121: BEST DESERTED TROPICAL ISLAND Anchorage in St Martin

It's a big moment for us. We are headed to Tintimare, which is our first trip on our boat since we got her that has no agenda, which we're really excited about. And we are waiting for the French bridge to open the 8 o'clock, which we were going to be going through. It didn't open. There was a line of boats, but the radio operator just, I think, was eating his croissant, so he didn't hear that we were all trying to leave. So we are all now lined up for the 10 o'clock, which is in one minute. Once again, vessels, we have no invitation that the cars will bridge. If you don't call, no one knows you're there, Captain. We ask you to just keep us ahead of 10 minutes before the bridge. We call you at 7.30. We call you at 7.30. I don't understand because I'm waiting here before the bridge. What did I wrong? So we got through the Causeway Bridge, which is right behind us. That's the French bridge. And now we're in line for the Dutch bridge. The Dutch are consistent with their bridge opening and closing. The French, not so much. We are headed directly into the wind, unfortunately. When we come around, Phillipsburg will be in a much better position to throw the sails up. And we are moving at 4.5 knots. We've got the twin engines on and making some progress. We are coming up around the northeast corner of St. Martin. That is the mainland French side of St. Martin. There's Captain Brown. He's done a great job today navigating. This is the first time we've put up a jib in almost three months. There's our destination. That island is called Tintamare, and it is supposedly some people's favorite place to go. We're looking forward to experiencing it. Things have gotten much calmer here. When we came around the south part of the island, we both got woozy. The waves were big. Things were flying inside. We clearly didn't set up the boat for big waves. Yeah, lessons learned every time we go out. We will be landing in about half an hour and very much looking forward to our first mooring ball experience. You may have heard of this magical little place called Il Tintamare just off the northeast coast of St. Martin. It is a deserted tropical paradise with sandy beaches, beautiful greenery, and no human inhabitants. It's idyllic in many ways, especially during the week as most of the mooring balls remain deserted. But on the weekends, under the right conditions, it lives up to the meaning of its name, which is tons of noise at an unwelcome time. The good news is that whether quiet or busy, solitude is easily found in nature, both above and below the water. It's been over a year since I've been in the water to dive. Brown has been diving under the boat and cleaning it. I'm really excited. We're going to head around that corner over there. While diving in the Caribbean is not known to be great, it's always fun to grab your gear, jump into your own dinghy, and blow some bubbles. There is always something to see. Or you can store your fins and explore the rugged island on your own two feet. It's well worth an exploration despite the rough and uneven coral surface and the scratchy cacti and brush. I'm going to head up to that mound up there and hopefully get a beautiful view of this anchorage. It's definitely the weekend here in Tintamare. Look at all these boats. My favorite spot is the highest point overlooking the gorgeous anchorage where nature abounds and the views of St. Bart's, St. Martin, and Anguilla are breathtaking. Today we are going to explore Tintamare Island, which is right behind me. Brown dropped me off in the dinghy so I could bring our cameras and he is going to swim in to join me. In the early 1900s, this island was home to the Dutchman Van Rommand. He cultivated the island for cotton, did some sheep farming, and even made butter and cheese, which he sold throughout the West Indies. So supposedly there was an airfield on Tintamare. After going over this really ragged stuff, we finally reached a place. I think this is probably where the runway was. What? These are airplane motors. Rotary airplane motors. Yeah. For a few years, Tintamare served as an airbase for a small airline and flew planes from a 1,600 foot dirt track. About 20 people lived and worked on the island during this time, and you can still see the remnants of their homes, the runway, and even airplane parts. It's hard to believe, but under Tintamare's beautiful veneer lies a dark history of drug running, or so we've been told. Wow, we're going over to the lagoon. This is supposed to be really nice. In 1947, the airbase closed its doors, and nature took back what belonged to her in the first place. Tintamare is once again a free and wild island, and without human intervention and destruction, it can again flourish. So one thing that's really unusual are these walls that are built all over the island. And I'm talking, this took a lot of work. There must have been a reason for this. Check these gates out. Where do they go to? There's a whole history that took place here. Oh, what an anchorage. Wow. Wow, only in Tintamare does the ice cream boat come to visit us. Tintamare is magical, but building memories and shared experiences with friends is what cruising is all about. Spanning three continents and four countries, we are an international crew connected in friendship that transcends land, sharing our stories and our provisions. Though our sails will take us in different directions over the next eight months, we will always be thankful for Deb, Fraser, Chris, Jimmy, Nico, and Annette, and hope to share an anchorage again in the near future. After experiencing firsthand the beauty and lore of Tintamare, we can confidently say that we will return again to this island paradise someday.