St. Martin

St Martin and Sint Maartan is one island split into 2 countries: the French side and the Dutch side. Why 2 countries on one island? Well legend has it, they both wanted to rule St Martin but rather than fight over it, they made a Frenchman armed with a bottle of wine walk in one direction and a Dutchman armed with a bottle of gin take the other. Where the two gentlemen met, they made that the boundary and the French ended up with more as the gin was stronger than the wine!

Although it matters what side you clear in to (French is way cheaper), you are free to cross the 'border' as often as you like. Well there is no border or demarcation, the only way of knowing you are on the other side is the currency in use. For the French side they accept euros and dollars and the Dutch side accept dollars and florins. Confusing?! Sure is, we walked around with 2 wallets with a currency in each, constantly converting the prices back to pounds. Even more confusing is the use of the word 'dollars' as coming from south of the Caribbean chain, we are still programmed to think that dollars = Eastern Caribbean dollars but no, now we need to reprogramme to dollars = US dollars. Currency aside, the prices here are cheap cheap cheap. Story goes, back in the day the sugar market collapsed and in 1939 an attempt was made to boost the economy by making the island completely duty-free. We took full advantage.

Customs here was a pleasure, 5 mins plugging in our details to a PC and we were done. Note to other cruisers coming to St Martin – tell them you are anchored in Grand Case else they will charge you per day for being in Marigot. We wanted to anchor out of the lagoon as we prefer to stay way clear of floating shite from people's heads...but not pay $100+ for the pleasure.

The aim of the game in St Martin was to work through our to do list of work needed to do on the boat as well as boost our spares, tools and other important parts onboard. More work, less play on this island. After 2 weeks of hard work, 3 visits to ACE hardware, 4 visits to Island Waterworld, 5 visits to Budget and 1 to Home n Tools we succeeded. And those visits were just the time I was in attendance, it doesn't count the times I refused to step foot in the place and opted instead to sun myself at the dinghy dock! Dylan is like a kid at a candy store, walking up and down each aisle just touching the various items on sale. This is not my style, sure I love to spend money but I can't get excited about another wrench set! Dylan can fill you in on all the work we did in a subsequent blog post. It is quite impressive what Dylan has achieved on our boat considering he hasn't owned a boat himself before! Although I did chores of my own, I definitely took the role as project manager with my lists, spreadsheets and budget planner.

So we were anchored in Marigot Bay, a huge area with plenty of space to anchor and very little swell. Although not as scenic as the other islands, St Martin still has the clear water, coral sandy bottom and luscious green hills in the distance. On the shore there is a daily market with local ladies pedalling their wares of bright kaftans and vibrant pashminas and scarves.

Set back from the coastline is a lovely little town reminiscent of a mini Paris. The streets are lined with cafes bustling with tourists in the mornings eager to demolish a proper French breakfast. The smells of pastries and coffee only hit us when we dock the dinghy, a god send really else I would end up the size of a house constantly craving pain au raisins! Amongst the eateries are posh shops, Cartier on one corner, Zaviar Diamond on the other. Clearly out of our league but nonetheless there is no harm in window shopping on the way to catch the bus.

Buses are somewhat different from that in Grenada. No blaring music, no specific dude to hand the money to. These buses are big, more like coaches and air conditioned. One bus even had a tv and dvd player set into the dashboard and front of the bus for the customers to watch! The locals are from various other countries and no more is that exemplified than on the bus. Haitians speaking Spanish, locals speaking French, Creole, English. Dylan made the mistake of starting a conversation with a local preacher on the bus once and he got lectured for the remainder of the journey on the bible, in particular the Sabbath. I pretended not to know him and stare out the window, giving him the odd prod if he encouraged the conversation further. These bus drivers are very protective of their buses, giving customers a ticking off if they dare open a packet of crisps or spill a drink.

Our food was devoured mostly on the boat trying to keep the spending down in places we can control but we did treat ourselves to a few $5 lunches when out on a long errand. Yes totally OTT I know! There is this one guy who sells lunch out the back of his van opposite Island Waterworld, for $5 you can get a big styrofoam box full of rice /salad /fish. Lovely homely food that left us full for the rest of the day and I highly recommend it.

Having travelled from the UK to Canada then on to Caribbean, my summer wardrobe is somewhat lacking and with the harsh sun and salt water, my cheap primark /zara /h&m clothing isn't holding up very well. Most have holes in them, rust stains and massively misshapen. We had heard that the capital Philipsburg was a great place for cheap clothes so enticing Dylan with an outstanding electronics list we set off on a bus. Now for those of you that don't know Dylan...this was a monumental achievement. He hates clothes shopping and is totally clueless about fashion, opting for hand me downs from his friends (thanks Paulie) and Dad (!) rather than enter a shop himself. Philipsburg didn't disappoint. On Back Street there are cheap clothes stores, one after another all with decent prices. The trick was to find a shop that didn't sell lycra diamonte clothing as that really isn't my style. I came away very pleased with a dress, couple of tops and some hippy hareems, all cotton or linen and not a single sparkly thing in sight. It was here I came across a snow cone. Does what it says on the tin really, street vendors hand you a cup of ice and then you choose a flavoured syrup to put over it. A simple idea but exactly what you need in the midday heat.

With the weather now turning to the rainy season, each day is very hot and humid. A daily swim is a must and I can almost hear the fizz of water as we jump in and cool off. Dylan being the scavenger that he is has found many an item to add to our tool collection on the seabed close to our anchor chain including a $71 shackle (Dylan's addition – he spent over an hour diving with a pair of pliers trying to chip off all the rust from the chain that had seized the stainless shackle in place. He was very chuffed when A) he finally worked it loose and B) when he priced it up at $71 in Budget Marine!). One day he decided to do something with the old chain (approx 300 ft that was joined by the shackle) and swirled it up into 2 balls creating an artificial reef complete with sea anemones and shells. The fish love it and makes for a good snorkelling spot. Only yesterday we saw a huge puffa fish swimming by, checking out the new place to be. (Dylan's addition – this was another few hours of work hauling rusty 12mm chain around the sea floor – all good training for when I start spear fishing!)

A blog post on St Martin wouldn't be complete without mentioning Shrimpy's. An internet cafe /bar /laundrette located near the entrance to the French side of the lagoon, it is run by a South African couple – Mike and Sally. These guys know everything that is worth knowing about the island including the best places to get boat work done, places to eat etc. A welcoming place, we have spent hours in there on the internet, slowly getting eaten alive by mozzies.

After 2 weeks of boat work we are keen to move on to pastures new and look forward to what Anguilla and subsequently the BVIs have to offer.