April 2017 - Page 3 of 3 - The Adventures of Sugar Shack

Anse Marcel: Nature Reserve, 3.3km or 2:30hrs at least that is what we think the sign says in French.

Overcast day, nothing on the agenda we hadn’t been off the boat much and spotted this trail a couple of days ago when we were in Anse Marcel, we are now in Grande Case (spoken as Caaaaas) which is a whopping mile or two down the west coast. I tossed the idea out after the morning radio net and Christine said sure.

First time in months, this wasn’t a one beer hike. So we both filled water bottles as we weren’t sure how long this was gonna take. Was the 2.5 hours each direction since we didn’t have a car at the other end of the trail or was that round trip? Adventure, that is what it is. Normally I take a beer to nurse on the hike up a hill and have a sip or two left at the top, but it certainly would be warm after 2+ hrs.

As we were in Grand Case, we dropped the dinghy and scooted over to Anse Marcel which was a nice ride till we cleared the coast then the surge/waves set in, we went from 17knots down to 4knots to keep dry-ish. Landed safely, but Christine needed something to eat to in case she got hungry along the way (since it could be another 5 hours before we saw food again) so she found something in the french mini-market that would do. We set off to explore the nature.

The sign promised lots of information along the way. We started down the path which looked like a car path, and ran into the water treatment plant – such a lovely aroma to start a hike. But off we went after finding the signs that pointed the right direction to the trail we were off – nice and fresh like. We started at the red spot on the lower left side and walked toward the right, or East around the island.

The trail went up hill, what looked to be a washed out ravine had been marked and trimmed a way to make a single path up the hill. It started with some beautiful trees that arched over the narrow, rocky path which was cool and pretty.

The start wasn’t too bad, but being on the back side of the mountain it was a bit warm even given the overcast skies. Once we crested the first hill, there was a great view of the Anse Marcel bay and Anguilla, we pushed on, up and over the next. From there we could see Tintamarre, and the beach where we would eventually walk on, a long way down.

Christine is going slow and steady, enjoying the birds and butterflies, reading the signs and snapping photos of me–look closely for me in the orange shirt below.

Up and over boulders, tree roots, broken limbs, along the dirt and sometimes rocky and cactus encroaching path. After scurrying over several large boulders, we made the secluded beach and walked its distance to find the trail that continues on. In an attempt to rest, Christine captured a couple that spoke English who said it was worth the hike to the end, so we continued. The beach was a little 1/2 way to the end and we had been walking a little over an hour. So maybe 2.5 was each direction.

After the beach it became rocky, like large pieces of coral and walking became an exercise in watching where your feet were going to step while hugging the coast line. Made the brain work, and keeping more focused on the steps than taking the scenery. Was rough going in flip flops, but we made it. Made it to the end, the end is at the landfill or dump. So what the sign should have said is the most scenic route between the sewage factory and the dump. However, the coast that lined the dump was very lovely with tide pools that could lull you to sleep with the harmonic sounds.

We did the round trip of 6.6 miles in about 3 hrs of moving time, we stopped to rest at the dump and then again to scarf the french tasty treats Christine had picked up earlier.

Back to the boat and a pizza was devoured, and a lots of resting and relaxing till Happy Hour which consisted of Ribs for appetizers and another rum sampling. Thinking the Plantation from Barbados might be edging out my favorite Diplomatico from Venezuela, but I’m sure there will be more taste tests..

Dropped our stinky trash, raised anchor, and opened up the jib in search of the oracle of goats. Down wind for a short 3 mile run to a “new to us” island, Ile Fourchue. We scored the last mooring. The goats were the last inhabitants of this private island, they ate themselves all the vegetation, which is only now starting to come back, but it was a delightful place to stop. Away from everything, not even cell service was abound and the boats that were there too were spaced out and well behaved. well most of them. Some of the day charter boats come in and are loud and pick up the moorings like they own the place. At least in here and in Columbier we did see dive crews working/inspecting the moorings and anytime a 60+ footer picked up a mooring they would remind them that they were too big and asked them to move off the mooring ball. Snorkeled a bit on the suggested dive sites, was a bit silty with the wave directions and not a whole lot to see, but we tried a couple of places. Friends were more successful spotting a nurse shark under a ledge, but another relaxing day – tho the mountains were calling.

I got this

Entertainment was watching the “Moorings” boats come in, as it is the first stop to try and to find a comfortable place to anchor or stop for the evening. The charter boats do not have marks on the anchor chain, so you don’t know how much chain you have out, or how well it will hold. Most charters are not normally used to anchoring out either so its always entertaining. One particularly good show was a moorings boat number 1 came in, with a pretty good crew with the understanding of trying to count the chain as it goes down, select a nice spot and get a good hook. Then a hour later another moorings boat comes in number 2 and anchors on top of number 1. Number 1 lets it ride till it starts to get late and realizes number 2 is staying. Number 1 picks up and moves, this time takes 3 times to get a comfortable hook for them. Then number 2 decides to move as well, and moves into the spot where number 1 had been all along. Oh well. The best show was when an almost 50 foot monohull comes in just before dark, and tried to anchor but doesn’t get the anchor to go down, and gets “looks” and “bitch arms” (you know when you put your hands on your hips and get in the fighting stance) from already moored boats as they were too close. I was one of the ones who thought they were too close. They tried over 3 times to anchor before they decided to try to pick up a mooring ball. I kept an eye on them for a while watching as they attempted 6 times to pick up the last remaining mooring ball in the anchorage. I thought, did Moorings checked out the captain’s credentials? Oh well, dropped the dinghy and went over to help them in, just barked orders as to what they needed to do and was able to get them safely on the ball for the night.

Sun rise over the ravines

Squalls at night and we spun around our mooring a few times, and some gusty winds in the valleys between the peaks a good reason to have the boats spread out in that anchorage.

We were up early and had saw another boat dinghy to shore and find a trail to hike on, so we had breakfast and followed along. They were from Canada and made it to the center valley and we wanted to make it to the peak.

Known for stickers and rocks we actually took shoes on this hike. Some thing really strange about wearing shoes for the first time in months, but definitely came in handy on some slippery rocks.

We hiked to one of the tallest points, using both hands and feets to get over some of the slippery vertical sections. Rewarded with some good views and serious gusts of wind we were still hanging on or sitting down when on the top of the peak. Made it back down and over a few more peaks for fun, took a few pictures and it was about time to head back to Saint Marten. Not sure where we were heading we heard from our fiends on the VHF that the southside was a bit rolly and they were heading the french side – we opted for an around the north side of the island run which was a downwind, in just enough breeze to run on the jib alone for what turned out to be an 18 mile run. We had some decent sun on the solar so we were also making water and just taking an slow run to somewhere.