- Mariposa Voyage -

March - April 2015 : St Martin - St Barth

St Martin - 21/03/15 au 31/03/15

St Martin is an island shared between French and Dutch for a long time (since 1648). The legend tells that the border was defined by a french and a dutch running around the island.
Unless some english invasions, Dutch and French are living together for more than 3 thousands years.
However english is the most spoken language.

Grand Case and Fort Louis

The night at Deshaies we have a good rest. This time there are no slipping boats !
At breakfast, Loïc informs us that, seeing the weather forecast, we should leave in the afternoon for the long navigation to St Martin !
What??! We thought we would spend a quiet day and have one more good night before leaving... But we have to take advantage of the wind!
So after lunch, we leave for a 20/24 hours navigation.
It has been a while since we made night shifts and saw the sun rising.
The navigation is good and then we stop in the bay of Grand Case in St Martin. The sea is turquoise and after lunch Maël decides to bake cookies. Yummy!!!

Then we go to Port Louis at Marigot in order to meet the 5th graders of the Lycee Français de Chicago. They are in St Martin for a class trip.
They follow Maël since the beginning of our trip and come to visit our boat.
Maël is happy to show his "home" and to explain how we live. The 35 kids are in 2 x 2 groups with their teachers Estelle, Fabrice, Olivier and Bill, to see outside, inside and learn how to make some knots.

And back in Chicago, the kids talk about it with some pictures.

We stay a little more at Fort Louis in order to do some laundries, groceries, reparations, take some "real" showers (even if 5 minutes for 2 dollars it is frustating when water is stopping without warning), use internet, fill the gasoil...
Louise invites her friends Inès to spend some days on the boat with us.

Marigot Bay

Marina is great but it's a budget... so after a few days we decide to go mooring in Marigot Bay next to the port. And also it's funnier because the kids can jump again in the water.
Sev'On Seas arrives at the port and we are leaving... it is not a big deal because the mooring is not so far away.
We decide to have a party for Inès and Henry's birthdays with Pti Ket, W-Alter on Sev'On Seas.

Then there are some afternoons where after school the kids gather together and jump in the water.

And a view from Fort Louis on the marina.

Grand Case

First a stop in Grand Case where the mooring is quieter and we meet Mordicus.
We go to the village. There are some Lolos, these small open snacks, and at the end of the village there are an old salt mill.

Saint Barthélemy - 31/03/15 au 05/04/15

Barthélemy, also St Barth, is a french island of 25 km2. There aren't a lot of resorts but it is more a luxury tourism in order to preserve the island.

Lucie and Maël don't forget April Fool. We have some "VHF is not working" "There is no more food" "We slid this night" "There is nothing left to eat"...

Then we meet again Méléos ("At least" said Lucie who's happy to play again with her friend's Eléa) at the mooring of Corosol in front of the capital Gustavia.
We visit the walk in Gustavia, this small city with big yachts and luxuries stores.
We taste the fish caught by Méléos and then go for pizzas.

We stop at Colombier bay where we have a party for Loïc's birthday with the boat-friends.
Maël climbs on the boom for a group picture.

Then we go to Fourchue Island with Méléos and Pti Ket for Easter weekend.
And everyday life goes on.

We find some sweets for Easter.
And Quentin offers us a good hand-presso.

We also see beautiful fishes.

Saint Martin - 04/06/15 to 04/08/15

Then from Fourchue island we go back to Marigot bay with Pti Ket and Méléos.
At Marigot we are all 5 boats again together, like in Dominica, it means Sev'On Seas, Méléos, Pti Ket, W-Alter and Mariposa. We organise a bbq night and then a "tartiflette" night. And it is also Eléa's birthday.

Then it is good bye times...
Sev'On Seas has to go back to Martinique, W-Alter will follow to Cuba and Panama but we will meet again Pti Ket and Méléos at St Martin before the big sailing to Açores.
It is hard to leave our friends. It is a part of our story which finishes...