We hung out in St. John's Francis bay Sunday and Monday and part of Tuesday. Kris's back felt better, so she went for a nice long walk, first one in a few days.
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| Nice trail through trees |
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| Top of the trail overlooking pond and anchorage. Charm is in the center of the photo |
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| Ruins of old Annaberg Country school |
On Monday we had an unexpected visitor for most the day, that kept us amused for a while.
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| Brown pelican using our bow as a perch to spot fish |
It was fun to watch him dive for small fish around the boat. He/she had a pretty good kill ratio. Fish frequently use cruising boats as protected areas to gather around, and this guy got smart and took advantage of that.
Unfortunately the visitor did not observe our strict no pooping on the deck policy, so Dean had to go up in the evening and wash the offense away.
The weather looked good, so Tuesday afternoon we hoisted anchor and set sail. Had a great sail east to St. Martin, and were joined by 5 other boats with the same idea.
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| On AIS we are the green boat on the track line. |
Had a good sail with mostly north winds. Averaged around 6.5 knots for the entire 90 mile trip. Quite happy, as we were the smallest of all the boats sailing, yet none passed us over the twelve hour sail. North of us were two 53 mono hulls, south was one 45 catamaran and one 45 mono hull.
We got in at 5:30 in the morning and since there was full moon we felt safe to anchor in the north bay. Got a couple hours sleep and up to make the bridge opening at 8:30 into the inner lagoon. The bridge is a bascule bridge but only has a 32.8 foot width opening, which feels smaller when you are going through it. We are 21' wide, so have almost 6' on each side, but sure looks tight.
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| Another catamaran went under the bridge ahead of us |
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| Looks smaller the closer we got to it. |
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| Bridge in down position |
We made it just fine, Dean did an excellent job driving through, no scraps. There is another bridge on the Dutch side of the island, but they charge a fee, and then to get to the French side of the island we would have to go under another bridge. We want the French side because check in is easier, and cheaper. Only $2 to check into the French side, and we do it mostly all ourselves on a self serve computer at the marine store.
Check in successful, we went and had a nice lunch out. We were walking by on the street, and the owner was out cleaning tables, and wanted to show us his food. We declined, and wandered further into town, but a cruise ship must have been in, because the "touristy" part of town was quite busy. So we headed back, and decided to try his place. He took us on a full tour of his restaurant kitchen, showing us the different food he had. After the tour, he took our order, and Kris went to use the sink to wash up before eating - and the sink is the same one the staff uses for dishes and why not. - Not in America any more. The food was good, the service great, and the experience even better.
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| Kris's plate of Potatoes and chopped cod, with an side of Zucchini with something? Dean had the lasagna. |
Next couple of days we basically turned into slugs, and just hung out on the boat, reading, relaxing, and watching the activity around us. The anchorage is quite large, with plenty of room for the boats, without feeling tight, but there are a lot of boats.
Oh, what fun! That bridge opening does look very tight!! Sadly, I note that there is no Mt. Dew on the lunchtable! Enjoy St. Martin.
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