February 22, 2011 This northerly swell keels me!

This morning, getting out of Simpson Bay Lagoon went smoothly and as planned.  I woke at 6am and the rest of the crew woke at 6:30am.  I make coffee for everyone and Mike R. went for a stroll and got us fresh baked croissants! They were some of the best I've ever had.  The chartering company provided us with a pilot to ensure safe passage through the bridge -- clearance is a mere few feet abeam on either side.  

We were advised of a large northerly swell: a wind/wave action that occurs during winter months from time to time. Immediately after getting through the bridge we experienced 5' seas! Lots of fun! Because our refrigerator wasn't working properly, we tied up to a pier outside of the bay/bridge crossing and to the east.  The swells were so great they were crashing up and over the breakwater of our pier!  I took a couple photos of this, it was exciting to see happen.  Additionally and also from the swell, our boat started to move around quite a bit despite it originally being secured snugly with 2 spring lines, a bow and stern line, and an additional stern line from our hull on the opposing side of the pier. Surprisingly, we snapped one of the large docking lines due to our boat being agitated from the large swells.  With that we cast off and rescheduled our repairs for later in the day at our destination: Grand Case (pronounced 'cahs). Located on the northeast of St. Martin (still on the French side), Grand Case is labeled the gastronomic center of the Caribbean with so many restaurants! We enjoyed sailing several hours to get there, and learned many things under Mike R.'s instruction about sailing a large catamaran in big water.  Mike is very excited that we're on a Catana! He's sailed 

catamarans for 15-years but never a Catana.  A Catana, contrasted against other makes, costs approximately twice more per foot.  I believe it!  This boat was designed to perform.  It was sailed here from France on its own bottom, and today in 25kt winds and 5'-8' swells just started to find its sweet spot.  Our cruising speed today was only about 8-10kts, but Mike R. says on our passage to St. Bart's we may approach as much as twice this!  Today, just for fun, we shot over to Anguilla and cruised through Rendezvous Bay on its southeast shore.  Beautiful!  White sand beaches and sapphire blue water.  

Due to the northerly swell, the water is all stirred up and there is no visibility = no snorkeling today.  It is supposed to go away tomorrow so we expect to soon be snorkeling.  Visibility aside, after setting anchor in Grand Case we all got in the water.  It felt wonderful and refreshing.  Gabe and I swam about 300-yards to shore.  We tucked our credit cards in our swim shorts so we could buy some chips at the grocery store just about 2 blocks down the road off the beach.  We then swam with them back out to the boat. Mike R. made us some excellent drinks back aboard the Madrid, and we then loaded into the dinghy to go ashore for dinner.

Every Tuesday night there is carnival here in Grand Case --this being Tuesday we took in the sights!  Tons of people and vendors filled the streets which were all closed off.  It seemed more and more surges of crowds kept coming through.  Gabe found us (Vicki, Mike H., Mike R. and myself) an excellent place to grab a bite.  The other couples ventured out on their own to explore.  The place we ate at was half street vendor (open BBQ on the street) and half inside serving ice cream, beer and soda.  This is a place I'd usually pass by, but Gabe encouraged us the food may be incredible (how did he know?!?) -- it was!  And, dirt cheap.  The name of this fine establishment: G's Snack (pronounced G's Shnack). Funny! They put a little table right on the side of the street for us, and we had some entertaining live music too!  We stayed there and hung out for about 2.5-3 hours.  More crowds came parading through, including a group of Brazilian dancers with drums and whistles.  It's 11pm now and the music in on shore is still bumping.  Everyone onboard has just retired to their cabins -- the wind, sun, travel and weather has us all a bit tired, but I think this is great as tonight's sleep will really help set our internal clocks and adjust to the +4 hour time difference. I'm going to go sleep outside on the trampoline tonight -- it is so comfortable and the night sky down here is incredibly clear and bright with stars. I'm hoping Gabe will join me but I think he's out already in our cabin.  Not sure where we're off to tomorrow, but I know the plan is to be underway by 9/9:30am.  I also know my designated job duty tomorrow is Bar Tender, Party Captain and Designated Dinghy Driver.  Can't wait for another exciting day!