6 to 12 March 2024

Simpson’s Bay, Sint Maarten to Nettle Bay, Saint Martin, 18° 03′ 92″ N, 63° 06′ 35″ W, 9nm, 2 hours

We woke up in Simpson’s Bay ready to check in to the island on the Dutch side. The Netherlands and France share the small island with an imaginary border that cuts an inland lagoon in two. The Dutch call their side of this shared territory Sint Maarten, the French call theirs Saint Martin. Collectively they seem to go by SXM, the code for the international airport serving both. Having spent quite a bit of time in the French colonies we wanted to find out more about the Dutch side.

However determined we were, there was no denying that an annoying swell was finding its way into the anchorage and the forecast suggested it would continue to for a while. From the French side of the island word had reached us from Carol and Steve that the anchorage of Marigot Bay was flat calm. (Yes, that’s the fifth Marigot Bay so far in case you have lost count!)

So we upped anchor and made our way round to the north of the island and the big shallow bay. As I motored us closer to the anchorage Stefan had noticed a big rib sitting just off our stern. Three customs officers passed us with a fairly friendly wave. It’s always politic to wave back enthusiastically!

We thought nothing more of it as we found a good spot to drop the anchor. Then as we were getting ready to go and check in, the customs officers in their rib came to visit. We were now a little nervous. Had we been clocked having a sneaky night on St Kitts without checking in? Had they been tracking us. The three quite serious black clad, gun wearing officers asked, in French of course, for permission to come on board. Actually, they were telling us they were coming on board but we welcomed them on anyway! They took a seat in the cockpit and Stefan left me to communicate with them.

They asked all the usual questions about our last port of call and our next. They had a very cursory look around the boat inside – got very excited about the washing machine but didn’t look in any cupboards! Then one of the officers said “you were in Corsica in 2019, where you stopped by customs there?” Slightly freaked out by their apparent tracking of our movements in French waters, we answered that, yes, we had been in Corsica in 2019 but had no recollection of being stopped by customs. Slightly freaked out by their apparent tracking of our movements in French waters, we answered that, yes, we had been in Corsica in 2019 but had no recollection of being stopped by customs. This seemed to satisfy them. They didn’t seem to know about our illicit stop on St Kitts and gave us some paperwork confirming their visit before taking themselves and their guns back to the rib. We were free to go and properly check ourselves into Saint Martin.

Marigot Bay was lovely and calm but the busiest anchorage we had been in since Martinique. One one side we had a view of the flat, lowland with its huge inland lagoon, accessed by lifting bridges for those with masts, and on the other side the more mountainous area to the north of the island.

Once we had completed the formalities we caught up with Carol and Steve and, having been there more than once before, they offered to guide us through the lagoon to the Dutch side which promised lots of yacht services and chandleries. Following close behind them in the dinghy we entered the canal that leads to the huge inland lagoon which seems to take up about half the size of the island itself. We were able to pass under the lifting bridge which opens for yachts to enter and exit and passed more boat yards, services and shops than we could ever need. On the Dutch side we found a space at the excellent dinghy dock of a restaurant and continued with our guides to an excellent chandlery and then on to the best hardware shop we had seen in a very long time. It was all very overwhelming. On our return to the dinghies we stopped in at a cash and carry that had us open mouthed at the choice on the shelves. It seems that you really can get absolutely anything you could want and much you never knew you needed in Sint Maarten!

On the return trip we tried our best to keep up with Steve as he tried to break all speed records through the lagoon.

Back on the French side, we set about getting to know Marigot. Another excellent public dinghy dock gave us access to the main town with its ferry terminal, market and shops.

Marigot’s street art was bright, political and interactive.

It was also practical with these two murals identifying the bike shop and the pet store!

But it was also clear that Marigot had been very badly affected by hurricane Irma in 2017. In town and all around the shore line there were still abandoned shells of buildings that had not yet been rebuilt. Bars and restaurants, even the scout hut, stood as a reminder of what a category 5 hurricane can do.

95% of buildings across both sides of the island were destroyed. Incredibly, only eight people died on the island, four on the French side and four on the Dutch. The damage to the island’s tourism industry was even more evident when we took a dinghy ride around the bay. These resorts had been completely stripped bare by Irma’s 175mph winds. We were given a very visual reminder as to why we were heading north.

Mostly our days on Saint Martin were spent doing practical things, visiting the many chandleries to get boat bits and stocking the boat up again at the supermarket, enjoying the European prices. I even got a lift back to the dinghy dock with all our supplies from the store manager. Saint Martin really lived up to its moniker of The Friendly Island.

We did take an early morning hike up to the fort that overlooked the dinghy dock. Climbing up the colourful steps we started to get more of a view of the island’s curious waterways.

From the top, we could see right across Marigot Bay and the inside lagoon. Fort Louis was built by the French in the 18th century and an ideal place to keep watch for enemy ships.

The canons around the walls face out to the sea to stop any English assault and in towards land to stop the Dutch encroaching on their half of the island.

Any hostilities between the two nations have long been consigned to history and in our week on the island we noticed very few differences between the Dutch and French sides when crossing the lagoon. French was the more common language in Saint Martin but English was widely spoken. We didn’t hear a word of Dutch in Sint Maarten and amongst mostly American accented English we heard a Dutch accent only once or twice. The currency was different. To add to the confusion, Sint Maarten had two currencies, the Antillean Guilder and the more commonly used US Dollar. In Saint Martin it was the Euro. Each small but distinct side of the island is administered and governed separately with their own police forces and car registration. There are nuances of culture, food and tradition but everyone fluidly moved across the border unimpeded by any bureaucracy.

Slightly disappointed we didn’t get to the Dutch cheese shop, we made plans to continue west to get ahead of hurricane season and with Carol and Steve and their Canadian friends leaving too we had ourselves a race…