Superyachts, The Bottom and Loro Piana

Have had a great week or so with almost everything going to plan apart from the schooling which fell behind a bit - could be why we had such a good week.

Came into the marina last Monday(10th March).  At the marina we had chosen, we had to Mediterranean moor into a quayside packed with mega yachts.  (To those not into sailing that means reversing into the quayside.  About 2 boat lengths out you drop the anchor to end up with your stern tied to the dock and the anchor holding your bow).  Scott was nervous as hell but things went pretty well and we managed to reverse into the quayside with little trouble.  It was only once we reached the quayside that the dockmaster asked if we intended to deploy our anchor?  In his stressed state Scott had completely forgotten about the bow end.  Anyway it was pretty calm and the dockmaster ran the anchor out for us with his run about.

We were berthed at Palapa Marina where we had stayed last April.  It is on the lagoon which is the protected harbour for St Maarten and is one of a number of marinas on the lagoon.   St Maarten is a yachting hub for the Caribbean.  The place is much busier than before and there are superyachts stacked at each of the big marinas.  On the dock just down from us are these monster sailing yachts all around 120 plus feet.  They are absolutely immaculate and the crews are in a constant state of cleaning something or other.  Everything is gleaming stainless, polished fibreglass, smooth teak and glass and soft lighting at night.  There must be twenty to thirty something huge motor yachts in the lagoon and a similar number of sailing megayachts.  The money involved in the day to day running is just unthinkable.  Anyway needless to say any illusions of grandeur we have had have been duly quashed.

Spent the week getting the final stuff done to the boat and she is now 95% ready for the Atlantic.  We have reprovisioned  - its amazing how much food 7 people will eat in a month long crossing - and fixed a few outstanding issues.  There will be a few bits and pieces to do between now and when we depart from the BVI’s but hopefully nothing major.

For the last couple of days we hired a car and had a bit of a look around other parts of the island which we had not seen.  St Maarten is one of the more developed of Caribbean islands having the dual support of the Netherlands and France.  It is also a reasonable size so there are different areas to see.  The dutch side is more busy and modern while the French side is more relaxed.  The main French town of Marigot while not beautiful has a certain laid back charm to it.

We left St Maarten on Sunday morning and sailed for Saba - another Dutch island approximately 30Nm away with a reputation for beautiful scenery and stunning diving.  Saba is tiny only about 5sq miles in area with a population of 2000.  Because it is so small there is relatively little shelter if the weather is from the wrong direction.  The forecasts were not great.  The problem was that the normally protected west side of the island was being influenced by a lingering northerly swell while the south side was open to the trade winds.  We had heard from other cruisers that it was very very rolly if the conditions were not right.  The good news was that the northerly swell was forecast to come down in a couple of days.  We decided to give it a shot.

After an easy sail over we picked up a mooring at the south end of the island.  It was pretty choppy and the wind was blowing around 15kts which gave the boat a bit of motion but it was tolerable.  Saba is very steep sided and there are no beaches to speak of.  All the settlements are in the interior of the island at elevations above 1000ft.  At the south end there is a small port which has been hacked out of the rock with a small breakwater to give some shelter to commercial vessels which bring supplies to the island.  We went ashore and checked in at the port where there was not much more than the port offices, some commercial premises and a solitary bar.  There were also two gensets humming away which provide the power for the entire island.

Fort Bay port in Saba

The next day was school before Sam and Scott went for a dive on a wall not far from the boat.  The dive was stunning in water so clear it was like being in an aquarium.  It was also Scott’s 50th Birthday.  Who would have thought turning 50 off the coast of Saba!

The weather had started to pick up from the east by the evening and we debated whether to stay or leave early for the BVI’s.  We decided to stay since we were here and would probably not get back however the next morning the wave motion had increased and the wind was blowing average 20kts making the boat pitch and roll quite heavily.  We slipped the mooring and motored around to the west side where luckily the northerly swell had flattened and the conditions were pretty calm.  We moored Dulcinea and took off to explore the island.

A guy called Jarvis met us at the quayside in his minibus and proceded to show us the island.  This place really is a hidden gem.  The road from the port and around the island is impossibly steep and clings to the hillsides in many places.  Before the road was built all supplies for the island were landed at the base of the steep hills and then carried up steps cut into slopes by men or donkeys.  The road itself is amazing.  The Dutch said it could not be built so a local Sabian did a correspondence course in civil engineering and then set about constructing the road.  It took about 15 years to build.

Walking in Saba

The land rises steeply from the sea up scrubby hillsides onto lush green slopes where the main settlements are built.  The highest point is Mt Misery at around 2800ft which is swathed in a cloud forest.  The capital is called The Bottom and the other major settlement is called Windward.  Both are beautiful little towns.  The houses and other buildings are mainly white with bright red roofs many with gingerbread decorations around the eves and this gives the whole place a feeling of uniformity.  There is no rubbish lying around and the narrow streets wind amongst the buildings.  There are lovely tropical gardens with bright flowers everywhere and the whole place is surrounded by the lush green hillsides.  Its a Caribbean version of those picture postcard european villages.

The Bottom

We spent the day looking around and had lunch at one of the numerous restaurants before Jarvis took us back to the dock.  We completed the day snorkelling at the north end of the bay which was fun apart from a couple of inquisitive barracuda that hung around one part of the dive site.

Saba 

Saba houses

Saba houses

We had an early night and next day set off for Virgin Gorda at 0300.  The sailing was great initially but the wind veered round and we ended up motoring for the last three hours.  Still it gave the engine a good run which it has not had for a while.  We anchored just outside the sound off Prickly Pear island opposite Necker Island.  Really beautiful anchorage especially after the south side of Saba.

