We took the bus over to the Dutch side capital city of Philipsburg, which is all cruise-ship oriented. The whole waterfront is full of jewelry stores, beach ware, perfume, cigars, all duty-free shopping. We had a good time just being at the beach and walking around. This map of the island was set into the sidewalk.
Back in Marigot, we saw this great place - the Fantastic Guest House and Auto Supplies - and had to take a picture of it.

We spent three weeks in Marigot Bay on the French side of St. Martin, exploring the island by bus and enjoying the very French town of Marigot. Here is a view of the bay from the high point of Fort Louis, overlooking the harbor and Anguilla to the north. Our boat is one of the many boats seen at anchor here.
The fort is only a ruin, but looks good from this viewpoint. If it's any indication of French forts, we're convinced that the French could learn a bit about fort-building from the Spanish. Now, the fort at San Juan was built to last!

On Thursday, January 10, we motorsailed out of Fat Hog's Bay on Tortola. It was a fine, sunny day, with a light north-east breeze, as we sailed east-southeast to St. Martin. The first photo is of Fat Hog's Bay, seen from the bow of our boat, as we were leaving. The second photo is our last view of the British Virgin Islands - Round Rock, with Virgin Gorda in the background.
It was a wonderful passage with no problems at all, and the breeze helped us out all night. We dropped anchor on the French side of St. Martin in Marigot Bay just after dawn on Friday, and checked in to customs and immigration there. We've been exploring the island and price shopping for boat yards, as we prepare to haul out and work on the boat. We will be going over to the Dutch side of the island for haul out, and have a reservation for Monday, Feb. 4.

We sailed from Road Town to the eastern end of Tortola and anchored in Fat Hog's Bay on December 29, only about six miles up the coast, but it was a hard, slow slog to windward. We've been taking hikes up into the hills; some of the roads seem to go straight up. We also figured out the bus system and took a bus ride into Road Town. There are a lot of goats in town; they seem to be the only way lawns get mowed around here. A group is working on the cemetery in town, and another group is lounging in the shade next to the video store, on the main road through town.
We'll be making a hop over to St. Martin when the weather cooperates, probably on Wednesday.