Jeffrey Donenfeld

Tag: St. Maarten

Getting Jet Blasted by a Boeing 747-400 at SXM

This week I’m hanging out in St. Maarten, part of the Netherlands. St. Maarten’s airport, Princess Juliana International Airport, is the main air transportation hub in St. Maartin. It’s a large, modern airport, with a single runway. The runway accomodates all types of planes, from small Cessnas all the way up to the Boeing 747-400 jet. Since St. Maarten is a rocky island, there’s not a lot of flat land on which to build the huge runway necessary to handle the worlds largest jets. In order to accomodate this long runway, builders were forced to run it right up to the beach on one end. The beach still remains, however now the runway goes all the way to where sunbathers lie. I had the opportunity to hang out on this beach – Maho – and witness a 747-400 take off right in front of me – quite spectacular! The jet blast from the 4 engines is extremely hot, and picks up a lot of dust and sand. Video on YouTube…

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2011-08-21
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Trip Summary
This past August, I went sailing in the Leeward Islands with a group of friends – Sean Safdi, Zac Schulman, Dyana Kazan, Evan Kazan and Evelyn Dahab. Evelyn was new to our crew this year, and the rest of us have been sailing together for the past couple of years. Here’s a summary of all of the media generated during our trip, with full daily summaries, photos, videos, and Sean’s well written and extensive trip report. Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)

Video

Daily Reports
Sean Safdi’s Trip Report (with my photos mixed in)

Trip Report – SXM Bareboat Charter
#1329052 – 08/21/11 01:52 AM

This trip we sailed a Moorings Beneteau 43.3 monohull out of the Moorings base at Oyster Pond, St. Martin in the Leeward Islands. Our boat, “Oyster”, was from the Moorings “exclusive” line and appeared almost new, although it still exhibited some of the wear typical on any charter boat (two of the blocks on the traveler failed our first day out). Overall we enjoyed the layout of the boat, with three cabins and three heads and a relatively spacious saloon (although everyone commented on the lack of storage space for provisions, due largely to the space occupied by the shore-power AC unit). Storage space notwithstanding, there was plenty of room for our crew of 6. The cockpit was fine with dual helms and a brand new electronics package including a top of the line chartplotter. To everyone’s pleasant surprise, the fridge on this boat worked better than pretty much any boat we’ve had in the past. The Yanmar 54hp engine was in brand new condition and performed flawlessly. The sails on this boat had far less wear than other boats we’ve chartered, and the boat sailed superbly to windward.

The Moorings base at Captain Oliver’s Marina at Oyster Pond is fine, although the shoreside facilities could use a serious upgrade. During our visit, the showers were out of operation entirely. There are a couple restaurant options within the marina complex (one upscale and one more casual) and some other options within walking distance. There is no major grocery for provisioning within walking distance; you will have to take a taxi. The base’s location is well-situated for accessing the most popular cruising grounds, but it is not close to the international airport. Expect a 45 minute to 1hr taxi ride. The Moorings had a taxi waiting for us on our arrival at the airport, which we were not expecting. The staff at the Moorings base was excellent as usual, and the chart and boat briefing were very thorough. Moorings is always willing to accommodate our requests such as providing us with an extra cooler for our drinks. In terms of provisioning, we chose to provision on our own upon arrival, but we did have the Moorings provision the majority of our beverages (soft drinks, beer, and gallon jugs of water). Much easier than having to lug those heavy items back from the grocery. We also always opt for the “charter starter kit”, which includes condiments, paper towels, trash bags, charcoal, etc.

We arrived on Friday, August 5, too late in the afternoon to do the chart and boat briefing that day. The Moorings had the boat ready for us at the dock, with our beverage provisioning already onboard and the shore-power AC cranking. With the benefit of the AC, we had a comfortable first night aboard the boat.

The following morning, we did the chart and boat briefing, topped off the water tanks, took care of a few last-minute issues, and departed the base by about 11:30 in 20-25kt winds and 8-9ft seas! We raised the main with a single reef before leaving the protection of the harbor, and the Moorings sent a pilot boat to guide us out into the ocean. It was a pretty wild ride coming out of the channel directly into the big swell and high winds, and everyone was quickly drenched from the waves smashing over the bow. Doesn’t get any better than that! We were fortunate that the conditions were much calmer upon our return to base, but it is worth noting that Oyster Pond (along with Orient Bay) would be pretty hazardous to enter in much heavier conditions, with the wind and swell pushing you towards the reefs.

