LinoCat

It was raining cats and dogs this morning. Good that we had nice weather yesterday duringthe crossing. Now the boat is almost salt free but to give it a proper wash it should not rain. Great, another adapter to build! The yellow one is a US norm 250V 50A adapter and i had to get the parts today and build it. At least the shops are open on sundays and so i could get the parts. After measuring the socket on the dock it was done in 15 minutes and it worked. I guess we must have around half a dozen of power adapters and maybe 10 water adapters. Crazy world. The last time LinoCat was at shorepower was more than 2 weeks ago in Rodney Bay and so thebatteries are happy to get charged. Since there is no sun the solarpanels only give 9A and i guess the batteries are happy to get charged for 2 days :-) Lani was not bothered by the weather and she wear her "RAIN OUTFIT" for the first time! I also did customs clearance today, they have been friendly and the overtime charge of 16 US dolla...

The anchor was raised from the ground at 03.40 and i was up at 3. Then the usual stuff followed like putting the paddle wheel in to get the speed through the water instrument showing data. The speed over ground is measured by the GPS and called SOG. The difference between SOG and speed is then used by the navigation system to measure the drift due to current and tide. So it is not life critical but nice to have :-) I had 2 cups of coffee as a first breakfast and 5 minutes after leaving both sails were up. On the radar i saw a another sailship in 1/2 mile distance and right now i could also see it with my eyes. Its lights were hidden under all the lights of Anguilla, the island near by. So it is always good to check the radar screen at night. Around 9 the Parasailor was up. LinoCat had not seen this sail since we crossed the atlantic and it was nice to have it back up since the wind came in 120 to 180 degrees from starbord. It could be a little more wind. Right now there are 10 knots an...

Have you ever seen a sign at a garbage bin that you are not allowed to dump your garbage during the day? Maybe they do it here because it looks so digusting and smells so ugly that people should not go there during the day? Or was the smell coming from this small river? Never on another caribbean island we have seen so much dirt than on the french ones. The dinghy dock here in Marigot stinks like they pee all over it every night. This floating swimmingpool was built in front of the beach in Grande Case. In 2 days we saw NOBODY swimming there. Of course, the beautiful beach is right around it and it is the same sea water. since it is only a floating pontoon. But the fun thing is: It is paid by the European union! Anyone wonders where the money goes? We went to Marigot this morning to clear out. You remember that they had printer problems, right? Guess what: YEAH, they send me again to Fort Luis marina. So we have customs office which is not able to do their duty. Even though nothing is...

The beach here is here very nice with clear water. The dinghy dock is fairly old and rotten and so is the main dock which already collapsed. Anchorage is good holding on sand in around 3m of depth and near by there are some rocks which are supposed to be good for snorkeling. There is a small buoy there for dinghies. Lani enjoyed playing in the sand and unfortunately we have to leave today back to the immigration because they did not clear us out. Lets hope they have fixed their printer problem!

This morning at 7.45 after breakfast we pulled the anchor up and crossed the Simpson Bay Lagoon to the french side. At 08.15 the drawbridge opened and we went into Marigot Bay. We dropped the anchor here to clear in. Customs and Immigration are at the ferry docks and so i went there by dinghy. After typing in all the details (Yes, the french system does NOT support saving the data like with eSeaClear.com) i printed the information out and the customs officer realized that the toner cartridge was empty. No problem, i will wait until he changed it BUT he did not have another one. So he told me i should go to marina Fort Luis to clear in there. Usually they do it only for marina guests but he would call them. So i walked there and they did not know anything. The lady had to call her supervisor and then i could clear in. Guess what: YES, i had to type everything again. Now they told me it is NOT possible to clear in and out at the same time so i have to type all of that again tomorrow! And...

Yesterday it was the first time that we travelled by dinghy from one country to another because we went through the Simpson lagoon to the french side. The dutch side looks almost american with the US dollar and english language being dominant. On the french side even the road signs look french. The french have 20 square kilometer and the dutch 13. There is no real border here between the countries. Hey it is almost like in Europe. The top picture shows an old propeller plane which is still flying around. Maybe it was a DC-3 but i am not sure. To the left is the West Indies Shopping Mall on the french side. Only clothes and girls stuff, no electronics or tools for the big boy :-( This is a beach bar where we have been yesterday for a coffee. Nice music but they had a big dog running around free and so we left. These iron balls are used for bonfires, especially on fullmoon parties. So there is a wooden fire in them and people dance and drink. This is one of the marinas on the french sid...

Like with Sint Maarten itself even for the lagoon i found different writings like Simpson or Simson. The anchorage is well protected and you enter through a draw bridge like in the Netherlands. But even though it is dutch, the most dominant curreny is the US Dollar and voltage is often 110V. Also all signs etc are english and not dutch. Since in the middle of the lagoon there is the border to the french part calles Saint Martin i am curious how things are over there. So Linocat will drive THROUGH the island and cross countries. Funny! During the day a few big plans leave from the Airport and fly directly over our anchorage. Since i like planes and they are not flying at night this is not a problem. The Boing 747-400 is from KLM and serves Amsterdam and Curacao from here. Most of the traffic is done by small 2 engine planes like the Twinotter. Since the sunset is behind the airport i might try some other pictures later.