Saturday, June 9, 2012

Porto Cupecoy

When we were looking for a place in St. Martin to stash Saralane for a few weeks we checked into all the usual places around the lagoon but we also decided to check out a new marina in Cupecoy we'd heard about that was offering good deals to encourage new business. We're glad we did. It's NICE. We're rarely in a marina but since we had to tie up somewhere - this was definitely the place to be.


The marina is a small part of a much larger complex full of restaurants, shops, gardens and beautiful new condo and apartment buildings. After we tied up and chatted with Mitch, the dockmaster, people from other boats in the marina stopped by to say hello. When they heard we were leaving Saralane for a few weeks they offered to keep an eye on the boat. The marina had great security but it's always nice to know your neighbors are looking out for you.

Aside from being a pretty swanky place, it's only a short walk across to Cupecoy beach. They show movies on a big outdoor screen once a week and have live music in the plaza several nights each week too. There's also a big grocery store here, which was great for provisioning when we returned. But the best thing about the place was the GIANT POOL.

Me in the GIANT POOL.
In case you can't see me in the middle of the GIANT POOL... here's a close up!
This pool was huge, the temperature was just right and it was almost always deserted. One end had steps and the other end was sloped, so entering was like walking into the ocean from the beach. I'm a sucker for a nice pool and this one was really great.

Skip in the GIANT POOL.
The only apparent danger is the red lightening and spiky crown that's lying in wait under the bottom if you dive in.

No diving!
When we weren't in the GIANT POOL we did odds and ends on the boat and ran errands around the lagoon.

Putting on the new furling line
We picked up some new bottom paint at Island Water World where the trusty John H was practically alone at the dinghy dock. During the season this dock is so jam packed with dinghies it's hard to find a spot to tie up.



We finally dragged ourselves away from the GIANT POOL and the nice folks at Porto Cupecoy and spent our last night in St. Martin out in the anchorage at Marigot so we'd be outside the bridge and ready for an early morning departure to Virgin Gorda. 

St. Martin sunrise
We'll spend the remaining weeks before our haul out sailing around the BVI and the Spanish Virgins. We skipped by the Spanish islands on our way south last year and have been wanting to go back and explore a bit more. We'd better brush up on our Spanish, si?

6 comments:

Cindy Barnard said...

It makes my day to find you in my email. And may I say, the "giant pool" looked fabulous. What a nice benie to enjoy. Thanks for sending out word that you are back and headed for the BVI. This has got to be the time of year to be there....quieter, yes?
Be well. L, Cin

Leslie said...

Good thing the dangerous red lightening and spiky crown are only in the shallow water of the GIANT POOL! And for the novice mariners among us, what does one do with a furling line (besides furling - obviously)?

Let me know if there are any webcams in your future. (What happened to the coordinates you were going to post?)

yfs

Madeline said...

The GIANT POOL was truly fabulous. Sigh... I miss it. But the BVI are really nice this time of year. We're anchored all alone in a quiet reef fringed spot in the middle of Eustatia, Necker and Prickly Pear Islands. Yesterday we snorkeled and walk the three beaches along the north shore of Prickly Pear. So... yes, it's nice here this time of year!

Hi Les - I forgot to do the coordinates! Here's our current location: 18 30.6 N and 64 21.7 W.
Google Earth us!

As for the furling line.... well.. it furls! It rolls up the genoa/jib (aka - the sail at the pointy end). It's wrapped on a drum at the base of the sail and the line runs back to the cockpit so we pull on it from there to roll the jib in or we let it out to let the jib out. Got it?!

Anonymous said...

Love the GIANT POOL!!!!

Jim and Judy said...

Great pictures and yes the pool looks marvelous. I also want to revisit the Spanish Virgins and do the circumnavigation of the sound. I was thinking with the cheap ferry from Culebra to fajardo where they have a West Marine it might be a good refit port. What do you think?

Crew / Besättning said...

Hello!
Hope everything is fine? I hear that you have dayly contact with Tsamaya. They seems to doing fine!So impressed of them doing this.
We are heading to Snowbird in July to see how she is doing;) Hope you will have a great time on Virgin islands! Big hugs from us