Marigot, St Martin.  French Shabby Chic. 

It’s early morning and the sun has not yet peaked above the mountains of St Martin.  When we got here after that rough crossing from the BVI, Pandora was covered with a thick film of salt.  Now, with the brief rain showers several times each day, she’s all cleaned off.  As we are in the lee of the island, the prevailing winds blow over the mountains and cascade down into the harbor, bringing winds that in a few moments gust to what feels like gale force only to disappear after a few minutes to a light breeze.

A pretty amazing view off of our bow. The sound of the strong wind in the rigging wakes us up but that’s good as we know to get up and close the hatches against the accompaning showers.  The wind and brief rains also bring welcomed cooler temperatures so we go back to sleep.

Yesterday morning we met our friends from Kaloonamoo for breakfast at a lovely French bakery downtown in Marigot, the capital of the French side of St Martin.  Oddly, the island is roughly cut in two with one half owned by France and the other by the Dutch.  There’s a story behind this suggesting that years ago a Frenchman and a Dutch fellow, drinking from a bottle of French wine and Dutch gin respectively, begain walking from each side of the island and where they met the border between the countries was struck.  It seems that the Dutchman, drinking stronger spirits, didn’t make it as far and thus the Dutch side is smaller.   The story probably isn’t true but I like it and it’s nice to know that a war wasn’t fought over at least one border between two countries.

So, we met up with our friends Marueen and Bill at the bistro Serafina for breakfast.  It was a lovely spot and we had really amazing croissants and capuccino.  Imagine, croissants, and good ones at that, so far from France?  The choice of pastries, French bread and the like was astounding. Yum!  The selection is endless and after the scant selection of good food in the Bahamas, we don’t know where to start.   Perhaps we will just work our way down the display case.  Love this place.

Another cruiser we spent time with described Margiot as “French shabby chic” which seems apt as the buildings are colorful and lovely but with more than a bit of chipped paint.  There is an old fort overlooking the town, complete with French flag flying.   Seeing that flag made me think of the Monty Python movies with French soldiers spraying spit and insults from the ramparts.  We didn’t get close enough to see if that was happening there.

There is a very fancy marina catering to superyachts just outside of the lagoon.  I spied the yacht Bystander, owned by Elizabeth Meyer, owner of the J boat Endeavor, one of the big yachts that sailed in the America’s Cup back in the 1930s.   She was the first to restore one of those huge racing machines.  Today there are actaully more sailing than back in the 30s.  Bystander is a “tender” to her J and is designed to look like a yacht from the period.  It’s the big dark one.   Brenda and I also saw Bystander in Camden Maine a number of years ago.

The view down one of the the main street is very quaint and yes, I’ll say it, chic in a shabby sort of way.  Very charming.  And, beautiful flowers everywhere you look. Oh yes, and in orange too, if that’s your preference.  Behind a gallery we visited, this lovely courtyard with flowers everywhere. How often do you see someone walking a horse down the sidewalk, without a lead?  We did while enjoying an afternoon “baguette break”.  Did I mention the great French bread?  Pretty chic, if you ask me. Part of the charm of the town is that while it’s very European looking with lovely shops and galleries, it’s tropical and in the bright sun and wind, also looks a bit down on it’s heels.

Yes, this town, shabby chic or not is lovely to behold.  However, the food is, as my father used to say, “not too shabby”.  Yes, we are loving the French food but I supposed that’s to be expected as it is a French island, well at least half of it is.

More to come on that  and the Dutch side as we are renting a car for two days with some friends to tour the island.

More to come, shabby and chic from St Martin so stay tuned.