I can’t believe how fast time is going by. We arrived in St. Martin two weeks ago after our overnight passage from BVI. We spent a couple of nights in Simpson Bay. It got pretty rolly and windy. The guy installing our cell phone booster suggested we go into the lagoon.
The lagoon has a bad reputation of having not very clean water. You can understand that reputation when there are still wrecks from Irma four years ago poking their masts out of the water. I guess that the owners collected the insurance or didn’t have insurance and just left them. The government doesn’t have the funds to clean them up.
To get into the lagoon, you have to go through a draw bridge that is only open at certain times. It looks like it is an incredibly narrow passage, but our boat’s beam is 20ft; not very wide. It is amazing seeing the superyachts make their way through. Check it out on YouTube, some of the boat crashes. (See the damage done by one on the photo.)
We struck up our courage and decided to go into the lagoon. Even though we had plenty of room, I was nervous. The boats get in line and wait their turn. I think the pecking order is smaller boats first then the superyachts. As the bridge opened, I made sure I had plenty of speed going through. You don’t want to get a call from the bridge master saying you need to speed up, as the bridge is open, car traffic on the main road is stopped. It was like skiing through trees. I was thinking, “Don’t look at the sides of the bridge. Eyes forward.” We had plenty of room on both sides.
The water in the lagoon is not as clear in the bay due to it having a significant amount of seagrass, but it is still very clean.
We have become accustomed to lagoon life and all the happenings going on, including the pounding music at 3 in the morning. Glad that only happens on Saturday.
This part of Sint Maarten is a great place to find any boat part or boat service you need. Our days are spent going to the marine hardware store to find things we need for the boat. We also hired a company to install our cell booster and service the water maker. Glad we got the water maker checked out because it needed a new membrane, which we had to have delivered from the US. We have been waiting for the part and to have it installed. Once that is done we will head out to the lagoon and take the boat to the French side of the island.
The water maker is a pretty amazing piece of hardware. It takes salt water and through reverse osmosis. Don’t ask me to explain it; I can’t. It takes the salt out and gives you clean fresh water. Essential piece of machinery, unless you want to always worry about having to go to a marina to buy it.
The cool thing about being in the lagoon is we can take our dinghy and go to the French side of the island. Marigot is the capital of the French side and we are a 10 minute dinghy ride away. The French side has a totally different vibe than the Dutch side. I must say, I could get used to having an egg, ham, and cheese crepe for lunch with a glass of white wine every day. Very civilized.
The other cool thing about the lagoon is the number of restaurants that are minutes away by dinghy; we don’t need a car. We have visited most of them with a couple more to try. Each restaurant or bar has its own vibe. Some for tourists, some for locals.
One of our favorite spots is the Sint Maarten Yacht Club (no we didn’t join another club, but we now are honorary members.) Very much a mixture of locals and tourists. You can stand on their deck and watch the superyachts make their way through the bridge. Pretty entertaining. That is it for now.
Photo is "Picnic" coming through the Simpson Bay Bridge. We're at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club.
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