Virgin Gorda is a bit of a mecca for yachts and home of the Bitter End Yacht Club, Saba rock and the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda.  We had visited here last year with Pete and Claire and really liked it.  It was at the end of April and it was relatively quiet.  Now it is packed and there are boats moored everywhere.  Even the Costa Smeralda marina which was empty last year when we were here is now full.  We found out that that is because there is a superyacht regatta on this week called the Loro Piana Regatta.   The marina is lined with these amazing boats.  Leopard is there also.

The start line, Day 1 Loro Piana

Turns out the first race was that morning and the start line was just a mile or so away from where we were moored.  So we watched the start of the race first from the dinghy and then from the deck of Dulcinea as we did school.  It is a great spectacle and there are two more race days to go. Later on we caught up with Chris Sherlock at Saba Rock for a few drinks.  He had come in second on the first race.  It was great to catch up with him at last and truly amazing to hear about his career with the super yachts.

How many people can you get on the back of a super yacht

Leopard at the start line

So the plan for the next few weeks is to take it easy and relax before the Atlantic crossing.  Maybe get a dive in for Sam and visit some of the spots we did not get to see on the way through l;ast time.  We have Gayle visiting us for a couple of days and thats about all before the crew start to arrive.  Hopefully we will be able to get ahead with school also.

St Kitts to St Martin

We based ourselves out of the marina for the next few days but did not get as much done as we had thought.  Sometimes we stay at a spot and just don’t seem to get much accomplished.

Similar to Nevis, St Kitts is built on tourism and its deepwater port at Basseterre means that it can take cruise ships.  There were a minimum of two in every day we were there.  Although this means that Nevis retains more tranquility these must be a real godsend for the island economy as there are thousands of passengers on each ship.  There is the inevitable cruise ship type plaza around the docks selling the usual souvenirs, duty free alcohol and jewelry but thereafter the real town starts.  Similar to Nevis there are a lot of attractive old stone building still standing.  When we were anchored at Nevis we could see the lights at night from Basseterre and it looked huge but in reality it was not that big but bigger than any town on Nevis.

St Kitts from Nevis

One of the main reasons for crossing to St Kitts was to allow Sam and Scott to get a few more dives in and he managed two.  They contacted a very laid back operation called Kenneths Dive Centre run predictably by Kenneth.  He was an old guy and had been diving for years and really interesting to chat to about the island and dive spots and how it has changed over the years.  The first dive was on a wreck called the river Taw and was pretty interesting.  The next night we went back for Sams first night dive.  Unfortunately half way through the dive Sam got stung by something on his ankle and had to abandon the dive.  We had managed to see some sleeping turtles though.  While Sam and Scott were diving Nic and Calley managed a film at the local cinemas.

Overlooking Statia

St Kitts, as with so many of these islands, was fought over by the French and the British due to its strategic position.  As a result the British decided to build a huge fortification called Fort Brimstone near the northwest corner of the island.  We took a tour and its pretty impressive as are the views over the island and across to the island of Statia.  Its built on a upthrust from the volcano so stands isolated on the top of a mound with steep slopes.  There are various levels winding up the hill with different walls and buildings ending up with the main fort and batteries at the top.  Its all made out of solid stone and is a colossal amount of work.  It is very impressive.

Another island, another fort

After a shopping trip to the local supermarket to do some restocking and a couple of forays out in the town we left our slip early on 1st Feb (Sat) and set sail for Marigot in St Martin where we had to meet Dan and Kelly.   

Marigot is on the French side of St Martin and we anchored in the bay which had lots of yachts already moored but there was plenty of room.  So a little explanation of St Martin - There is a big lagoon in the south west of the island which is connected to the sea by two cuts.  One at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side and one at Marigot on the French side.  You can enter the lagoon through these cuts but there are bridges across them and so need to abide by the bridge opening times. The lagoon is completely protected and so very busy with anchored boats, marinas and runabouts however it is also for the most part very shallow.  St Martin is a hub for the Caribbean and most services can be found here so it is always pretty busy.  Unknown to us was the Heiniken Regatta was on and so this made the congestion even greater.

Grand Case, St Martin

On Monday it was Sam’s 14th birthday.  Hard to imagine he was twelve when we started the trip and now he is fourteen.  He was really good about it as we only had limited presents for him - some shorts and T-shirts etc to give him as its difficult to shop for anything else he may want in these parts.  We did manage a big breakfast for him though with bacon, eggs, sausages and pancakes. 

We picked Dan and Kelly up on the Monday also and spent a couple of days sailing and catching up.  First we sailed across to the north coast of Anguilla and stayed overnight and then the next day back to a lovely bay on the west of St Martin called Grand Case where we managed a dinner ashore in the midst of a local carnival.    On the Wednesday Dan and Kelly left and we moved back to Marigot Bay to get a start on the jobs.  We were planning to go straight into a marina but the fees are quite expensive this time of year and so will get as much done on anchor and then move around on Monday (10th) for a few days.

Dan and Kelly onboard

So for the next week its time to get the boat ready for the crossing.  Generally she is in pretty good shape although there are a few things that need done or bought.  Main items are replacing the throttle control, fixing persistent leaks in the water maker, re-certifying all the fire extinguishers and lifejackets, changing oil and fuel filters in the engine and genset and replacing some of the running rigging.  In addition we need to provision up for the crossing which is one of the hardest jobs.  Needless to say we are trying to fit in some school in between which is proving difficult as usual