Passage from Nevis to St Martin

The crossing from Charlestown on Nevis Island northwest to St Martin is about 75 miles. That basically means  a whole day sailing. The first hour was a rough ride through The Narrows between Nevis and St Kitts with strong wind and waves going in all directions. We were glad to traverse The Narrows in good light as there are lots of rocks and shallow areas. In fact, some charter companies do not allow their boats in The Narrows because of this. But we sailed through without incident, thanks to Skipper Kent, and continued our sail past St Kitts, Statia, Saba Island, and on to St Martin. I wish I could have taken some photos in The Narrows, but it was too rough.

This was the day that Kent spotted a whale off our port bow. I scrambled for my camera but unfortunately, the whale dove before I could get a picture. Still, what a thrill!

We reached the island of St Martin mid-afternoon. Because of the high winds, we decided to anchor in the Baie de Marigot on the west (and French) side of the island rather than Simpson Bay, on the southwest (and Dutch) side. Based on the direction and strength of the wind, we thought it might be too rolly to anchor in Simpson Bay. Kent went ashore to check us in and out at Customs, but otherwise we spent the entire evening in St Martin on our boat. We needed to rest up for the next day's crossing to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands!