Our visit to Sint Maarten was about getting a few boat jobs done. We had planned a visit to the French side and we expected to have a little more chill time however this wasn’t the case. The afternoon that we set sail for St Maarten our generator decided to stop working so getting this fixed was a priority. We had an easy passage with only one squall and enough rain to clean the salt from the decks. As we approached the sun was shining then St Maarten disappeared behind dark clouds, no wind just buckets of rain. Fortunately it stopped long enough for us to navigate past the precession of huge cruises ships (4 in total and another on its way in) and the shallow Philipsburg harbour and dock at Bobby’s Marina.

We had organised assistance for some of the work, the generator wasn’t on the planned list. After a few phone calls, we ended up talking with Electec, the company who helped us out in 2008. They had a press and fixed our autopilot. This company came to our rescue and had our generator working in a few hours by replacing the fuel pump (thank you Nico). We continued to work on our list, some cosmetic touch up work, a new sun shade mesh made for the stern and several trips to the ship chandlery. The globe on the deck light had blown so that was another trip up the mast, not my favourite of jobs. A few months ago we had noticed an increase in noise with our autopilot. This was looked at in Martinique by an electrical guy. We knew the issue wasn’t electrical (it’s mechanical and hydraulic) but that was who the manufactures agent sent. This time we had the manager of Best Boat Yard Services make the inspection. Eric has many years of experience and we felt comfortable with his report. “There is nothing to be concerned about.” It was a relief as we rely on our third crew member “Ray’” more than we should.

Kim visited a physio/chiro and we had the typical provisioning expedition. We also had lunch nearby at Lagoonies (Cole Bay). It had been a number of years since our last visit and we looked at our old spot on the dock and discussed the things that had and hadn’t changed. The hamburgers were still really good.

The weather forecast changed our plans. We cut short our stay and readied ourselves for a passage to the Virgin Islands. Either the British Virgin Islands (BVI) or the USVI (USA’s Virgin Islands). Then our washing machine pumped died. Oh well another delay, at least it happened before we left the marina. The naval architects who designed our yacht certainly didn’t have any consideration for mechanical maintenance access, including our washing machine. We did manage to mop out the water as the hull drain hole was blocked with the manufactures saw dust. It reminded me of my former life with Shane and Ryan’s insistence to remove swarf as our guys worked building wellhead equipment and plant. Anyway with the assistance of the local whitegoods repair man, we managed to turn the machine on an angle enough so to replace the water pump.

With everything finally done, Kim and I went into town for a few well deserved cocktails. We both decided that we like Philipsburg as it has a really nice vibe. On Friday there was not a single cruise liner so it was very quiet. We still managed to find a nice water front bar, listened to some music and chilled. It was a great way to finish a hectic four days.

The following day, we refuelled and headed to St John’s in the USVI. Strong winds are on the way so we need to find a comfortable anchorage. We discussed dropping into the BVI’s for a couple of days so Kim can celebrate her birthday with friends heading that way but decided that we would save the BVI’s for another time.

We had such a busy time, we didn’t take many photos. This is what we can share:

St Maarten just disappeared