Just arrived back to Irony in St Maarten after a fantastic visit to see Chrissy in Uruguay. We will shortly be heading west towards Cuba.
The Dutch bridge opened specially at 3pm yesterday to welcome back 16 year old Laura Dekker from her year-long circumnavigation. She motored into the lagoon and docked at the Yacht Club to a noisy and colourful reception of cheering crowds and sounding fog horns from the multitude of superyachts here. We were amongst the dozens of dinghies and boats that the water-bound police boat was trying to keep under control! Pretty and petite Laura was surrounded by the press as she received accolades by local dignitaries and greeted by the children from the local sailing school. Although the youngest solo sailor to make it around the world, her achievement is not being officially recognised to discourage others from similar risks. Laura fought and won a case in the Dutch courts to allow her to leave and embark on her adventure.
We left Antigua before dawn to arrive in St Barts before dark but Irony sped along between 8 and 9 knots and we anchored in Baie Columbier just after 3pm. It was wonderful to be in crystal clear water again and a pleasure to jump in the water and swim. Windy and rainy weather has made all the anchorages in Antigua very murky.
In a search for some internet, we had a picturesque walk over to Baie de Flamands. With the promise of wifi, we stopped at the Tawana Hotel and order a couple of beers which proved to be possibly the most expensive in the Caribbean at 20 euros! And the wifi didn’t work!
Very high gusty winds and torrential rain delayed our departure for St Maarten until Thursday. Typically, we ended up motoring the whole way across in dead calm conditions – very frustrating. We are now anchored in Simpson Bay Lagoon and attempting to tick off some items on our repair list.
