REPORTS FROM THE RIP: St Martin and St Barths ( lots of pics)

Dan Wiring a nice blue one

We left St Thomas a week ago and headed East South East to St Martin / St Barths. Its only a 120 mile run so we decided to go see these islands.
One of the reasons we wanted to go to St Martin is to fish the famed Marlin Blvd. The Boulevard is an area that stretches to the north east of St Martin for 25-45 miles. It is renowned for producing big fish. Dan and I ran the boat to St Martin and fished a bit along the way. We caught a few small yellow fin tuna and a 400 lb blue marlin. But as luck would have it, when the boss flew in two days later, The winds started honking. The first day the boss was there, We fished in 7-8 foot sloppy crap seas. We raised one good size blue and caught one white marlin. The next day the winds had not subsided so we fished the leeward side of St Martin. Our efforts only produced one nice wahoo. The forecast for the extended period called for 20 + knot winds so we came up with an alternative plan to fishing. We explored St Martin for a day and then brought the boat to St Baths to explore as well.

St Martin is an island that is a territory of France and all owned by the Dutch. Three quarters of the island is french. obviously french is the predominant language spoken. My first impression upon arriving to the island is that everyone sounded like Pepe Le Pew. But most folks speak english as well. We stayed on the French side of the island at Marina Fort Louis. The marina is nice enough. But, I recommend any boats traveling to For Louis to carry a 100 to double 50 amp splitter. They have very few functioning 50 amp power plugs on the dock. The marina in located in a town called Marigot. It is a touristy place and has lots of good French restaurants. There are some outstanding french bakeries a short walk from the boat. I could never live that near to a French Bakery. Good lord the french can throw down on some bread and pastries. Just not of Marigot is a town called Grand Case. This sleepy little town reminds me of Play Del Carmin Mexico years and years ago ( only with out the tequila bars). There is French Bistro after French Bistro that dot the street that lays right along the beach facing north towards the island of Anguilla. The French deffinetly have a talent for cooking. Every meal we have had has been over the top good. And I am not just talking about the flavors. Each dish seems to come to the table looking like a piece of art work. On or exploring day, we drove to Orient beach. It is one of the more popular beaches on the island. It is lined with little bars along the beach and some parts of it a adult only. While we stayed off of the adult beach, There were a few topless sunbathers that strayed to the beach where we were. Quite frankly they should not have been flaunting what the have. After some grub on the beach, we headed to the Loterie farm. Loterie Farm is a Zip line place in the mountains between Marigot and Grand case. They have beautiful pools and zip lines there. The zip lines are touted as extreme And they meant it. They guys were worn out when they finished walking tight rope bribes and doing zip lines. Another thing that you have to when on St Martin is go to the dutch side to Simpson Bay and watch the Airplanes take off and land. It is a big tourist attraction. We made it to Maho beach at the beginning of the runway which is right on the beach just as the Big quad engine jumbo Air France jet was preparing to take off. Now standing on the beach when one of the big jets comes in to land is a big rush... it feels as if you could reach up and touch the landing gear. But standing in the Jet wash directly behind a Jumbo Jet as it goes full power to take off and clear the mountains at the other end of the runway is a trip. All the tourists gather and cling to the runway fence. Then 125+ mile an hour winds blow hats off and the occasional tourist gets blown off the beach and into the water.

St Barths , As I stated before, the weather was not conducive to fishing so we made the 18 mile run over to the french island of St Barths. Some call it st Barts, some St Barths but its actual name is St Barthalamy. St Barths is probably the most exclusive island in the caribbean. It is the play ground for ultra the ultra wealthy. As we idled into port Gustavia I was struck by how quaint the town is. It is lined with ginger bread buildings and is all very well kept. Two small issues arose once we arrived. I assumed with St Barths being a major yachting destination, that there would be dock side power. There is none at any slip. The second issue was that there are no actual slips. All of the dockage is side to a seawall or on a mooring ball. After laying along the sea wall for 2 hours and getting bounced around by the surge caused by the rough seas off shore, we realized that we were going to pop a fender or snap a dock line. So we moved the boat out to the inner harbor mooring field. Our next problem was that with no small boat we would have to use our paddle boards to get to and from shore. Luckily there was a sail boat with two tenders moored near us. For fifty bucks and a couple bags of wahoo we rented one of their tenders. Beyond those issues, this place is over the top beautiful. The quaint streets are line with all the high end shops one might find in Paris. Every thing is very expensive though. We had lunch at a small open air bistro and the bill was 100 bucks for three burgers and three beers. We drove around the island and found it to be immaculate clean and well maintained. W made a stop at Niki Beach and had a swim. The beach there was amazing. Afterwards we drover the entire island and ended up at Do Brazil at Shell Beach. The waters there are very protected and clear, It was the perfect place to swim off lunch. The french team played Iceland today and won. The island is going nuts. There are lines of cars driving up and down the streets blowing their horns and waving French flags.
Tomorrow we are going to head back to St Thomas. They are calling for 20+ knot winds but it will be a following sea. Hope we catch some fish along the way