After clearing the channel we motored about a half mile offshore directly into the wind, and then set our course for Gustavia on St. Barthelemy, a sail of perhaps about 15nm. After arriving at Gustavia, we motored around for a bit looking for the best spot to anchor, and finally settled on the area just northwest of Fort Oscar and close enough for any easy dinghy ride into the inner harbor. Anchored with good holding in about 15ft of water. The harbor was pretty crowded for off-season, so I can only imagine how it must be in December or January. We cleared through customs and immigration, and had a great dinner at Eddy’s, a short walk from the waterfront.

The following morning we were up early for a longer sail (about 25nm) down to the Dutch island of St. Eustatius (Statia). The winds were still quite brisk, but fortunately had calmed down more to the 18-22kts range rather than 20-25kts. Seas were also down a bit. Had a fantastic beam reach under reefed main and jib, and arrived at Statia far earlier than we had anticipated.

On the northwestern tip of Statia, there is a large depot where oil tankers drop off oil from South America (mostly Venezuela we were told) and other ships pick up the oil to transport it far and wide. The area is marked by a giant oil tanker buoy about a mile offshore, and you should stay well to seaward of this buoy as you are coming up or down the coast. It was pretty surreal sailing through a giant field of anchored tankers waiting to pick up or drop off their load. Just to the south of this area was our destination, Oranje Baai and the capital, Oranjestad.
Take note…there are no mooring balls at Oranjestad! Contrary to 2010-2011 edition of the cruising guide, and what we were told during our chart briefing, the mooring balls that were previously in place here were removed due to the excessive cost of their upkeep. We were not the only boat that came in and searched a good amount of time for the elusive mooring balls. Confusing the matter are the myriad of smaller mooring balls put in place by the locals, but don’t pick these up because they are private and likely won’t hold your boat! The good news is that the anchoring is easy and the holding is good anywhere behind the protection of the breakwater.

Statia was a real highlight of the trip for us, and we enjoyed the quiet, off the beaten track feel after coming from bustling St. Martin and St. Barths. Don’t come here for the beaches, but the diving, historical sites, and natural beauty are all spectacular. After clearing customs and immigration, we went ashore to walk up the hill to the town. Oranjestad feels like something out of old world Europe rather than the Caribbean — many beautifully restored homes. Fort Oranje is also worth a visit and has a great history, including the famous “first salute” to the United States.

The following morning, we arranged a two tank dive with Golden Rock Dive Center, and we were not disappointed! Golden Rock is a great operation and the diving located immediately outside the anchorage is not to be missed. We did one wreck and one reef dive, and wished we could have stayed longer to do more diving — the reefs here are really in great shape compared to elsewhere in the Caribbean. In the afternoon we took a taxi tour overland to get some views of the “Quill” volcano.

The next morning, though we wished we had time to continue south, we cleared out of Statia and headed back north to St. Barths, picking up a marine park mooring ball for the night (free of charge) at Anse de Colombier, on the western tip of the island. Anse de Columbier is a beautiful, well protected anchorage with a great beach and a secluded feel. Do not miss the half hour walk to Anse des Flamandes — the trail is cut into hills and cliffs along the water and is quite beautiful. Be sure to take sturdy shoes.

The next morning, we did two more dives with St. Barth Plongee. Based out of Gustavia, they happily came to pick us up at Anse de Columbier. After returning to the boat, we motored a short distance over to the small island of Ile Fourchue, where we picked up another park mooring for the night. Ile Fourche is another great stop for those who enjoy seclusion. We shared the anchorage with just a couple other boats, and we ventured ashore to explore and had the entire island to ourselves. Hiking the peaks on Ile Fourche was a real highlight — with amazing views towards both St. Barths and St. Martin and down into the anchorage. There are no real beaches here, but the rugged island is definitely worth exploring. We placed our trip geocache, the “Oyster CrewCache”, at the foot of a rocky outcropping. While ashore, we also noticed a dinghy being pounded against the rocky coastline on the windward side of the island — we reasoned that the dinghy must have escaped its owner in St. Barths and floated the short distance across to Ile Fourche. We tried to rescue the dinghy and managed to get the engine started and the boat backed out into deeper water — only to have the outboard fail. We tossed the anchor over the side and spent about 45 minutes attempting to restart the outboard before we gave up and paddled back in to shore between the rocks. Hopefully the owner finds their dinghy — it looked brand new!

