way! Sounds absolutely wonderful to be in St. Martin as I look at piles of ice and snow in all of our parking lots here in Colorado. I look forward to following your journey. Godspeed, Gretchen
Congratulatons on a successful first leg of your trip. It brings back memories of sailing the BVI over twenty years ago. I will be following you on Twitter and Google Earth as you make your circumnavigation. Checking out your marina I notice the Bali Bar nearby, might be worth a look. Wishing you great sailing in the coming years!
Congratulations, You sound like an old salt and it’s apparent that you know what you are doing. Pictures look great.
Admiral Karen and Captain Frank,
We are SOOOOO excited for you guys! It sounds like the beginning of an absolutely amazing adventure; we will be following you all the way and vicariously enjoying the experience! All our best! Jan and Joe
Thanks Carl!
Thanks Jan and Joe! Glad you guys are following us – and keeping an eye on the house for us.
Thanks Gretchen! We definitely are enjoying the warmer weather!
Frank and Karen,
Great to hear you arrived at your first destination safely. The photos were awesome! Just wanted to let you know your Mom and Carl got here safely.
We have moved in to our new home and we are trying to unpack as quickly as possible. Looking forward to seeing both of your daughters here for Thanksgiving. We are now having 28 people for dinner that day. Lots of family, friends and fun. We are definitely breaking in the new house the right way. We will miss you guys this year. Take care, love you guys lots, and have a wonderful time on your trip. I will try to follow you as much as possible.
P.S. – Jason got permission from the school to leave on a moments notice, if you need him. He already has his passport and is up to date on his shots. So don’t be afraid to call if you need him.
Norman
I love the reflections on the mirror ocean. I’ve never seen anything like that before. So glad all is well and that you have an auspicious beginning to your expedition.
Christine
And it is so cool that it is an expedition and as well as … Ocean, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the seaship Tahina. It’s five year mission: to explore strange new reefs, to seek out new life and new passport stamps, to boldly go where no Tahina has gone before.
Thanks for the update Norman! I’ll keep Jason in mind for sure. It may be a while before our next big passages.