After a coffee in the morning I got going at about 09:30 and headed for the Dutch side of St. Martin in order to get inside the lagoon for the 11:30 inbound bridge opening. The wind was perfect and I made a good 7 knots for the downwind run and somewhat slower for the crosswind approach to the entrance. I made it in good time and entered the Simpson Bay Lagoon without a problem, but then spent the next hour in the channels on the Dutch side looking for an anchorage position. The channel is dredged here and I always had 6 feet of water underneath the keel, but every time I tried to leave the marked channel the depth went to 0 feet. I finally found a spot, very close to the channel, which had some depth and anchored there but the depth wanders from 6 feet at one swing and 0 feet on the other end.
After anchoring I headed to the French side in order to clear out but after waiting over an hour and half at the Capitainerie Port Royal for them to open I gave up and went to the big marina outside, Marina Fort St. Louis, and they let me and another gent who was waiting clear out. By the time I’d finished and was clearing in on the Dutch side it was already 16:00 and I just had time to make it to Waterworld in order to pick up a Dutch side flag and other items for the boat and then went to Happy Hour at Barnacle’s and subsequent dinner; not doing a single bit of cleaning and preparatory work for my visitors tomorrow. It will be a very busy morning for me so that the boat is ready for their 14:45 arrival.
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