After a peaceful night on the mooring ball at Ile Fourche, we departed the following morning for a long sail to the British island of Anguilla. By this point in the trip, the wind had died down considerably and was averaging approximately 8-15kts, with some higher gusts. We sailed and motorsailed on a broad reach and a run around the southern end of Sint Maarten, past the beautiful blue water at Point Basse Terre, and north across the narrow channel and around the western tip of Anguilla. We then headed up the north coast of Anguilla and into Road Bay and Sandy Ground Village. Anguilla is a low-lying island with fine white sand beaches — the white sand gives the water beautiful shades of light blue and green. Road Bay is the main port of entry, but also a great stop in its own right, with a long beach and plenty of restaurant and bar options ashore. We anchored with about 4ft of water under the keel (setting the anchor was easy in the sandy bottom) and went ashore to clear in and pay the park fees. In the anchorage, we watched kids from the Anguilla Youth Sailing Club practicing some very impressive roll tacks on 420s. The club rented us a Hobbie Wave for an hour, and we had a fun time zipping through the anchorage and out into the open ocean. That night, we had dinner ashore and visited one of the local bars for live music.

The next morning, we got a leisurely start, went searching for another geocache, and then departed for Prickly Pear Cays around 11:00am. Prickly Pear Cays are a day-only anchorage within the marine park, with plenty of park mooring balls available. It took about an hour to reach Prickly Pear from Road Bay (heading north past Sandy Island), and we were very glad that we made the trip! Prickly Pear is a beautiful small island with a perfect beach on the north side of the island a little beach bar run by a very entertaining English expat. The sand and water here was some of, if not the finest that we encountered throughout the entire trip, and we regretted that we didn’t have more time to spend on the island. In the late afternoon, we motored back to our overnight anchorage at Crocus Bay. Crocus is a fine anchorage (and supposedly the only other permitted overnight anchorage), but anchoring room was a bit limited with the number of local boats and moorings in the bay. We finally found a spot, and holding (as it was throughout the entire trip) was very good on a sandy bottom.

The next morning we motored the very short distance to Little Bay to explore the caves onshore. Definitely take the time to stop here for an hour or two and explore the caves and rock formations. There are also a couple nice looking beaches tucked in between the rocks. After an hour or so exploring, the dive boat came to pick us up for our fifth and final dive of the trip — another wreck dive. We dove with Douglas Carty, a small operation based out of Road Bay. Though a small operation, Douglas was very professional and offered personalized service; we really enjoyed diving with him.

After returning from the dive, we quickly got underway and sailed up the north coast of Anguilla and through Scrub Island Pass. After coming through the pass, we headed back south to our next destination — Orient Bay on St. Martin. Orient Bay can be tricky to enter and (like Oyster Pond) not advisable to enter in high seas. We had good conditions with calm seas, and we carefully followed the instructions in the cruising guide to enter the bay through the reefs and anchor between Green Cay and the nude beach with only a few feet under the keel. The water in the anchorage is spectacular blue-green, although we encountered many jellyfish (seemingly the non-stinging variety). Orient Bay is a different experience and not necessarily our preferred type of anchorage — it was extremely crowded and touristy during the day, with jet skis and parasail boats flying through the anchorage. At night it cleared out a bit, but the restaurants on shore were still a bit touristy and overpriced. After some searching, we did find a nice bar with friendly waitstaff where we had a good dinner ashore. Even if you don’t like crowds, it may still be worth a visit to Orient Bay just for the experience.

The following morning, our last aboard the boat, we got an early start for our short trip down the coast to Oyster Pond. We pulled in to the dock, packed our bags, did the quick debrief with the Moorings, and were on our way back to the airport by noon — another great sailing vacation in the books!

