Which is the better cruising area,
St Martin or the Grenadines? Having cruised both areas, I
will offer my take. We’ve chartered for the past seven
years in the BVI, the Grenadines and now St Martin. When in
the Caribbean, we all like to snorkel so our likes and dislikes
are affected by the quality of the snorkeling. We got a
double dose of snorkeling in our November trip to Bonaire where we
imbibed in the habit twice a day but we were land based for that
trip and which could be the subject of another article.
So back to the question, St Martin
or the Grenadines? I would suggest three main criteria, at
least for our group of three couples:
- Great sailing - 15 to 25
knot winds are ideal as long as they are not on the nose when
sailing to prime locations in a sailing area.
- Great snorkeling - We
all enjoy seeing the fish and reefs up close and personal.
- Calm harbors - Keeping
the food on the table at dinner time is a high priority with
our crew. A good night’s sleep does wonders for crew morale
and enjoyment of the next day
Of course, it’s a plus if
there’s good provisioning and good restaurants available but
we’ve never seen really great restaurants in the Caribbean and
as far as provisioning goes, we buy what we can. I’ll
cover our most recent experiences at St Martin and come back to
the comparison to the Grenadines.
I must admit that our experiences
were colored by having 25 knot winds every day with 9 to 10 foot
seas and rain squalls three times a day every day and several
times every night where gusts would reach 35 knots. Sunshine
was spotty. Given that, we started our cruise out of Oyster
Pond on an Oceanis 473 from Sunsail. We had
chartered from Sunsail at St Vincent and stayed with them
based on our good experiences there and a repeat customer
discount. I must say that provisioning on St Martin was far
superior to anywhere else we’ve been in the Caribbean for the
variety, quality and cost - especially the liquor. $0.81 for
a six pack of Heineken can’t be beat!
The Oceanis 473 is a fine
boat once you figure out the inverter-based refrigeration system
that took the “expert” at Sunsail 2 hours to get to
work. There’s not enough room here to explain it, the
instructions cover a full page. In all the heavy seas we
encountered, the Oceanis exhibited a neutral helm in stark
contrast to the Oceanis 461 we chartered last year which
had a heavy weather helm, so much so that none of our wives could
manage the wheel in heavy wind. This year, that was not a
problem. A plus for St Martin, although it’s a function of
the boat offered, not the cruising area.
The channel out of Oyster Pond is
not for the faint of heart! It is located on the east side
of St Martin so it receives the full benefit of waves rolling in
from Africa. In heavy seas (which we had for two weeks), you
head out and make a sharp dogleg to port between two reefs that
are covered in surf. With breaking surf to your right and
left, you really, really do want to stay in the channel which
allows you to exit with only the occasional wave breaking over the
bow. Needless to say, you exit under full power and hug the
three red sticks maintained by Sunsail. They provide
a chase boat to lead you out and in just to be sure you find the
channel. When we returned to harbor two weeks later, unknown
to me, another boat decided to follow us in and a crew member
reported at one point that she saw the boat on the crest of the
wave behind us while we were in the trough (10 foot waves!),
it’s a sight she will never forget, burned in her memory as she
put it. It is certainly invigorating but I would score
entrance and exit a plus for St Vincent which is quite tame
compared to St Martin. In fact, it looked tame in the
brochure with no waves at all over the reefs and then we noticed
that the wind was out of the west in the picture! It was
obviously not taken during typical winter (high season)
conditions, a little advertisement license at work.
The cruising area around St Martin
consists of Anguilla, St Barth and St Martin itself.
There’s also St Kitts and Nevis 6 hours to the south but we
couldn’t fit them in on this trip. There are two good
overnight harbors on Anguilla (Crocus Bay and Road Bay), two on St
Martin (Grande Case and Marigot) and one on St Barth (Anse du
Colombier, with Gustavia being too rolly). There were other
harbors listed in the cruising guides as “good” harbors but I
would not recommend them in the winter months unless it’s
unusually settled.
