U is For Unbelievable Spectacle....Carnival in Sint Maarten

We have had no lack of things to see and do in St. Martin and our timing was perfect for carnival on the Dutch side Sint Maarten. Carnival on the French side is in February but the Dutch celebrate the end of April and May day with a four day holiday. We took two buses from Grand Case to Marigot and then on to Phillipsburg and joined the thousands of happy locals lining the streets for their carnival parade. Carnival goes on for several days and nights beginning with what is called a Juvie which entails getting up at 4am and joining a parade of revellers who dance and sing their way around Great Salt Pond at Phillipsburg. We thought we could pass on that part of the celebration and decided to go to one of the parades which occur during the day and don't involve getting up in the middle of the night.

What a spectacle it was and the costumes were unbelievable. The parade lasted for close to two hours with at least a dozen huge trucks with bands providing the music for the hundreds of costumed dancers. The dancers were of all ages and shapes and sizes and the outfits were amazing. The biggest challenge was to keep their head dresses from blowing off in the wind. The parade we saw was on Monday and yesterday Tuesday May 1st they were going to do it all again. I imagine many folks go back to work today very tired.

Kite surfing is popular at Orient Beach.

Yesterday we took the opportunity to take a bus to the windward side and walk the famous Orient Beach. Being topless is allowed in the French Islands but total nudity is only allowed at the club at Orient Beach. Naturally we had to visit the club and check it out for ourselves. The sign at the beach bar says No shirt No pants No Problem! The captain was in his glory eating pizza and drinking beer at the beach. It was just like being at the cottage but only more entertaining. club Orient is a resort for naturists that has been on Orient Beach for many years and given the number of people we saw on the beach it continues to be popular.

When in Rome do as the Romans do.

T is for The Anegada Passage Unaffectionately Known as The Oh-My-God-A Passage

Today is Thursday April 26th and we are anchored in Marigot Bay, Saint Martin. Saint Martin is shared by the Dutch and the French and we are on the French side. We arrived the day before yesterday after an overnight passage from the Virgin Islands. We enjoyed the Spanish Virgins very much and it was hard to leave the area; however the weather was good for a passage to the US Virgin Islands and John is picking Katherine up in St. Thomas. We had a good motorsail to St. John and anchored in a bay surrounded by multi million dollar homes in the hills. Three quarters of the island is park but the other one quarter is definitely reserved for the rich and famous.

We had an easy day and did a little paddling and we went snorkelling with John around the mouth of the bay. The coral was not great but at least we could see some new growth. From here we sailed back across the three mile channel to St. Thomas and anchored in the lee of an island called Little St. John. Once again we went snorkelling with John and this time we saw much healthier and more colourful coral and more fish. Unfortunately we had our underwater Fugi camera stolen by the drug enforcement agent back in the Dominican Republic so we haven't been able to take anymore underwater pictures. John left us the next day to go into the marina to be there to meet Kathy at the airport. The next day we met up with them back in Cruz Bay, St. John. We had decided that the weather was good to continue on and hoped that they would join us; however they were not ready to move on and decided to stay in the US Virgins for a few more days. It was hard to leave them especially since Kathy had just returned and we had had such a nice couple of weeks getting to know John; however everyone is on a different timetable and we are in boat delivery mode now and not so much cruising mode if we hope to get home to Ontario by early June. We had a glorious day sail through the British Virgin Islands and had a brief stop in Virgin Gorda for a quick paddle and snorkel at The Baths.

I could have spent all day there snorkelling among these magnificent boulders which are under water as well as along the shore. We grabbed a bite to eat and then up anchor just as the sun was going down and off across the 80 miles to St. Martin. This stretch of water is known as The Anegada Passage also known unaffectionately as the Oh-My- God- A Passage. The combination of a strong current and the open Atlantic flowing into the Caribbean Sea can kick up quite a swell and chop between the Virgin Islands and St. Martin and of course we are still sailing east into the ever present trade winds. We had decided to leave when we did because the wind was forecast to be 8-12 knots and it doesn't get much better than that in The Anegada. We must have the record for the shortest trip to the British Virgin Islands...anchoring for a quick paddle and dinner and then off on passage. We were very tired when we arrived in Marigot Bay but grateful to have had an uneventful crossing of the Anegada. We wouldn't have wanted to have had much more wind than we did as we had to motorsail hard through the waves but after 18 hours we were anchoring in a new island paradise.