Overall, we really enjoyed out cruise through the northern leeward islands. Highlights include the diving in Statia, secluded anchorages of Anse de Columbier and Ile Fourche on St. Barths, and the beaches on Anguilla. Moorings as always provided top-notch service and a great boat. We hope to explore these waters again some day.

Trip Photos [ed: Sean’s trip photos]

Fair Winds,

Sean

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/6073165902/in/set-72157627440660586

https://flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/6073154428/in/set-72157627440660586
2011-08-20
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Days Nine and Ten

Days Nine and Ten

Nude beaches and the return to base.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

The last two days of the trip were spent returning to St. Maartin. Waking up in Anguilla on day 9, we quickly made way back to St. Maartin. This time in St. Maartin, we anchored in Oriental Bay, on the Northeast side of the island. Oriental Bay is on the French side of St. Maarten, so the vibe is a bit different. We swam for a bit in Oriental Bay, and then took the dhingy ashore to go find some drinks and dinner. We ended up having dinner and drinks at a great little bar right on the beach. We ended day 9 with late night drinks in the cocktail of the boat.

Day ten was our final day. Waking up in Oriental Bay, we made a quick motor back to Oyster Bay. Getting into Oyster Bay was much easier than getting out, since the weather was relatively calm this time. When we arrived back at The Moorings docks, we did a big cleanup of the boat, and unloaded all of our gear. From there, we got a cab back to the SXM airport. Zac, Dyana, Evan and Sean went to check in, and me and Evelyn went to check in to The Crewhouse, a hostel near the airport. While Evelyn relaxed at The Crew House, I went back to the airport to meet up with Zac, Evan, Dyana and Sean. We all sat in the terminal for a bit until Sean left for his flight. Zac, Evan and Dyana’s flight was delayed, so the four of us took a bus across town to get some food. Then, I took them back to the airport for their flight. Evelyn left the next afternoon. I’m still staying in St. Maarten.

2011-08-15
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Eight – Prickly Pear Cay

Day Eight

Our most idillic excursion yet – at Prickly Pear Cay.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up this morning in Rode bay. After a leisurely breakfast, we raised the anchor and started to make way for Prickly Pear Cay.
– About halfway through the seven mile passage, Sean’s GPS slipped out of the loop in the bimini that it was attached to, and bounced into the ocean. It wasnt a mission critical issue, since we have a built in chart plotter, but it was a big loss. I set a MOB waypoint on the chartplotter, and we spent the next half hour or so circling around looking for the GPS floating in the water. Miraculously, like finding a needle in a haystack, Zac spotted the GPS floating and we quickly retrieved it.
– Another 4 miles and we arrived at Prickly Pear Cay, where we anchored on the south side. We dhingied around to the pristine beach on the north side, and immediately went ashore for drinks from the grass hut on the beach. Our afternoon was filled with relaxing on the beach and in the water.

– Tonight we sailed back to Anguila, to anchor in Crocus Bay. Tomorrow morning we’re being picked up to do a cool wreck dive in the morning.

2011-08-12
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Seven – Anguilla

Day Seven

Our longest passage, and best night out.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up at Il Forche and made an early departure under motor power.
– Plotted a long course from Il Forche past St. Barts, around the west coast of St Maartin, and then across the channel towards Anguilla. We rounded the west point of Anguilla, and then cruised along the north coast to Road Bay. We anchored in Road Bay/Sandy Ground.
– Sean, Zac and I went ashore to clear through british customs and get more passport stamps.
– Spent some time swimming from the boat
– Went back in to shore to go to the grocery. Evelyn, Zac, Evan, and Dyana took a cab across the island to go grocery shopping.
– Sean and I walked down the beach to the Anguilla Sailing Club and rented a fun Hobie Cat sailboat. We also seemingly challenged one of the kids at the clubhouse to a race. Sailing the Hobie Wave out into Road Bay was fun, and we were eventually caught up to by this other kid in his Hobie Wave. We started following him, and were let way out of the bay into the open ocean – in a tiny Hobie Wave!

– We eventually made it back to shore, and met up with the rest of the crew to dinghy back to our boat.
– For dinner tonight, the five of us went ashore. Evelyn stayed on the boat, after passing out after our evening cocktail hour.

– We had an expansive, but marginally good meal at Ripples. Then, went over to The Pumphouse for drinks and to listen to a live reggae ban an hang out with the locals, including a kid we met at the sailing club.

