On our previous trips to the Simpson Bay Lagoon in Sint Maarten, we were here during The Stupid and then during the "off" season. High season in the Caribbean is from November - May. We have always heard tales of High Season's Past but have never experienced it first hand. Until now. We moved Galt over to the lagoon on Monday as planned and settled in quite nicely on anchor. All systems worked well which was a blessing after December's follies! To get into the lagoon, each boat must wait in the outer bay until the drawbridge opens. The bridge opens about 5 times a day for incoming boats. In the past, we would see a few fellow sailboats enter the lagoon or some local catamaran charters. We were definitely not prepared for this week! At each opening, Bill will yell, "Bridge opening! Get ready!" and the fun begins. The size of these private and charter yachts entering the lagoon are the size of small cruise ships! Bill grabs the binoculars and jots down the boat name and then we stalk them online to find out all about them. The largest one that came in this week was called Top 5 and was 200 feet long. It was a charter boat meaning that you could rent it as your own for a week. The cost......$500,000.00 A WEEK! The others ranged from a paltry $250,000.00 a week to $400,000.00 a week. It is insane! Some of the yachts are privately owned and those are really fun to stalk because we can see how the owner made his or her money. We especially love the rags to riches stories which is what most of them are.
Other than yacht stalking, we have been doing small projects on Galt and waiting on the Christmas winds to calm down. We have enjoyed eating at our favorite places and going to happy hour at the local bar. We also went and visited a new place called The Naked Pirate which was opened while we were in Europe. Nice owner and he played country music which was high on my list! Much better than Bob Marley for the nine millionth time! At some point this week, we will pull into one of the marinas for a couple of days in order to stock up on food and fuel prior to heading out to St. Bart's. We don't know if we'll get to go this week or not.....all depends on the weather. But, if the weather is not good, we will just stay put.....after all, we can't really beat hanging out with great food, fun places and amazing yachts!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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