Wednesday, February 16, 2011
While my initial intent had been to sail from St. Barths straight to the BVI for a long passage of 100nm or so, I received an email (well, several) from Rob about his package in St. Martin and decided that I’d break up my big trip into two legs and stop by St. Martin to pick up his package from Budget Marine and use that opportunity to do some last-minute shopping for the boat as well as catch up on croissants and coffee. I cleared into the French side this time, anchoring out in Marigot and then using the Capitainerie inside the lagoon instead of the office at the outside ferry terminal. I’ve since found out that the outside office is a bit of a scam, they take quite a bit of money in fees and anchorage dues for Marigot which are not actually official – when clearing in on the inside the fee is €5 plus 10¢ tax as opposed to €30 or so at the ferry terminal. One lives and learns. I had my obligatory croissant and coffee at La Sucrière and caught up on e-mails then took the dinghy to Heinz-Dieter on Pinta for a chat and finally to Budget Marine to pick up the 2 packages. As Diddi is heading down island within the next couple of days I gave the packages to him so that he could take them along with him, I’m assuming that his speed is going to be faster than Arita’s and they’ll meet up soon. My plan is to head to the BVI tomorrow morning at first light, taking the dinghy outboard and other contents aboard but dragging the dinghy along behind me as the waves are not breaking and the risk of broaching the empty dinghy is minimal.
 |  |  |  |