The Norwegian fleet, Sint Maarten

At 06am we're up, and at 7am we're off on a tailwind sail towards St.Martin (French)/Sint Maarten (Dutch). The tiny, split island that'll be our launching pad to the Azores.
A golden morning and a good sail; we watch heavy rain squalls drench St. Maarten in the distance. By the time we're circling in the bay waiting for the 11:30am bridge opening, the skies have cleared.

We meet other Norwegian boats waiting to pass into the huge lagoon on the Dutch side. A "new" boat, "Chica", is here; two "chicos" have sailed up from Venezuela, where they picked up this "delivery" boat. "Helen Kate" is here to refuel; they will turn south afterwards and head towards Venezuela and new adventures on their way around the world.

Inside, at the Simpson Bay Marina, we meet up again with "Snorre", "Blaa", "Sedna", "Apricus" and "Felicie", a big Norwegian family of boats! We gather at "Jimbo's"(Rock and Blues Café’s) in the evening. A shortwave net is being created by "Sedna's" Svein Hugo, busing typing away on the computer. The others are busy discussing provisioning, routes and weather.

Whatever is on our minds?