News 8

St. Maarten- BVIs

03.02.02-10.02.02
BVIs

Leaving Anguilla at noon, we arrived in Roadtown, Tortola BVI at about the same time the next day. To us it seemed to be one of the centres of the charter industry, So, after checking in with the authorities, we decided to go just round the corner to romantic little Peter Island. The next day saw us move on to Jost van Dyke and the legendary Foxy’s Tamarind Beach Bar. Bob Marley used to play his music here, when the rest of the world didn’t even know he existed. A few days later we went on to Cane Garden Bay, Tortola. Conclusion: The British Virgin Islands are a cruiser’s heaven. Well protected, short distances between the most beautiful anchorages, breathtaking landscapes, lots of marinas. BUT : Everything is extremely expensive, you get ripped of wherever you go, hundreds of charter yachts, you have to be extremely aware of, especially when they are anchored close to you and it starts to blow. They are always dragging onto you…

Sonntag, 03.02.02
Going on from Anguilla to Tortola

A lot has happened since our arrival in St. Maarten. First priority is our home. We took the boat out of the water at Bobby's Marina, sanded and painted the hull and applied new antifouling to our underwater tropical garden. They also made new rudder bearings for us which proved to be perfect at a reasonable price. They also did a good welding job to our outboard fittings, which were broken. We ordered a new genny in Germany which was delivered to us tax and toll free within no time. The only problem we couldn't solve was our broken down floppy disk drive. This is the reason why we are having difficulties in placing new pictures on our homesite.
In brief: we also visited the islands of Saba, Statia and Anguilla, each of them fascinating in their own way.

St.Maarten/St.Martin:

divided between a Dutch and French part, no visible border. Hectic, busy and more cars than inhabitants. Nobody walks. A curious mixture of Walton on the Naze and Las Vegas. Several big Line Cruisers every day loading of thousands of red skinned, fat bellied, incredibly clad tourists willing to spend their last dime on some unbelievable shit.

Saba:

lousy anchorage, inaccessible, steep, but of breathtaking beauty. Tropical vegetation up to 3,000 ft. Small white houses with red roofs, friendly people, no racial tensions and an university with just one faculty: medicine.

Statia:

little island with a lot of history. It is so far of the beaten track that the few other tourists you meet are definitely interesting people. The things to do are diving and hiking "the Quill".

Anguilla:

totally different, peaceful, quiet, flat, almost no trees, the most wonderful beaches with nobody there, secure anchorage.

AEOLA in Bobby's Marina

After a rather rough crossing with gale force winds from every direction we finally made it to Philipsburg, St. Maarten N.A. Contrary to our initial plans we had to exchange the Bahamas for the Caribbean..
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