– Sleep tonight, and tomorrow we’re spending a day on Prickly Pear Cay.

2011-08-11
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Six – Il Forche

Day Six

Today, two of the best – and most expensive dives we’ve ever done. Also, a hike and attempted boat rescue which turned into a fight for survival.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up in our quiet Columbier bay mooring, and got picked up to scuba dive with Birdie.
– Birdie’s dive boat was very very nice and new, and birdie was a nice and knowledgable divemaster. However, he was very hurried and businesslike with how he handled us. Immediately after we got on the dive boat, he had all the equipment ready, and had us get into our dive gear and ready. The second we got to the dive site, he had us file off the end of the boat, seemingly military style. The whole operation was very swift and precise, and it felt like we were just another group of paying tourists to hurry through the system. It was fairly impersonal and hurried. Our two dives with Birdie were great – amazing coral and marine life, and Birdie was an expert at pointing out interesting things to look at. Of particular note, we encountered a super friendly sea turtle, which hung out with us for a while on our dive.

– After diving, Birdie dropped us back at our sailboat, where we had a quick and tasty lunch.
– After lunch, we departed from Columbier and motored across the channel over to Il Forche, a beautiful, deserted scrub island off the west coast of St. Barts.

– Moored in Il Forche, and then took the dinghy ashore.
– Hiking around Il Forche was amazing. The island is rocky, covered with low scrub brush. Sean and I climbed to the top of one of the peaks, and then went and met the others lower by the cliffs.

– While looking off the cliffs, we spotted an abandoned dinghy which had been pushed into the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff. The dinghy looked somewhat serviceable, so Sean and I hiked down the cliff to go investigate. The abandoned dinghy appeared to be serviceable, although a little banged up from being slammed into the rocks be the large waves rolling in.

– We decided to try to salvage the dinghy and get the motor running. After a few minutes of fighting in the rough waves and jagged rocks, we were able to get all of the stray lines and anchor chain untangled from the rocks. Then, after working on the engine for a bit, we finally got it started.

– The engine ran fine for a bit, so we motored out away from the rocks. However, as we were about to clear out of the rocky area, the motor died. Now, we were out in the water, but getting pushed uncontrollably by large waves into the rocks at the base of the cliff. After frantically trying and failing to get the engine started for a bit, we realized that we were getting dangerously close to being slammed into the rocks. We paddled frantically for a bit with the one oar and a piece of one of the seats, and eventually made a little farther away from the rocks. Once we had a bit of distance from the rocks, we untangled the anchor line, and managed to successfully anchor the dinghy, just a few feet away from the beginning of the rocks.

We then shifted our focus back to starting the dinghy motor. After another 40 minutes of trying, we realized that the sun was setting, and it would ve extremely bad to be caught washing onto the breakers at night. So, we picked the least dangerous pathway around the rocks to the base of the cliff, and pulled up the anchor. Once we were free, we paddled frantically, and eventually made a mostly smooth passage around the rocks, and climbed out of the dinghy onto the rocks. We abandoned the dinghy, and finally climbed ashore and hiked back across the island to meet up with the rest of the crew. We were disappointed that we couldnt salvage the dinghy, but were glad we escaped with our lives!

– Tonight, we had a relaxing dinner on the boat, and are going to sleep.

2011-08-10
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Five – St. Barts

Day five

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up around 8, immediately set sail for St. Bart’s.
– Sailed in 18kt winds about 30 miles to St Barts. Beat upwind the entire day, with the boat heeling significantly.
– Moored in the amazingly beautiful Columbier bay – on the far western tip of St Barts. The bay is secluded from the rest of the island, an has a pristine white sand beach.
– Swam off the back of the boat for a while, and took pictures of each other jumping off the side of the boat.
– Saw lots of fish swimming under the boat, and Dyana and Evan went snorkeling for a bit.
– Got our shore gear together and hiked eastward on St. Barts for about an hour. The hike to the other side of the ridge was beautiful, and halfway through the hike descended through the village of Columbier.

