Leaving St. Martin 3-24

Its time for us to move on to new islands, so today we are getting ready to head out of St. Martin. We dropped off laundry yesterday, so we need to wait until around 10 or so to pick it up. While waiting we flushed out the watermaker with storage solution (I’ve decided it will be easier to just buy the water at marinas then to try and make this work properly). That job is quite simple, and soon we are heading in to Grand Case for the last time to pick up laundry, a few more groceries, and of course one last baguette from our favorite bakery.

We leave Grand Case a little after 11, and head towards Marina Fort Louis in Marigot, arriving right at noon, just in time for the dock to shut down for a 2 hour lunch. Unfortunately no pictures or video of my amazing docking, squeezing the 45’ boat into a 46’ opening in heavy crosswinds with no dock workers to help. After using the twin engines I don’t know how I’ll go back to Island Sol’s single drive. (may need to get the bow thruster after all) The two hour wait actually works out well, giving us time to stroll across the street to a cafe/deli for lunch. At 2, I walk up to the customs building to clear out, pleasantly surprised that its quick, easy, and free. In 10 minutes I’m back at the boat where Tracy has started filling the water tanks.  We cast off the dock about 3 and motor back out into Marigot Bay. The water color here is amazing!

Getting the main sail up again proves to be a bit of a challenge. The reef we had in the other day comes out, but I didn’t notice that the first reef, while unlocked, was tied up short. In the process of shaking that out, we also release the outhaul, so now our sail shape is less than perfect. oh well, were cruisers not racers. By the time we get the sails sorted out, we’ve lost about 40 minutes and will now be pushing it to sail the roughly 12-13 miles over to Road Bay in Anguilla. But with full sail and heading down wind, we are flying, touching 8 knots a couple of times. The wind is light, only about 12-13 knots and the water is flat. Perfect!

We put out our lucky lure, and within 10 minutes Delaina saw the line go tight and a fish jumping back at the lure. We start hauling it in, and ease the sails so we are not dragging it too hard. While dragging on the surface the fish pulls easy, but every few second it would dive down and really pull. Soon we can see the long skinny shape of the fish and I’m pretty sure its going to be a barracuda. We manage to pull him up on the back deck and very carefully get the hook out. He’s thrashing pretty good, and has some huge teeth! With hook out, we pose for a couple quick pictures before tossing him back in the water.

We sail the rest of the way to Anguilla, dodging lobster pots that seem to be everywhere. Anguilla is a low island compared to the hills of St. Martin, but the shoreline is all rocky cliffs. It reminds us of pictured rocks in the UP. We drop sail and motor into the anchorage just as the sun is setting. There are a lot of boats here, more than I expected, but its a large bay with plenty of room. We hoist the yellow Q flag and settle in for the night. Dinner is sautéed Mahi Mahi, which I think is our best fish meal yet. Now I really want to catch a fresh one!