33 - Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin - Irma what have you done?

11th February 2019. We arrived at night in the “Anse de Public” in front of Gustavia at Saint-Barths. It was very difficult to find a good spot with decent holding and we had to anchor very far out of the bay as it was packed with hundreds of boats!
12th February 2019.

The next morning we checked out the village Gustavia which is very nice. You can see and hear that rebuilding is still their primary occupation after the hurricane Irma. The houses have nice colours, there are plenty of overpriced shops everywhere (Geoffrey didn’t buy a T-shirt here 😏) and you can see the most interesting outfits, sunglasses and cars around here.

A picture for a friend back home :-)

We realise there’s nothing else to do on this island from a sailboat as you’re not allowed to anchor close to nice dive spots, renting a car is too expensive and the proposed hikes inside the country do not really tempt us. So we decide to have a nice meal and go up to the next island. The shipchandler, however, is a must if you need anything. This was a nice surprise as it handles normal prices, they have quite a lot and we could buy tissue to manufacture a “dress” for Bob (if you want to go: it’s not far from the tourist information cabin). 

We anchored that afternoon at Anse de Colombier, once again in good company 😏. We snorkelled with turtles, rays and barracudas and played a bit on a beautiful white sanded beach before sailing to St. Martin 😊

13th February 2019.

It’s a short trip to Saint-Martin. We arrive close to the Dutch part but decide to go all the way around to the French side to be better protected as (you can already guess) it’s still very windy…

On the way over there we see quite nice villa’s with plunging pools ...

... and the three largest super yachts in the world ...

 Notice the yacht on top of the deck of this one and the helicopter platform (I guess they were out visiting the casino's that day😏).

... in front of the Sint-Maarten airport full of private planes (it’s like they don’t have enough place to park them!).

 

We speculated later as to why they were in front of Sint-Maarten as really there is nothing to see or to do. Maybe the casino’s or the hundreds of jewellery stores? Honestly, it must be something else 😌

When we finally arrive at Bay the Marigot we find a very different scenery. Smaller buildings, hundreds of shipwrecks, the noice of reconstruction everywhere…

14th February 2019. 

Oh while writing this date I notice we missed something. Maybe because it’s not advertised all over the shops and restaurants that this is THE day you are supposed to love each other 😌

15th February 2019. 

We decide to rent a car to do a big shop run in the morning (Super U is great here!) and a visit of the island in the afternoon. 

This is the route along the Simpson bay lagoon towards the Dutch part     (I have no words…): 

Arrival at Sint-Maarten (Dutch part):

You can see that there are almost no palmtrees left and then we saw this crazy sign:

Beautiful (empty) beaches, actually a very nice ‘Bitch’ bar 😊😀 and ruins in-between the big shops. 

 

Maybe this is why people are coming here?! A once in a life time opportunity to see THE Yoda museum 😂

That's all that seems to be left from the 'Dutch' influence. A school name and the street names ... The bar tender explained that some people know someone who knows someone that may one day have learned some Dutch 😉 Today it's all American.

We did try a hike up here towards a natural swimming pool. The access was very hard to find, lots of rubbish still lying all over the rocks and the access to the swimming pool impossible due to the high waves. Too bad, still a funny experience as we were guided by a dog all the way and had more company of some sheep and goats 😆

This is the swimming pool 😏 A bit difficult to access and quite rough weather so no swimming for us unfortunately!

We took the eastern road back to the French side along the Oyster pond, fish grounds and what are supposed to be the most beautiful beaches in the nature reserve … again no words …

16th February 2019.

Time to leave the Marigot bay and Saint-Martin. We zigzag in-between a billion euro’s of super yachts …

A few hours later during a smooth sail for once, under a wonderful sunset, we arrive at the British Virgin Islands ...