– Hiked back to the beach, and returned to the boat for dinner. Of note, Evelyn ate 4 turkey burgers w/ half a jar of mayo and about a box of mac and cheese.
– Tomorrow we’re waking up early to go scuba diving, and then sailing to Il Forche

2011-08-09
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Four – Statia SCUBA

Day four

Our first full day on Statia – exploration under the water and into the mountains.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up early at 7:30 and dinghyd over to the diving dock to meet up with Golden Rock Divers. Our first dive of the day was supposed to be on a reef area – however, as we were starting the dive, Evelyn mysteriously floated away and out of sight. Before we could even begin the dive, we had to end it, and all got back on the boat to search for Evelyn. When we finally spotted her, she was a couple hundred yards away from the boat – nobody understood how she got so far away from the boat so quickly. Since there were still divers from the other group on their dive under the moored boat, we couldn’t simply drop the mooring and go get Evelyn. We had to wait another 30 for all of the other divers to get back on the boat, as Evelyn floated farther and farther out to sea.

We had Evelyn in sight, but didnt know her condition – she could have had a dive accident, or worse – she wasnt swimming for the boat, so we assumed the worst. It was important to get to Evelyn as soon as possible to check her condition, so while the rest of the group stayed with the boat, I grabbed a rescue ring, and made sure i had my trusty whistle and safety tube on me. I got back in the water in my full scuba gear with the rescue ring, and swam out to Evelyn – about a 10 minute surface swim, which was not easy with full wetsuit and gear. When i finally got out to Evelyn’s position, I approached cautiously with the ring in front of me, and gave it to her to hang on to.

It turned out that she was fine, but making the swim against the current to the dive boat would have been treacherous and dangerously tiring. Instead, i inflated the safety tube to signal our location, and we floated together holding the rescue ring. Eventually all the divers got back on the dive boat, and they dropped the mooring and came over to pick me and Evelyn out of the water, safe and sound.

Eventually we learned that Evelyn was a bit slower to start her dive than the rest of us, and during her time on the surface, she floated away from the underwater location of the rest of the group – clutching the mooring line. When she did eventually start her dive, she was separated from the group. Since we couldn’t see Evelyn from our position underwater, we immediately aborted the dive and returned to the surface to look for her. However, in the time we were surfacing, she was descending – but not on the secure mooring line. Apparently she stayed under the water for a bit looking for us, however she was being pulled away from the group and boat by the current the whole time. By the time she surfaced, she was very far away from the boat, and we were on the boat looking for her.

– After recovering Evelyn, we. Went back to shore to drop the other divers off, and then headed back out on the dive boat to try again on our first dive. This time everybody stayed together, and we had a great dive looking at sealife.

– Lunch and surface interval were at the pirate restaurant down the street. Also, I took Evelyn back to the boat so she could hang for the rest of the day.
– For the second dive, we went down on a shipwreck. The ship was sunk in 2005, so it was still fairly intact. Diving on the xx was great, and we even saw a very rare frog fish.

– After diving, we got picked up by Bobby, a local resident who has been living on Statia his whole life. Bobby’s entire family lives here on a very nice tract of land, and his son is currently the governor.

– We rode with Bobby in his bus around the entire island.

– Before returning to the boat, we stopped off at the grocery to pick up a bit of food.

– Pasta for dinner tonight, and then sleep.
– Sailing back to St. Barts tomorrow

2011-08-08
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Three – Statia

Day Three

What a busy day! I’m just finding the time to wright this on my iPhone as i go to sleep in the forward cabin of the boat. Today we made way from St. Barts to Statia.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos set on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Early morning start getting out of the harbor.
– Heavy winds again, around 18kt throughout the day. Now that we’re more familiar with how the boat sails under heavy winds, we unfurled the entire jib, and raised the main to the 1st reef.

– Sailed on a nice beam reach all day, sometimes making close to 9kt. Awesome!
– As we got within range of Statia, we started to see a huge grouping of very large oil tankers offshore to Statia.
– When we got near, we counted about 12 city sized tankers. They were waiting for a spot at the pumping pier to load or unload crude oil onshore. Sailing between the tankers was very dramatic.

– Finding a secure place to stop at the minimally protected harbor at Statia was a bit difficult – our first two moorings were faulty, so we finally anchored. Apparently all of the other boats had the same issues with the Statia Moorings as we did, because they were all anchored too – in an unnecesarily tight formation.

