Dec. 14, 2007 - The Great Escape from St Maarten - er, sort of.

We finally made it out of Simpsons bay lagoon on Thursday morning (photo shows us leaving under the swing bridge), anchored out in the bay, got the dingy onto the foredeck with a struggle as it was still quite windy and headed of SouthEast to St Barts.  5 hours later we were in the marina in Marigot Bay on the French bit of St Martin.  We could have made St Barts but with a 25-30 knot wind dead on the nose we decided to follow our policy of not being uncomfortable unless we really have to. We had a really great downwind blast back the way we came, even got the fishing rod going for a while and decided to at least see somewhere new. The French side of the Island is totally different - starting off with a very nice customs and immigration chap who was actually pleased to see us, unlike the miserable lot over on the Dutch side.  My only problem is that there is a really upmarket shopping mall just in town and Fi has already made dire threats to visit and 'suggested' that she doesn't want my company!!.  Still we've already found a restaurant with a large tank full of lobsters so my Saturday night is sorted.  Forecast is for winds to drop Sunday/Monday so hopefully it will be a quick dash to St Barts and a slightly longer one to Antigua a few days later.  Still beats working for a living.