Our first day out we left late
after so we motored an hour north to Orient Bay, an anchorage
recommended during the chart briefing. It faces east and the
ride in with a large following sea is interesting but no real
problem. There are harbors on either end of the bay tucked
behind islands. The problem is getting out. While we
were there, there was a shoal area not on the map and not
mentioned in the chart briefing across the mouth of the bay beyond
the 35 foot depth point as you headed out. It shoaled to 18
feet and the 10 foot swells were breaking over the boat as we
attempted to pass over the shoal. We turned back in and came
out the next day when the winds lessened to a steady 20kts in the
morning before resuming their 25 kt force later in the day.
Only two waves broke over our 47’ Oceanis as we motor
sailed out and the shoal wasn’t completely white water as before
but the experience wasn’t a good introduction to the St Martin
area. Later we heard that the charter companies lost 6
sailboats last year around the Orient Bay area, three due to bad
navigation and three rolled in heavy seas. I would recommend
staying out of Orient Bay when 10 foot rollers are coming in, even
though it does have its attractions (nude beach)!
We anchored at Grande Case on St
Martin the next night and enjoyed a dinner in town at Tastevin
with a great view of the beach ($80 per person). It’s a
small town and quaint but the traffic was heavy and continuous on
the only main road. We were off to Anguilla the next day for
customs at Road Bay and a cruising permit at the rate of $57/day
for our 47’ boat. Since the permit runs from midnight to
midnight, you have to pay for two days to stay overnight unless
you want to try sneaking out the next morning, we elected not to
challenge the local police on the issue. Going through
customs was a typical Caribbean experience with three desks
chaired by three people in the same room that you had to see
sequentially. Each had their own fees to charge. I guess
it’s full employment, Caribbean style. We set anchor at
Crocus Bay and noticed that the horizon was unusually clear that
evening. We all took positions on the back of the boat in
expectation of seeing a green flash. I was poised with my
digital camera ready for the event. When the sun just barely
disappeared under the horizon, it happened! Three of us saw
a green flash! The other three blinked or were otherwise
mentally occupied and missed it. Unfortunately, my trigger finger
on the camera was a millisecond off and I just barely missed
capturing the event on my camera! Sorry about that. It
was the first green flash I had ever seen. They are very
brief, just a flash of green light as the sun disappears.
The next morning we picked up
moorings (required since it’s marine park) in Little Bay, just
north of where we anchored and snorkeled. The water was
somewhat murky but the snorkeling was very good with turtles and
large schools of fish. Our favorite area was off Pelican
Point at the south end of Little Bay. The bottom was a forest of
fans, coral and lots of fish. A turtle tried to hide between
two rocks covered by a fan, something I hadn’t seen turtles do
before.
After two days, we headed for
Prickly Pear Cay which is purported to have the best snorkeling in
Anguilla. There was just one mooring available for use and
we grabbed it. Anchoring would have been problematic given
the unprotected cove and the signature 25kt winds. The boat
was bouncing around as we crawled into the dinghy for the ride
behind the island for snorkeling. We found about a hundred
people already there from the many catamarans (day trippers) and
the water even more murky than at Little Bay. We weren’t
impressed, didn’t stay long and headed back into the wind and
waves to the boat which provided “entertainment” to all as we
splashed over the waves but the engine chugged on and we kept
enough of the ocean out of the dinghy to make it home. As we
left the mooring, we saw a second mooring with no ball, just the
mooring line floating on the surface which I managed to
miss! That was interesting since we had seen a boat up on
the rocks on our way to the snorkeling area. In fact, we saw
a total of four sailboats on rocks or on washed up on shore during
our cruise. We sailed on to Marigot.
