While in the lagoon (Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten) I recreated our log in excel to run some stats.
Up until Easter Perigee had traveled 7, 592 since we bought her. As I was not on the first trip from Newport to Martinique, I had traveled 5, 298. That's a lot of miles in 412 days. She had stopped 72 times in 59 different destinations. 4 times to Newport, RI where we bought her, 3 times in English Harbour, Antigua, twice in Annapolis MD, Rockland ME, and Bermuda.
The longest passage was from Norfolk VA to St Anne's, Martinique (1780 nm). The next longest was from Portsmouth, Dominica to Bermuda (1050 nm) followed by Bermuda to Antigua (925 nm). Perigee spend 101 days in Le Marin while we packed up our lives in Switzerland and on joining her in February 2017 spent a number of weeks on boat maintenance.
Since living on board and prior to arriving in Sint Maarten our longest stay had been 28 days in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua in November/December 2017. We spent 26 days in Bermuda in May/June 2017, 18 days in Annapolis MD, 15 days in Hampton VA and 10 days in Rockland ME.
Alarmingly, on the day I created the excel log we had been in Sint Maarten for 77 days! Definitely time to change the horizon. So with Easter approaching we decide to make a run for Saint Barthélémy.
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| Simpson Bay Bridge opening Thursday 16.00 March 29, 2018 |
Entrance and exit to the lagoon is through a lifting bridge which opens just twice a day for outbound traffic. We refuel in the morning and make the afternoon bridge opening and spend our first night out in Simpson Bay.
We are both enjoying the sense of freedom which unwittingly had been dwindling away while surrounded by land in the lagoon. We enjoy our new horizon where the sea meets the sky.
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| Simpson Bay Bridge now behind us |
The next morning, after a stop at the bakery and a few goodbyes we set sail for Ile Fourchue. This privately owned island is just 12 nautical miles away and we have great conditions for the short passage. On arrival we grab a mooring (easier said than done). Actually, a couple of teenage girls from a neighbouring catamaran dinghy over and help us secure a line. Dave then jumps in our dinghy to help secure a second line. Before long its time for sundowners. I go to mix us Dark 'n Stormys, only to find we're out of dark rum so mix up a substitute which we call Light 'n Variables. We settle on the aft deck in our comfy chairs to watch the slowly changing colours as the sun dips below the horizon. Now this is what we signed up for!
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| Light 'n Variables |
Dark 'n Stormy
Fill a glass with ice, almost fill with about 180 mls of ginger beer (the stormy), float 60 ml of dark rum on top (the dark) then add a dash of lime.
Light 'n Variable
Substitute Dark rum with Light rum. Everything else is the same
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| Looking west from the anchorage, Ile Fourchue |
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We spend the next few days swimming, hiking, reading, cooking, doing the laundry and I start cleaning the bottom of the boat. Dave promises to indulge my new passion for Mexican Train Dominoes and agrees to play with me each day. We spread the dominoes out on the saloon table, read the rules (we're Vogel's remember) and agree on some alterations to the rules (which we write down). We are playing Capall Mara rules with one variation. Sal & John on Capall Mara are Australian cruisers who left Townsville for a 13 month rally to Indonesian and that was 12 years ago. They are very experienced sailors and know a thing or two about Mexican Train Dominoes too. Their rules are that you can put down your whole train in the first move. The Perigee variation is that if the first player finishes on a double the other player can start their first move on that double. That all agreed, we draw our 15 tiles from the 'bone pile' and start to arrange them. It is taking longer than normal, but with Dave having only played once or twice I give him the benefit of time while I wait patiently. After several more minutes Dave puts out
all his tiles, the round is over and I don't even get to play. He goes on to win the first 6 (out of 13) rounds and beats me with a score of 137 compared to my score of 808. Humiliation doesn't come close to describe how I am feeling. It's no laughing matter :-(
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| Dave's wining Dominoes hand |
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| View from the top of Ile Fourchue, St Barts in the distance |
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| Looking back to the bay. Perigee is there somewhere. |
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| This big timber doesn't fit the landscape. Perhaps it comes from an old pirate ship? |
After a few nights at Ile Fourchue we sail across to Anse de Colombier on the Island of Saint Barthélémy. St Barts, as it is known is a commune of France. It has been fought over by the British, Spanish and French. The French gave it to the Swedes in 1784 in exchange for free port rights in Gothenburg and Swedes sold it back to France in 1898. See
History of St Barts.
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| Anse de Colombier |
Shortly after mooring up and a spot of lunch we dinghy over to Gustavia, the main town to clear in, buy a bottle of Dark Rum, stroll around the small town and visit the Marine Parks office to learn that there is a whale migration at present. Baleen whales are heading south with their calves.
Our final morning is spent swimming. We take a small walk around the bay and meet the owners of another Amel moored in the bay - Per-Erik and Lotta on SV Voyageur. Eureka! Per-Erik informs us that he knows where the thought extinct-and long coveted by many Amel owners - special part can be obtained. Quick give him our email address so that he can pass on this precious information. The holy grail of the Amel galley, the one part that has failed on so many boats, the one part that would return the galley to fully functional, the
heating element for the dishwasher !
Buoyed by that news and shaken back into thinking of boat projects we set sail for Simpson Bay, St Maarten. The winds are light and from behind most of the way and the sun is setting when we turn for the final leg. After anchoring up outside the lagoon in the bay, I fix us a Dark 'n Stormy from the new bottle of Meyer's Jamacian Dark Rum.
It certainly was nice to do some 'cruising' for a while, but now we turn our focus to our biggest boat project yet. Replacing the standing rigging and mini mast refurbishments. We're scheduled to be on the dock on April 12 (our anniversary) and have the masts pulled the following day. In the meantime we have to take down the sails and have a few minor repairs done. Never a dull moment on Perigee.
Perigee has now done 7, 629 nm and visted 61 different destinations.
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