After a rolly night in Philipsberg we were on the move early again, we left the anchorage with another English boat Sea Jester who were flying an Ocean cruising club flag so Steve called over to them, they are staying on the Dutch side while we were sailing round to the French side, but we discovered we will get a chance to meet them tomorrow night at the OCC 70th anniversary dinner we are going to.

We went round to Marigot bay, anchored and after a while went ashore to check in and get some decent french bread! St Martin was always a good place to stock up as it's reasonably cheap compared to other islands but we were disappointed that the shelves weren’t well stocked and the prices not so much cheaper than the other French islands - still it's a good stop and we have ordered a new watermaker motor which will be here in a few days. Friends Craig and Zena on Adriana (who we last saw in Mallorca) have been here a while and they returned to Marigot bay anchorage the day after we arrived as did Stefan and Emma on Pintail while Jon and Lucie on Hahalua also arrived the 2 days after us - it's going to be fun!

We also had the OCC 70th anniversary dinner to go to, Craig and Zena were there as well and we had a great time, met up with Mike and Claire who we last saw in Ile a Vache, Haiti in 2013 but it felt like it could have been only a few months ago! We also met Anabel and Peter from Sea Jester and found out they heading to BVI’s next and are on a 1 year trip so will be heading back to UK this year, live close to my mother and sister so we will hopefully see them again in BVI’s and back in UK. 

 

All in all we had a good stay in St Martin, we got the new motor for the watermaker which Steve fitted and now our watermaker is working properly again 😁, we stocked up on things which are more expensive in BVI’s, treated ourselves to a new fan for the saloon, a Dewalt pressure washer, found some great scrubbing brushes to clean the hull with and had a social time with Craig and Zena before they head south, Stephan, Emma, John and Lucie who are heading to the BVI’s as well.

All in all we stayed for 9 days but it's time to move on and get to the BVI’s and do some diving again!