There is plenty of room to anchor
at Marigot and while not exactly calm, it’s okay. The next
morning we took on water at the new town marina ($18/1000L) and
decided to take a dock at the nearly empty marina which is inside
a seawall and perfectly calm for easy access to Marigot’s
attractions ($37/night for our boat). Marigot is a bustling
metropolis compared to any other Caribbean town. There are 
many high class stores but also a town square where local
merchants sell their wares. The entire island is duty free
so you can buy Havana cigars for $5 each and the liquor costs much
less than in the States. However, expect to pay top dollar
for a meal at good restaurant, $75 to $100 per person with
wine. Of course, there were always the French equivalent of
fast food joints where you could get by on $15 each. We had
a ball enjoying the town and sights.
After much abuse of our credit
cards, we headed for the marine park at Ile Fourche in St Barth.
Once we rounded St Martin and headed east, it was into the wind
and waves all the way, some 20 nm. With the motor at 2800
rpm, we could only do 5 kts given the sea conditions.
Eventually we made Ile Fourche and picked up a mooring which were
new this year. Even though the island is part of St Barth,
you don’t have to pass through customs until you reach the
capital, Gustavia, according to the chart briefing given by Sunsail.
No one bothered us about it.
The snorkeling, purported to be
the best in the St Martin area, was not very good. The water
was murky, probably from the high winds and we didn’t see a lot
of fish. The island looked like a moonscape. There’s
nothing on it except goats and an occasional tree. We had
enough and set sail the next morning for Gustavia intending to
pick up a mooring in town but they were all taken so we headed for
the outer harbor which was somewhat rolly. We cleared
customs for only $5 but they would not take American dollars, you
had to walk down the street to find a money changer for euros and
return to pay. Of course, no one else in town had any
problems with dollars, just the French customs office.
I would certainly recommend a day
in Gustavia. Such yachts! A 70 foot, four spreader sloop
looked like a toy next to the huge power boats at the town
dock. In the stores, every famous European brand was in
evidence. In talking to some of the locals, the business has
not been as good as in the past years with the high point being
before 9/11. The ladies in the crew had a grand time
shopping.
After taking on more credit card
damage, we were off to Anse du Colombier and found moorings and a
secure, calm harbor. To top it off, the snorkeling was the
best we found in the St Martin area. The water was
relatively clear and I saw my first shark, far away on the
bottom. The highlight was a swim with a turtle at arm’s
length for about 100 meters but only after I had used all my
film!!
Unfortunately, the sail back to
Oyster Pond was dead downwind but we made good time.
Standing in the companion way, I could not see the horizon when in
the trough of a typical wave which would put them at about 10
feet. I wrote about the approach to the Sunsail home
base at Oyster Pond earlier but from the sea, a passageway is not
at all evident. All you see is white water ahead of you.
After threading our way through the reefs, you come to a dead calm
harbor with a fleet of charter boats. The Moorings
also use this base.
So back to my criteria:
- Great Sailing - The
passages between islands of the Grenadines are aligned better
to the prevailing winds. I would put the advantage in
the Grenadines’ court.
- Great Snorkeling - The
snorkeling was good in spots but I enjoyed the Tobago Cays
more with clearer water and a good variety of fish.
Advantage the Grenadines.
- Calm Harbors - I found 5
calm harbors In the Grenadines: Bequia, Union, Salt Whistle
Bay (although very windy), Tobago Cays and Petit St
Vincent. Probably there are others but I haven’t
anchored there. I would rate this pretty even with maybe
and edge to the Grenadines.
One thing we definitely missed,
somewhat to our surprise, were the Boat Boys. There were
none in St Martin or anywhere else in our cruising area. No
one to buy bread from or tee shirts or ice or to provide
interesting conversation like Sydney Dallas. There were no Clifton
Harbor characters like Herman or Earl. On the one hand, it
was relaxing not to deal with the interruptions at cocktail time
but on the other hand, they provided a good service and local
information. You could learn about things going on that you
would not otherwise know. So overall, I still prefer the
Grenadines. It’s a total package of islands, sailing,
harbors and Boat Boys with the total more than the sum of the
parts. Someday I hope to go back.
