Voyage 2010: Chapter 2

02 Dec 2010, The worst is over, 20 36.76 N/ 064 29.56 W

The last three days have exposed Jule III and her crew to 20-25 kt winds with 12-15 ft seas. Needless to say it has been a rolly ride. Sleeping was difficult and watch standing was no piece of cake. We changed our watch standing procedures for 2 on and 2 off. The seas were quite impressive, especially during last night's squalls where we experienced 30 kt gusts and seas that we could only imagine.

We have 180 nm to go and hope for a Sint Marten landfall around 1000 AST on Friday. It will be a great two weeks thanks to Butch and Vicki's help in sailing the good boat Jule to Sint Maarten. We think we will spend the Holidays in SM and then head to who knows where. The trip has been great but tiring and a bit tense. Soon it will be time to relax.

05 Dec 2010, Sint Maarten Landfall, 18 01.92 N/ 063 05.8 W

At 0100 yesterday, we passed the extinguished light of Sombrero Island. We could see the indirect light from Anquilla and Sint Maarten lighting up the clouds. We have been motorsailing for nearly 12 hours. Everybody is excited in anticipation of the landfall. It will be good to stop for a while.

Lots of boats around here; a couple of cruise ships, a bunch of megayachts, and quite a few sailboats. By 0730, we were looking for an anchorage in Simpson Bay. We are new to these parts and not sure what the protocol is. We soon figured out that we had to dinghy to the Police Station where Customs and Immigration lived. After a couple false starts we got ourselves accepted into St. Maarten. We then dinghyed to Simpson Bay Yacht Club where we got a reservation for Saturday (tomorrow). Then we headed back to the boat to spend our first and last night at Simpson Bay. We were surprised by a visit from the St. Maarten Coast Guard for an inspection and a chat. No problem, mon.

We woke up early before sunrise where the air was cool, the sea calm, and just enough breeze to feel good. We scheduled ourselves for the 0930 transit through the bridge. At 0915, Anthony came by in his dinghy to give us escort to his marina. Promptly at 0930, the bridge opened and away we went with Anthony at the lead. About 15 minutes later, we were tucked in C-12. Not bad. Now we start to break all of our good eating habits by eating at the fine restaurants near the marina.