– After a tasty lunch on the boat, everyone except Zac went ashore to explore.
– Walking around Statia felt a little like walking around an extremely well done international theme area at disneyworld.

– The dutch colonial style wa perfectly preserved, and a pleasure to explore – we even found a synagogue with a mickvah!

– For dinner on the boat tonight, Zac and Dyana made us tasty soft tacos.
– Tomorrow we’re staying anchored in Statia, and going Diving and hiking all day.
– So far the trip is great, although I’m not sure Evelyn is getting along with everyone as well as we would have hoped.

2011-08-07
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day Two – St. Barts

Day Two

Today was our first big sailing day, and we made a successful passage from Oyster Bay in St. Martin to Gustavia in St. Barts.

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary
Photos set on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

– Woke up at the moorings marina at oyster bay. Me, Sean, Zac went over to The Moorings office for the chart briefing, while Dyana, Evan and Evelyn made preparations to the boat.
– The chart briefing was informative, and we went over all of the charta of the Leeward Islands, including our possible routes to Anguila, St. Barts, Nevis, St. Kitts, and Statia.
– I also stopped in the dive shop to discuss dive sights, and also signed up for DAN insurance online using a computer at a nearby hotel.
– After our brief boat orientation walk through with moorings staff, we departed the dock and made our way out of the harbor towards open water.
– Shallow water near the harbor entrance causes large breaking waves, and our exit to open water was very rough. We made it through, and into 22 kt winds.
– We sailed to St. Barts on only our mainsail, with one reef, since the wind was so strong. A bit faster and it would have been a gale.

– The seas were consistently rough, with swells over the beam all day, and a close haul.
– As we got closer to St. Barts, we started sighting the nav markers leading up to the marina – markers were easy to follow, and we anchored just outside of the protected inner mooring area.
– Out in the harbor, there are actually a bunch of moorings in seemingly good repair – but are privately owned.
– Immediately after anchoring, Zac, Sean and I took the dinghy over to the customs dock to check in.
– Dinner tonight was at Eddie’s, a local restaurant Zac has been going to with his family for years. We got there at 19:30, and after a great meal and many drinks, left around 23:30.
– We’re going to sleep tonight around 00:30, and waking up early tomorrow morning to sail Statia.

2011-08-06
Sailing The Leeward Islands – Day One – St. Maarten

Sailing the Leeward Islands – my daily log. During this trip, I took some brief notes every day at the end of the day, using the notepad app on my Apple iPhone 4. Enjoy

For the rest of the photos and video, and daily summaries, be sure to read the Sailing the Leeward Islands Trip Summary

Photos set on Flickr (Slideshow)
Video on YouTube

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– Woke up at the La Quinta in Miami – got Wendys via airport van through the drive-through.
– Met up with Sean waiting at the gate at the Miami airport. Surprisingly, neither of us grabbed anything at the duty free shop.
– Flight from Miami to SXM was somewhat uneventful. Landing, me and Sean met up with Zac, Dyana, Evan waiting at baggage claim. They had flown JetBlue direct from NYC
– We got a ride from the SXM airport with Noel, who was a cool. immediately after exiting the airport, we stopped by the Crew House to pick up our 6th and final crew member Evelyn. Evelyn is new to our crew this year, and we’re psyched to have her with us!

– Drove for an hour around the island to avoid crazy traffic, and finally made it to Moorings base in Oyster bay.
– Our Classy Beneteau 43.3 seems like a great boat – although there’s not as much storage as we really want. Also, there are 3 heads – one too many.
– Cabin assignments – me and Evelyn are in the forward cabin. Zac and Dyana are in the port aft cabin, and Sean and Zac in the starboard aft cabin.
– After depositing our gear in the boat, me, Evelyn, Dy and Evan got back in the cab and went shopping for provisions.

– We spent about $600 on provisions, enough for 6 people for 10 days, minus a couple dinners, which we’re planning on doing on shore at various bays we’ll be sailing to.
– Dinner tonight was next to the moorings marina at The dingy dock, where we got good planters punch and fish n chips.

– Tonight, we’re all beat from a long day of travel. We went over the charts briefly, and are now going to bed.
– Tomorrow, chart briefing, boat walk through, scuba organization, and setting sail.

2011-08-05